Chanel No. 5 - Sophia Ochoa

In what has become a conventional way to advertise for perfume, Chanel creates a short, yet long commercial, featuring one of the most well known actresses in France. Audrey Tautou leads the new advertising campaign for Chanel No. 5. A fitting role as it was Audrey Tautou that portrayed the role of Coco Chanel in the film Coco before Chanel. The commercial follows Audrey Tautou's character as she races to catch a train; symbolic of France and Europe. It is on the train that she encounters a handsome male stranger, who catches her wonderful Chanel No. 5 scent and must pause to smell her. Captivated by the smell, the handsome stranger is drawn to Audrey Tautou‘s room in the middle of the train ride, but he fails to knock on her door. At the same time, Tautou’s character is having trouble sleeping and she lays awake in her dark room. The Chanel No. 5 bottle sits in the corner of her dresser and the audience see’s the bottle’s shadow across the room as she lays awake. The next scene consists of Tautou’s character getting of the train and taking a boat ride in which she begins to take picture of the scenery only to discover that the handsome stranger is in the boat next to hers. The last scene is of Audrey Tautou returning to the train station, where she is soon followed by the handsome stranger who returns to smell her scent. The commercial ends as the two characters stand on the iconic Chanel logo.

I found the commercial very interesting for the simple reason that luxury brand companies have now made it the norm to advertise for perfume with a short movie. The commercials for perfume are no longer a simple 30 second spot, but now they range from two to five minutes. The ad must tell a story that captivates the audience. Sometimes these new commercial are more reminiscent of a movie trailers than a commercial. The Audrey Tautou commercial is one of many new commercial that serves as a short movie. Before the Audrey Tautou’s Chanel No. 5 commercial, Nicole Kidman starred in a similar commercial also advertising Chanel No. 5. When I saw this commercial I found it astonishing that the entire commercial was aired. In the US, I remember the Nicole Kidman commercial being cut, so that only certain scenes where shown to insure that the commercial was kept short. The only way to see an entire commercial was to visit a site that would allow you to view the entire commercial.

I believe that the use of movie shorts as commercials will continue to rise and will be used in more than just perfume ads. Youtube will soon be featuring movie commercials that star some of the most famous actors and actresses throughout the world and, especially Hollywood.

Link to Commercial - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uZxDf-_l43g