Key Components of Fragrance Advertisements

This new module focuses heavily on perfume and how it is advertised. As an introduction to the module we were asked to bring 15-20 perfume ads from magazines into the seminar to carry out a few activities.

Image:

For this, we separated the ads into different categories. The first was figurative which in our view was an advertisement featuring a human body. This seemed to be the most used, especially in the sensual themed advertisements as a lot of skin could be shown. These are the ads we collected on the left. The right-hand category was photographic which mainly featured a human face. This was a popular category for romantic/innocent style photos as their body isn't revealed in a sign of purity.

 

Abstract was the last and least common category as I feel it could only be used properly in a kitsch style which has a very specific target audience. However, this may have been due to us girls buying a different type of magazine than the perfumers target market.



We then put the adverts into colour order to see if there was a predominant colour that perfumers used and although it was quite equal I would say that gold is very popular currently. This is probably due to it's connection with appearing luxurious and is an achievable luxury for normal people to have.



Product: 

We then looked at how the bottle was incorporated into the image. Some shots included a large version of the bottle as an actual prop- this case a cutesy, kitsch look to the photo. The most common use of the bottle is just where it's super imposed on top of a normal photograph which seems to be a lazy idea as if you were to take the bottle away it could be a normal clothing advertisement. It's more interesting when the bottle has to be used in the shot, we were looking at how to model adored or played with the bottle in some photos. Below is the bottle being used as a fun prop compared to the amount of adverts where the bottle is super imposed.

 

Brand:

We then thought about which of the brands had created damage to their own brand by using poor advertising. My least favourite advertisement was Viktor & Rolf 'Bon Bon'. Everything about the advert looked cheap. We were then asked to identify which brand has added brand value. I found this really difficult as I was explaining to my classmates that I have never seen a perfume advertisement that makes me want to buy the perfume; it's not something that I can get excited about. However, with this out of mind, I believe that Marc Jacobs has created the most successful perfume brand. He knows his target market and has created a recognisable brand using this to his advantage through the series of 'Daisy' perfumes. This is a great comparison as Marc Jacobs is an example of a successful kitsch style campaign and Bon Bon is a failed one.