The FiFi UK awards ceremony will take place on Thursday (expect live tweets and Facebook updates!) which means this is an excellent time to have a closer look at the adverts shortlisted in the Best Fragrance Commercial categories.
Best New Female Fragrance Commercial
I’m not sure exactly how the judges were asked to make their assessments, but I suspect they were instructed to ignore anything they may or may not have known about the scents themselves. If I’d been on the jury, I would’ve found it hard to cast aside the resentment I feel towards YSL for the way they’ve treated Opium, but then the commercial isn’t especially noteworthy either, although I wonder if the nod to the original Poison ad is deliberate.
Unlike many other critics, I’m fond of the J’Adore film – with its sly soundtrack and relatively clever use of celebrity endorsement – so I’d be very happy to see it win, although I was also won over by the facetious charms of the Valentino. Or maybe the Kenzo deserves recognition for being the least overtly sexualised of the six? What say you: which one would get your vote?
Best New Male Fragrance Commercial
Oh dear, if there’s one thing more boring than mainstream men’s scents, it’s mainstream men’s scent adverts. Perhaps one day fragrance marketing departments will realise that actually, it isn’t enough just to stick a famous face in 30 seconds’ worth of over-produced, meaningless tripe. What you also need is something that old fogeys who haven’t heard of Chris Evans and Paul Walker used to call “a good idea”. That’s why I’m flying the flag for the Lacoste: it’s simple, it features a catchy tune and it is completely celebrity-free. Which one’s your favourite?
Check out my tweets on Thursday evening to see who the winners turn out to be, but in the meantime, here’s a delightful little effort that may well find itself on next year’s shortlist, if it’s ever shown on UK media, that is.
Persolaise.
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Fun post. I think it's lame that YSL used a requiem piece for Opium, but I like Emily Blunt.
Don't shoot me, but my favourite is the Gucci. I love movies like Sin City, and this has the same vibe.
Mik
Mik, each to their own, I suppose 😉 And yes, I think the soundtrack in the YSL ad is odd, to say the least.
OMG, yeah, the Poison commercial, with that freaky music that sounded like a million crickets chirping next to a megaphone. That was the best ever.
From this bunch, I like the Dior. But I doubt it'll win.
Assumpta, I love the old Poison ad too.
I think J'Adore has a pretty good chance of winning on Thursday.
Actually, all of these are pretty boring, although the t-shirt one is pretty cute. It still wouldn't make me buy the perfume, though.
I'm willing to bet that next year's winner will be No 5 starring Mr Pitt.
Trisch.
Trisch, I have a feeling you may be right about next year.
What's this I see on Amazon?!? After doing a few Web searches on you I discovered that you're releasing a book and it's coming out in October? Please give out more details? Will there be a paperback? Why is the name 'Persolaise' played down here? Are you re-branding? Love your blog and looking forward to the book!
Andy.
Andy, yes, it seems that Amazon has beaten me to the 'official' announcement. Expect more details here on the blog very soon 😉
I like Cartier for the ladies. For the men's, it's more of a tossup but I like both the Gucci and the Lacoste.
Susan, the Cartier is certainly very elegant. The Gucci makes me really angry, but let's not go there. And of course, as I said, I really like the Lacoste too.
You're right. If you take them as a bunch, these aren't the most inpsiring commercials ever made. But I like the idea of the J'Adore.
Preeta.
Preeta, if you watch the J'Adore several times, it doesn't become unbearable, unlike many other ads…