Video still from L’Envol de Cartier promotions
French jeweler Cartier has bottled the nectar of the gods for its newly released cologne, urging its male consumers to fly high and know no limits.
L’Envol de Cartier fragrance for men harnesses the boldness of ambrosia, or honey, within its notes profile for a commanding, limitless scent. For its composition, Cartier drew inspiration from ancient mythology that believed ambrosia-infused wines brought immortality to those who consumed the substance.
“I saw no plants of the genus ambrosia featured in the video,” said Ryan Clark, founder of Luxury Branded, Victoria, British Columbia. “What I did see is a brown liquid coming from the ground and, for some reason, the model’s hand.
“If I had not known to look for ambrosia in the ad, I would not have suspected it at all,” he said. “I would imagine this fragrance to have a dirty scent, maybe a sweet petrichor, because of the liquid’s origins.
“When the bottle ascends into its housing, the sun rays through to clouds do convey a godliness. If we are talking about ambrosia as the food of the ancient Greek gods and not the smell of ragweed, it would be apparent here only after having read the coles notes.”
Mr. Clark is not affiliated with Cartier, but agreed to comment as an industry expert.
Cartier did not respond by press deadline.
Properties of immortality
Translated to English, L’Envol de Cartier means The Flight of Cartier. With the addition of L’Envol de Cartier, the jeweler offers six scents for men. L’Envol de Cartier is the maison’s first cologne since 2008.
Cartier introduced L’Envol de Cartier through social video content as well as a hub for its fragrance housed on its Web site.
The Cartier landing page encourages consumers to “step into a new world with L’Envol de Cartier.” First, Cartier introduces the cologne’s notes of guaiac wood and honey as well as the scent’s musky undertone.
Cartier’s in-house perfumer Mathilde Laurent created the cologne
Bringing its scent profile to a visual representation, Cartier shared its campaign film alongside a quotation from the cologne’s creator and Cartier’s in-house perfumer, Mathilde Laurent. In her comment, Ms. Laurent says the scent was “inspired by the mythical ambrosia believed to confer immortality.”
In the 16-second campaign film, ideal for social media, an amber-colored droplet is seen emerging from a rocky landscape and traveling upward. In the next frame, the droplet becomes a colorful blast and a man’s pupil is seen dilating.
The following scene shows the man slowly opening his palm to reveal the drop of ambrosia as it continues its upward journey. The campaign short concludes with L’Envol de Cartier’s detachable juice vial joining its bell jar-shaped covering, showing that the droplet became Cartier’s fragrance.
L’Envol de Cartier – New masculine fragrance
In the following Web page section Cartier includes stills of the video accompanied by a quote from Lebanese-American poet Khalil Gibran, which reads: “No man can reveal to you aught but that which already lies half asleep in the dawning of your knowledge.”
Below, Cartier shares a video that highlights the details of L’Envol de Cartier’s bottle design. A slidebar element allows the consumer to pull apart and reconstruct the components of the bottle, which includes a metal spray top with a band of the jeweler’s guilloché motif on its stopper as well as the glass dome.
L’Envol de Cartier bottle
In Cartier’s final section introducing its latest men’s cologne, the jeweler shows Ms. Laurent at work in a staged, minimalistic perfumery.
During the 47-second film, Ms. Laurent speaks of her inspirations for the scent as a large droplet of ambrosia escapes a vial, water slips from an iris petal and a silk scarf, meant to represent musk, floats by, coming together to be L’Envol de Cartier.
Mathilde Laurent presents L’Envol de Cartier
By showing Ms. Laurent at work and exploring her inspirations, an abstract concept is broken down in a way that is easily understood and digested by Cartier consumers.
Inspiration, move me brightly
Fragrance marketing often relies on the notes of a particular scent to craft the campaign narrative. This tactic is used by marketers due to perfume’s subjectivity among individuals.
For example, in 2014, Italian jeweler Bulgari developed a microsite for Aqua pour Homme and Aqua Amra, the jeweler’s then-new fragrance offering. The microsite positioned the two men’s fragrances as worldly elements to help consumers select which scent would be best for their taste, style and personality.
The microsite’s home screen showed moving water acting as a horizon line to divide the land of Aqua Amara and the underwater realm of Aqua pour Homme. The consumer could then scroll upwards or downwards depending on which fragrance piqued his interest (see story).
Likewise, a house’s codes can be repurposed to become a scent’s signifier even if the concept is abstract.
For example, Cartier expanded its women’s fragrance collection with the introduction of the La Panthère scent.
La Panthère joined Cartier’s women’s fragrances in 2014 with an aim to reflect the feline codes the house uses in many of its motifs, animations and jewelry. By creating a fragrance that related directly to the jeweler’s codes, it is likely that dedicated consumers will appreciate the bottle’s design and scent profile (see story).
“I do think [Cartier’s campaign concept for L’Envol de Cartier] would be enough to get somebody to stop and smell it as they walked through a department store,” Mr. Clark said. “The ad is quite attractive visually and the bottle is very memorable.
“After having watched the ad, I can imagine people would like to stop and smell it first hand,” he said. “Depending on its olfactory palette, I can see this leading to product recognition and sales.