Case Study : INVICTUS – Paco Rabanne

In this article, I am offering you to analyse the marketing strategy of the perfume for men Invictus by Paco Rabanne. My choice fell on this brand because it is one of the most successful for men’s fragrances in Europe. Morevoer the launch of their new perfume for men Invictus in July 2013 was a huge commercial success.

As a reminder, few data on Invictus :

^-           #1 at launch in France, England, Italy and Spain in terms of sales^[1]

^-           #1 Top launch in France since 2004 (taking the place of One Million – Paco Rabanne)^[1]  

^-           Turnover of 23,3€ millions generated in the 6 first months^[1]

... So let’s take a closer look at this winning strategy !

Source : pacorabanne.com

The 360 degrees strategy of a success

• The global marketing strategy

The Invictus marketing strategy settles on a bold manliness : the communication evolves around an invincible and undefeated hero. Based on strong values, the marketing strategy features the sportive values of competition and of the fantasy of victory.  

To embody the perfume, it is not a model but a sportsman : Nick Youngquest, an Autralian rugbyman. The brand is already consistent with the values of its perfume.

For the background, the brand takes us to Ancient Greece, well known for it’s Olympic Games where representatives participated in a series of athletic ompetitions. The antique codes are twisted in a modern way and used in the ad campaign as well as for the packaging. The perfume bottle is an amphora and there is a starification of it through the whole campaign. 

• Media strategy

Using the elements of the global marketing strategy, Paco Rabbane created a TV spot with a high impact : the concept was really operated through and the communication strategy stayed really consistent. The printed ads were really easy to connect to the movie as they used shots and elements from the movie. The movie, build around the values expressed earlier had as a soundtrack the song “Power” from Kanye West, always following this theme of manhood and victory. 

 • Digital Strategy

The digital strategy is what I think was the more impactful on this campaign.

First of all,  the ad movie generated a lot of “buzz” on the web : as an example, it has more than 11 millions views on youtube.  

Moreover, the brand created a real enthousiasm around the perfume : prior to the launch they created a mini site where were posted numerous teasing videos and after the launch they kept their digital action to keep the public interested. Indeed, they created an Invictus calendar as well as an Invictus award : the public could vote among 7 athletes from seven different countries and designate the winner who won a scholarship to realize its project. Those adventures were largely shared on the internet, social networks and via youtube enlarging alway more the perfume awereness and acknoledgement.

• Strategy on the Point of Sale

This perfume benefited from a really high coverage rate : it was distributed in 2200 points of sales in France.^[2]  On the point of sales, the starification of the perfume bottle was still used with huge dummies and perfume bottles printed in vinyl on the stores windows. This easely recognizable bottle was a way to be immediately recognized as well as an argument of sale.

To conclude, the key word to describe this campaign is consistency. And this coherence was present on all the touch points and distrubtion channels used.

Impact of women on the perfume’s commercial success

• The role of women in the success of Invictus

Analyzing the success of the marketing strategy of Invictus, I realized the important part women took in it. Indeed, when Paco Rabbane uses street marketing for the launch of the perfume and makes a bus full of muscular men tour in Paris I wondered... was the strategy of taking pictures with muscolar men aimed at men or women ?

With a very masculine and grown TV ad, they evidentely reached the men who wanted to be this way but it is the women who contributed the most to create the internet buzz by passing on the pictures and movies.

I think that the women added to the perfume a note of seduction and desire : one uses perfume for itself but also to appeal to someone.

Moreover, in the American market, about 50% of the men’s fragrances are bought by men and 50% are bought by women for men.^[3]  Hence the importance to reach the feminine clientele as well.

 

• Taking it a little bit further : L’Homme Ideal – Guerlain

Another example of this use of women for promoting men fragrances is « L’Homme Ideal » of Guerlain, released in June 2014. When the name of the new perfume was released, I got really excited trying to guess who would embody the perfume. Few weeks after, I discovered the communication and got really disappointed: the “Perfect man” did not exist… but only his perfume did !  

Indeed Guerlain, in order to picture this perfect man, did not use a masculine figure but personified the perfume bottle: the communication implies that wearing the fragrance you would become the ideal man for every women. The print ad shows beautiful women from all origins surrounding the bottle and testifying this assumption. With this ad, the masculine client imagines itselft as the perfect man, surrounded by the beautiful models.

This marketing campaign is a good example of the use of women in commercial strategies to sell men’s perfumes : no man is even required to embody “L’Homme Ideal” as it is the woman opinion that matters !

Source : Guerlain.com

[1] Source : According to a research made by the NPD group in January 2014

[2] Source : Paco Rabanne website  

[3] Source : Interview of Charlotte Perlangeli, VP of global marketing for Calvin Klein fragrances.

Article posted by Marie Lou Van der Houwen