Quality Control

You may have heard about the recent ad campaign launched by Channel, it utilizes Brad Pitt in typical Channel fashion.  According to a recent statement released by Hollywoodgossip.com, the French luxury goods producer is paying Pitt somewhere in the neighborhood of seven figures for his part in the serious, grave black and white video. Critics and marketers around the globe are discussing whether Pitt’s portrayal of timelessness is an accurate description. The video which was released earlier this month has gone viral with 4.64 million views on YouTube, and with website Visible measures putting its true reach at just over 7.4 millions views.

The video has also spawned numerous parodies, a popular one  launched by the tv show Saturday night live is below:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WcdQNh_P9tE

Implications:

• This product is target towards the women segment of the fragrance market but it may help in raising awareness and appreciation from male consumers also.  For example according to Andrew sacks, founder of a namesake luxury ad agency in New York- “The choice of Pitt can serve to make guys more comfortable going to the fragrance counter……. It makes it both cool and gives confidence to the male gift-giver.”
• Secondly Channel is ranked as the fourth most valuable luxury brand in the world with a value of $6.68 billion. We can expect to see this value go up in the upcoming Christmas season. The Fourth quarter is crucial for luxury goods producers as fragrances products are a major gift item for department stores such as Macy’s.
• I personally can’t wait to compare Channel No 5 sales figures for the quarter to previous fourth quarter sales.