2011 Winners & Shortlists

Results and Effectiveness

Sales exceeded forecast by 33.6%. Blue de Chanel had the highest brand recall among competitors during the launch period. Impressive media deliveries of over 82% reach from print, 85% from TV.

Creative Execution

A 360 media campaign used TV, Magazines, Newspapers, Cinema, Outdoor, Online together with strong PR & on ground activations. We knew that Newspapers have the highest penetration & are a daily mandatory in our target audience life. We created a top quality folder, in which we placed those top newspapers along with a large scent seal that our audience could detach & keep; thereby interacting with the brand through a mass medium within a luxury setting. A similar mini folder was created to be used for Cinema tickets, whereby audience were handed their tickets inside the folder along with the same scent seal that was used in newspaper. Chanel owned the newspapers as well as the cinema tickets: the folder was entirely branded with the Bleu impactful images; the newspaper & tickets were placed inside the folder next to the scent seal, ensuring interaction and leading to a positive purchase decision.

Insights, Strategy and the Idea

The Middle East is a very competitive fragrance market labelled "the market of newness", whereby sales are driven by new launches. After more than five years, Chanel decided to launch their Men Fragrance "Bleu de Chanel". The core objective was to break through the clutter and stand out and to differentiate between "Bleu" & the other Chanel men pillar "AHS", while minimising cannibalisation. The challenge lies in striking a balance between maintaining the brand’s luxury image & communicating through the top performing media, which happen to be mass. Research showed that the main trigger for purchases is the scent. Our audiences are males 20-34 who are too busy to spend time trying out different scents. Their attention is sought by many fragrance brands.