Blog Project 1

Dior "Poison Club"

Christian Dior is an iconic luxury brand and fashion house that is well known for creating compelling fashion and beauty ads. On Feb. 1, the brand released their latest fragrance campaign advertisement “Poison Club,” starring the 27-year-old model and face of Dior’s “Poison Girl” fragrance, Camille Rowe.

On Feb. 1, DiorMag also announced that Rowe was chosen as the face of the “Poison Girl” fragrance, because she “represents a generation of uninhibited, fun-loving, optimistic, young women.” Rowe has also been featured alongside actor Robert Pattinson in a previous campaign ad for the Dior Homme men’s fragrance.

By making Rowe the lead of the “Poison Club” advertisement and the face of the "Poison Girl" fragrance, the famous-person testimonial was definitely a huge marketing strategy.

The 3 ½ minute long video was created by the Dior Creative Studio. The part I found the most memorable was the commercial's theme song "No Rebel," which is the played throughout the ad and was created specifically for "Dior Girl" by Gener8ion and Tayla Parx. I also thought it was extremely compelling that aside from the official video, there's a five part how-to series of Holly Blakey's "Poison Club" choreography. I believe this is something new Dior has done and is not something I've seen too much of with commercial campaigns.

The commercial starts off in a street scene with "No Rebel" playing low in the background. The focus is on a group of rebellious women, who are approached by a Hispanic female officer. After the officer warns the women to “Try to keep out of trouble,” the words “Poison Club” appear in hot pink across the screen. 

The next scene shows the women approaching an all male group for a dance-off in an underground parking lot. Both groups of men and women are dressed down in bomber jackets, t-shirts, combat boots and sneakers to capture the urban aesthetic.

The marketing team tries to be inclusive by including two African American men and women in both groups, along with a variety of different looks amongst the rest of the dancers. Ultimately, this was one of the only parts of the ad I counted as a weakness, because it didn't capture the essence of a truly diverse urban environment. The plain-folks pitch, combined with a snob appeal approach is used throughout this ad to target millennial's from all genders, ethnicities and status.

Stage 1: “Feel the space”

Each video starts off with a a voice that says "Are you a watcher, or a dancer?" An overall shot is shown of the Poison Club, then a member is captured alone demonstrating the choreography as the voice says "Let's practice" and guides the dancers through each step.

Stage 2: “Warm it up”

At the end of every video the voice says "We're not girls, we're poison." A single shot is shown of Rowe, then another overall of the Poison Club.

Stage 3: “Rise the heat”

Incorporating how-to videos was definitely a strength, because it gives a one-on-one experience with different club members and makes the audience feel included through engagement.

Stage 4: “Own the stage”

The message of this ad is that purchasing the "Poison Girl" perfume will make you feel confidant, seductive, desirable, youthful, sassy and trendy. Consumers are extended an invite to join the club by being given an exclusive theme song, choreography and a series of short films that create more of a personal experience.

Stage 5: “Poison kiss”

The featured women feel this way because of this fragrance, therefore this is an elite, yet welcoming club. The association principle implies that you won't be official until you purchase "Poison Girl," and that once you do, you will invoke the same attitude of the Poison Club members. Based on the ad I would definitely purchase this perfume simply because I want to feel the same way these women feel. Working on this project and analyzing different advertisements has been really fun for me. I enjoy spotting out which marketing strategies are being used and trying to understand how these creative teams work in the advertising and marketing world.