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Singin in the rain

Posted by Robin on 21 September 2009 28 Comments

The video promo for Guerlain Idylle. The face is Nora Arnezeder, and she is singing a modern version of Singin in the rain (if you watch the version on the Idylle website, you can hear the lyrics). Update: never mind, now here's the version with the lyrics...

Filed Under: perfume in the news
Tagged With: guerlain, video

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28 Comments

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  1. Nina says:
    21 September 2009 at 10:54 am

    Nice ad, cute bottle, dodgy scent. Sampled it yesterday, and yes, it IS ‘SJP Lovely’ on steroids. Has the half-life of uranium into the bargain. I was very disappointed.

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    • Robin says:
      21 September 2009 at 11:28 am

      That’s what everybody says: SJP Lovely. Well, at least it isn’t SJP Covet Pure Bloom, I guess. Lovely was nice.

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      • Nina says:
        21 September 2009 at 2:05 pm

        I’m not sure you can see from the ad that the bottle is actually clear – it’s only the edges and cap that are gold. It’s also fairly flat, so not all that much like a Hershey Kiss.

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        • Nina says:
          21 September 2009 at 2:06 pm

          And sorry, I posted this in the wrong place!

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          • Robin says:
            21 September 2009 at 8:13 pm

            No matter!

    • Farah says:
      21 September 2009 at 12:53 pm

      So does it smell like Narciso Rodriguez for Her too? I love both NR and SJP Lovely (I prefer NR), but steroids don’t sound good…

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  2. CynthiaW says:
    21 September 2009 at 11:22 am

    Is it just me or does the bottle look like a giant Hershey’s kiss?
    Too bad about the juice – I don’t really need Lovely on steroids when I can just by Lovely at a deep discount.

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    • Robin says:
      21 September 2009 at 11:29 am

      I need to see this bottle in person — I keep changing my mind about it.

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    • Joe says:
      21 September 2009 at 12:18 pm

      Yep, definitely giant gold Hershey’s kiss. I don’t mind it though.

      Haven’t ever smelled Lovely, and am curious to try this. What the hell, it’s Guerlain…

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      • Daisy says:
        21 September 2009 at 12:48 pm

        **guerlain ho**
        😉

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        • Joe says:
          21 September 2009 at 1:20 pm

          Are you referring to me or yourself? 😉

          I have one thing to say in rebuttal: MY PRECIOUSSSSSSSSS!

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          • Daisy says:
            21 September 2009 at 1:31 pm

            Yup, truly I was just waiting for that. 😀

  3. asuperlongusername says:
    21 September 2009 at 7:35 pm

    Well, the reception hasn’t seemed warm as far as I’ve heard, but this is a beautiful campaign. I love the song and the video is really nice in it’s own way. It actually reminded me of the Eau de Merveille commercial but a bit less cool.

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    • Robin says:
      21 September 2009 at 8:14 pm

      That was such a great commercial! Yes, this is less cool. I don’t dislike the ad, but it didn’t wow me. Wonder why they didn’t use the lyrics in the tv spot? I do think it’s more memorable w/ the lyrics.

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      • asuperlongusername says:
        21 September 2009 at 10:13 pm

        I’m admittedly wowed by this but it’s not going to make me fall in love with the perfume, you know. I think their people did a good job with this, especially after that Elixers Charnel debauchery.

        The song is really beautiful with the lyrics! I’ve already snagged it off iTunes. But I don’t think the lyrics fit with the image they were going for. Which is kind of weird because they made her sing it specifically for them. Oh well.

        Upon speculation, I think the bottle is great but the juice is a weird incongruous color with the rest of the campaign. Clear would’ve been nice, or just slightly blue. But I guess that’s not classy enough for GUERLAIN.

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        • Robin says:
          22 September 2009 at 8:20 am

          Did they do a video for Elixirs Charnels? I missed it!

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          • asuperlongusername says:
            22 September 2009 at 7:31 pm

            No, though that would make my week. I just meant the campaign for the EC in general. Dreadful.

          • Robin says:
            22 September 2009 at 9:17 pm

            LOL…yeah, just the ad copy was enough. A video might be side-splitting funny.

        • AlbertCAN says:
          23 September 2009 at 2:35 am

          Further complicated by the fact that Nora Arnezeder’s most famous film to date is “Faubourg 36” (saw it during my flight to Paris this summer–it’s an awesome film–very moving). Yes, a period musical set in, when else, 1936! So in retrospect I thought the “Singin’ in the Rain” part is sort of a nod to her ability to do musical numbers…but now that’s a lot of references on top of the rain, the modern mix of the song + Nora singing it straight…

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  4. AlbertCAN says:
    21 September 2009 at 10:55 pm

    To be honest I can’t help but cringing a bit ever since I saw the ad for the first time: one of my biggest pet peeves in marketing is avoiding negative associations as much as possible–but I find myself not going beyond the “golden shower” motif. Err, not talking about the Greek myth: I’m referring to the urban dictionary definition.

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    • Joe says:
      21 September 2009 at 11:03 pm

      Gosh, I didn’t even think that for a minute and my mind is pretty much in the gutter more than half the time. :-O

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      • AlbertCAN says:
        21 September 2009 at 11:54 pm

        Well, it’s a curse that goes all the way back to my first ever marketing project: we were given a brand, asked to repackage it and gaving it a modern twist. I got Oh Henry! candy bar and decided to switch the order of the first 2 letters around so it sounded like a shout out. Well, 5 minutes into the presentation the focus group started laughing because they thought I was referring to Henry as a h-o…ever since then I am hyper-sensitive about those things. You know, I am sure you are right–there are people who won’t think of it–but then there are people who may. And with a campaign like this costing millions to build I’d rather not take a chance (but that’s just me).

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      • AlbertCAN says:
        21 September 2009 at 11:58 pm

        P.S. I don’t think I made myself clear–when I did my candy bar project I was oblivious of urban slangs. After getting the reaction from the focus group I made a point of knowing my slangs–because you never know.

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    • Robin says:
      22 September 2009 at 8:20 am

      Gosh. Didn’t come to my mind at all.

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      • AlbertCAN says:
        22 September 2009 at 12:52 pm

        Nope, I could tell definitely not you.

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  5. lilydale aka Natalie says:
    21 September 2009 at 11:53 pm

    Cute version of the song, but the ad is a bit too Herbal Essences… Why is everyone suddenly getting all orgasmic about their perfumes these days?!

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    • AlbertCAN says:
      22 September 2009 at 12:02 am

      Pardon my pun: just the right dab of transgression. Enough to get people interested but not enough to get banned. For a “masstige” product targeting the young demogrpahic it’s almost a textbook marketing move.

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    • Robin says:
      22 September 2009 at 8:25 am

      This actually seemed tamer to me than most…I’m getting jaded about ads, too.

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