Fashion loves Celebrities?

As a bonus, for my team performing so well, my office decided to give everyone of us some vouchers to spend at Debenhams worth £85. I found it extremely hard to decide how I'd spend £85 at Debenhams (not my kind fashion)! Finally, ‘eureka’! I thought I'd invest the entire amount in perfumes. Now for £85, I can get myself a bleu de Chanel especially after I saw its commercial featuring Gaspard Ulliel (Ya, the French kid in Hannibal Rising), with the tag line ‘be unexpected’. BOSS also caught my attention and I thought I could buy two perfumes from BOSS after watching Ryan Reynolds in Boss Bottle Day X Night. 

 

 No wonder most famous celebrity endorsements are placed in clothing and fragrances. It is suggested that three components make up the credibility construct: knowledge or expertise, trustworthiness, and appearance or attractiveness when it comes to a celebrity. It is the appearance, which is most appealing to consumers.  Physical appearance seems to induce positive feelings toward the product. In the field of fashion, there is a high correlation between appearance, knowledge, liking, credibility, advertising believability and purchase intentions, which affects the consumers.

Does celebrity endorsement work? It sure does. Consumers feel celebrities are much more attractive than non- celebrities, which intern improve the brand image. The Chanel and BOSS ads were enough to take me to the perfume section of Debenhams.  Did I buy them? No. They didn’t smell anything like I expected it to be.  In fact they smelled too strong for my taste. But I am sure there are many men out there using Chanel and BOSS regularly.

Chanel No. 5: Every woman want it?

In my marketing communications class I had to analyse a case about Burberry and its changing brand image; not surprisingly the theme of classic-exclusive fashion brand came up. On the list was Chanel (my mum’s favourite perfume). A poster of Chanel No. 5 I saw some time ago with Audrey Tautou struck my mind (I remember her from The Da Vinci Code). My thoughts then wandered a little more and reminded me of the poster with Nicole Kidman. I then realized that Chanel was a real classic; one which has defined fashion for ladies for over a century.

Chanel No. 5 started going on sale in 1922. Today it is the world’s most famous perfume according to Earnest Beaux. The advertising campaign for the brand endorsed celebrities for the last 50 years which included Marilyn Monroe, Catherine Deneuve and Carole Bouquet.  I was curious about the name No. 5 until I found out that the name dates back to Coco Chanel days, when she was under the care of nuns. The Catholic environment that she grew up in crafted her to use the number 5 as it symbolised purity (it was also launched on 5^th of May). The perfume was a rebel for the free-spirited woman when compared to the stereotypical categories of traditional women in society during the time of its launch.

There has been, in a peculiar way, a consistence in the different media used for advertisement (their online and the physical store). The advertisements focus on the independent, successful and seductive woman - the dream of any man. Throughout the adverts, the brand and the product are very prominent. The 3 minute advert with Nicole Kidman was budgeted at £29 million. Diversifying the upper level exclusive brand was a good step taken by Chanel, which incorporated new product lines (Handbag, watch) and developed new merchandise to attract younger women (Coco Mademoiselle). Chanel has been a successful for the last 102 years. From my perspective, every girl dreams of Chanel, but what will be the future hold in the more fashion savvy world?