Thus, the Dior house has decided to renew its contract with Johnny Depp in order to ensure the promotion of its perfume. Savage. The deal would involve a “seven-figure” sum over a few years (the previous one was US$5 million).
Posted yesterday at 7:15 a.m.
Note that the actor was already the face of this perfume (not to be confused with Wild Watercreated several decades ago) since 2015. Rather than finding another personality capable of symbolizing the currently best-selling perfume in the world, the fashion house is betting that Johnny Depp is still the best choice.
Before the trial that pitted him against his ex-wife Amber Heard, Johnny Depp projected the image of the adventurer, the free and whimsical man. Anyone who has spent a lot of time in the ropes of pirate ships was the ideal figure to represent this product.
But at the end of this highly publicized trial which ended in a victory for Johnny Depp (even if the jurors came to the conclusion that the two ex-spouses had mutually defamed each other), the image of the actor has been harmed.
We discovered a narcissistic being capable of verbal and physical violence. Amber Heard notably claimed that Johnny Depp became a “monster” under the influence of drugs and alcohol. He raped her with a bottle of alcohol a month after they married in March 2015, she claimed.
In May 2016, during an argument, Johnny Depp allegedly threw a phone in her face. It was then that she made the decision to file for divorce.
It is the image of this Johnny Depp which is now offered to us. It is he who will try to make men dream and seduce women by making them believe that the sulphurous image that he dragged along during the six weeks of the trial has suddenly been transformed into scents of vetiver, geranium and of cedar.
I, who worked in the world of marketing at the very beginning of my career, am fascinated by Dior’s decision, its audacity and its guidounerie. My first reaction was to tell myself that this fashion and luxury empire was taking a huge risk by maintaining the presence of Johnny Depp.
I imagined the young men who will find themselves in the perfume department in front of advertisements for the actor and the bottle. Will they want to coat themselves with a little Johnny? Because there is that in the way of associating a star with a perfume. We become a bit like Céline Dion, Brad Pitt or Julia Roberts when we wear the juice they represent.
And their lovers? Will they want to snuggle up in their neck without feeling a certain discomfort?
Yes, I thought of that. But God I can be naive sometimes!
According to several sources, sales of Savage increased by 50% during the trial. Yes, you read that right. While the jurors had made no decision and we discovered the dark side of this couple in which insults took more place than words of love, we rushed on this perfume.
The magazine The official reported in June, days after the verdict, that web searches related to the fragrance had skyrocketed. Many women posted comments saying they wanted to buy this perfume for their man in order to support Johnny Depp.
This is what convinced the marketing team of the house of Dior to seal a most sacred agreement with the actor. Between filming a film (he participates in the filming of The favorite where he plays Louis XV) and concerts with Jeff Beck, Johnny went to a studio for a photo shoot.
The designers had in their hands the virile and wild man they wanted for their perfume. The trial from which he emerges makes him even more virile and wild. the jackpot !
What is surprising in this story is that despite the upheavals, the Dior house never let go of Johnny Depp. When, in 2017, the problems with his ex-wife were revealed, the house could have dumped him as all the big brands do with their spokesperson when the latter finds himself at the heart of a scandal. She did not do it.
The Dior-Depp marriage is one of the rare instances of unwavering loyalty between a luxury brand and its face. The reason is very simple: money. Savage is a real cash cow for Parfums Christian Dior and the LVMH group. A bottle is sold every three seconds on the planet.
Perfume is a major contributor to the 4.66 billion euros in sales generated by the group’s perfumes and cosmetics division in 2021. Savage brings in $4.5 million a day (a 100ml bottle of eau de toilette costs $140).
I take from this affair that the trials, real or popular, whether they lead to a guilty verdict or not, are today accompanied by an incredible set of subtleties. Among these, the struggle between the supporters of the person who is at the heart of the trial and his detractors.
It is the trial of the trial that matters today. And that goes through the battle between these two groups.
In the essential poetic-gnangnan description that accompanies the perfume Savagethis water is said to have a “frank and obvious masculinity, like the image of a man out of fashion, out of time”.
In the text that presents the advertising film, it is a question of “an inhabited parenthesis, crossed by ancient legends where wolves are gods and men let their animality speak…”.
You can not make that up !
It makes you want to go back to good old Aqua Velva!