How do you make an old fragrance new again? Chanel’s idea: Bring on a campaign star from the past.
Shortly after announcing that the very beautiful (and very dead) Marilyn Monroe had been chosen to be the next face of Chanel No. 5, the French fashion house unveiled the new ad campaign — which, as you probably could have guessed, uses footage that isn’t all that new.
The TV commercial as well as the print campaign are both in black and white. Chanel released three exclusive images featuring Monroe with the perfume (see slideshow below), but a rep could not confirm which will be used in the actual campaign. One image is of Monroe seductively reclined in a bed (what is it about beds and perfumes?) and another shows Monroe holding a bottle of the fragrance, one dress strap falling from her shoulder.
The TV commercial features an audio recording of a 1960 interview between Georges Belmont, then the editor of Marie Claire, and Monroe, in which she famously revealed that she wore nothing but Chanel No. 5 to bed:
