A campaign that saved the Chanel N°5

Flore Custot
21 janv. 2022
4 min de lecture

Dernière mise à jour : 10 mars 2022

The history of beauty marketing was characterised by the significant change of the Chanel N˚5 perfume in the early 1970s.

In the beginning, when Gabrielle Chanel launched N˚5 in 1921, her marketing strategy was what we would call "non-media". She invites high-society relatives to dinner and surprises them all by spraying them with perfume and handing out a few bottles. In addition, the seamstress infused the cabins of her boutiques with her fragrance to raise consumer awareness and create a unique olfactory experience. Success was immediately evident in the circle of Parisian high society.

It was not until 1924 when Chanel Parfums became a company to be developed. The first campaign in New York was low-key to retain the sense of scarcity that was effective in Paris.

In 1934, the first advertisements appeared in the New York Times. However, marketing and the multiplication of points of sale attracted an increasingly large audience because the initial message was lost. Towards the end of the sixties, N°5 no longer evoked the same sophisticated image and risked being identified as a perfume for the general public.

In 1974, Mr Wertheimer saw the potential of N˚5. With him, the management of CHANEL has chosen to use this complicated situation as an opportunity instead of a threat by taking bold and visionary measures to restore its prestigious image through a campaign that has become world-famous. He wanted to turn the perfume into a brand icon by making a radical change in direction that could cause short-term losses. For the product to be "exclusive" again, the number of points of sale was reduced from 18,000 to 12,000 and N˚5 was no longer sold in pharmacies. The long-term goal is to keep perfume at the top of the industry again and again with marketing that reflects the house's original vision. It was necessary to find an imprint of glamour and sophistication that Mademoiselle Coco had. Wertheimer cut ties with external advertising agencies to entrust the supervision of all creative decisions fully and therefore advertising to its artistic director Jacques Helleu.

Considered as the "eye" of the house of Chanel, Helleu has for forty years very skilfully constituted the images that have contributed to making the house of Chanel one of the most prestigious brands in the world and which have greatly influenced the marketing of luxury.

He defined himself as "a sensor of ideas, a hunter of emotions". The artistic director of perfumes found inspiration in a few words from designer Gabrielle Chanel who originally wanted a sober design for perfume N°5, " transparence pure " and " une bouteille invisible ".

The simplicity of the idea, unexpected for the time, was already attractive, but the execution of the concept by Helleu made the result extraordinary. The black and white photographs, like the original packaging, were printed with high contrast to produce a feeling of clarity and simplicity. The campaign and the various advertisements did not use slogans, titles or text. Helleu imprinted his aesthetics on the Chanel image, from the packaging to the advertising campaigns, commissioning the famous photographer Richard Avedon in 1966 to produce a film "Tomorrow's Woman"on the N°5 with Philip English and Vicki Hilbert.

Richard Avedon is American fine art and fashion photographer. He is known for his iconic portraits of celebrities, spanning over half of the 20th century, including Marilyn Monroe, Andy Warhol and Ezra Pound. Avedon believed that a successful marketing image required an underlying narrative that was not just about selling but creating a soul that allowed you to connect directly with it. His impact in terms of style comes in part from his decision to have emotive subjects when the trend is for still and dark portraits. One of his techniques that set him apart was bringing a humanistic dimension to his images by bringing out the muse's personality and including his flaws and intimate, vivid expressions.

In 1968, Helleu contributed to making the young actress Catherine Deneuve, who posed for N°5, famous in the United States. The American press designated her as the most elegant woman in the world. After Chanel, the French government chose Deneuve to represent Marianne, the national symbol of the Republic. The brand's muse was little known in the United States, but her participation in the perfume campaign would boost sales.

During the 1970s, Avedon, Helleu and Deneuve collaborated to create exceptional simplicity and grace images. They are still among the most potent and iconic photographs in the history of beauty marketing.

In 2005, a book entitled "Chanel and Jacques Helleu" was published, tracing the history of the creation of the Chanel image for 40 years, seen by its artistic director.

The marketing direction that Chanel still continues to operate its vision today.

Many collaborations will follow, like the last with Marion Cotillard in a film signed by a compatriot of the actress, Baz Lurhman.

Even more recently, actress and model Camille Razat that you may I have seen recently in the serial of Netflix "Emily in Paris" published a post on Instagram using the codes of the elegant campaign.