Fragrance ads.
They are a law to themselves. All whimsical romance or overt seduction expressed in contrived, theatrical and over-acted ways.
I get selling smell using visual mediums is hard, so wrapping it up in some sort of concept makes sense … except when every one of those concepts is the work of someone who is obviously off their face on coke.
Sure, some can be funny.
Those horrific, pretentious Gerard Butler ads for Boss ended up being comedy gold … and the recent Johnny Depp ‘Sauvage’ campaign – that was hijacked by the public – turned out to be an act of genius but in the main, we are exposed to a plethora of commercials that feature a beautiful actor/actress getting paid a fortune to destroy their credibility against a backdrop of an overly produced stage set, a contemporary – but utterly bland – sound track and unsubtle messages of shining bright etc etc.
However recently I saw something different.
Kinda.
Because while it follows the well-worn path of the fragrance category, the script, acting and production values are so low, you would expect it to be an ad for a ‘Everything For A £1’ shop not Emporio Armani.
To make matters worse, it seems the people behind the ad sold it to the client by saying …
“We are targeting 40+ couples who hate each other.
They yearn to go back to a time where they were together out of choice, not because they have a mortgage to pay.
A time where they hung our spontaneously, not because they have to do the weekly shopping.
To connect with them, we will tell a story of a young couple falling in love.
We will capture the intensity of a developing relationship where they are intoxicated with each other.
We will incorporate scenes from classic films or ads from their youth – from 50 Shades Of Grey and those old Nescafe Gold Blend ads from the late 80’s/90’s to the classic ‘cycle to the moon’ scene from ET … though it could be more BMX Bandits, it all depends on how much budget you give us.
In essence, we are not selling perfume, we’re selling marriage guidance in a bottle”.
At this point, I imagine you’re wondering what the hell I’m going on about … well ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls … sit back and all will be revealed …
But please have a bucket ready for the flow of vomit that will be coming your way.
50 Shades Of Grey/Gold Blend Inspired Bollocks …
ET/BMX Bandits Inspired Shite …
