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Posted by Patrick Burgoyne, 20 August 2010, 12:15 Permalink Comments (24)
The latest installments in Fallon's quirky French Connection campaign dials up the engaging idiosyncrasies of The Man. And The Woman? Well, she's still very pretty...
When this campaign first broke earlier this year, I wrote (here) that "the new campaign feels like an attempt to scrub away the lingering whiff of Bacardi Breezer about the brand and distance it from its punning past." Trevor Beattie's FCUK work had cemented his reputation and shifted a lot of gear for his client but, once the joke wore thin, so did customer's appetite for the brand.
The company doesn't announce its half-yearly results until next month so it is too early to tell what effect the campaign has had on sales but it may already have shifted perceptions.
The latest tranche of work (which before anyone leaps in and moans that it's been seen already, has been rolling out over the past couple of weeks) continues the off-beat tone of voice of the originals. Its combination of the high-brow (references to Jørgen Leth's 1967 short film The Perfect Human) and the plain daft betray the influence of Tomato's Dirk van Dooren, who worked on the original concept with Fallon's ECD Richard Flintham.
Once again, Leila and Damien de Blinkk have shot both still and moving image ads with great style.
I like it - it's original and different and, as one of the commenters pointed out in reference to my original post, injects an element of bizarre humour not seen in fashion promotion since Brian Baderman's gloriously bizarre Diesel catalogues of the late 90s.
But I have one gripe with it. The Man is engaging, funny and on his way to being a three-dimensional character. The Woman just stands around looking nice, waiting to be admired. Perhaps this reflects research into the differences between men and women when it comes to buying clothes – men generally feeling uncomfortable about the whole thing and needing to make light of it. But it would be nice to think that there is something going on behind that pout.
UPDATE: Apparently, some of the print layouts featured here earlier were not client approved ads. We have replaced them with ads which will run.
24 Comments
Simple, nice work.
2010-08-20 15:46:00
Très beau et directe au but.
Lovely and straight to the point.
Cheers - Merci
2010-08-20 17:11:05
Haha, the man trousers made me laugh. That's made my Friday
2010-08-20 17:22:55
Great lines. Terrible layout, but nice type face. Can't even see what brand this is for.
Typical of Fallon or Saatchi London.
TV good.
Print mediocre.
Interactive no existent.
2010-08-20 18:01:00
Too much 'advertising' going on here I think.....
2010-08-21 07:26:28
I love this work. Great, strange copy, that leaves the viewer wondering.
2010-08-21 12:28:36
and everything was shot in?... BUDAPEST hahaha
2010-08-21 20:38:47
I like it a lot, its elegant but humourous. I agree with Patrick, why is the woman look just pretty there must be something other that men looking at her that she is thinking about. The man idea is strong.. the woman campaign i feel is not. Who buys more clothes as a majority??? If it was just a campaign to publises more of the men's collection then fair enough, but the womens campaign feels like it was a last minute add-on, and im unconvinced.
2010-08-23 11:32:32
It's a great campaign, but it's in-store execution is a bit patchy. It's practically non-existant in the York store, which still seems to be relying upon the it-was-never-funny FCUK punnery.
2010-08-23 11:50:09
I love the concept and the whit it's presented with. What I don't get is: the woman is rather a young girl, earliest 20ies, not a woman...
Although she's adorable and very nice on the eyes, her cast is poorly chosen.
Darn...
2010-08-23 15:32:05
mixed reviews on this one, but you have to admit it does have a 'certain something' which after all does keeping you hooked- anyone not watch all 4 ads?
2010-08-23 16:07:33
Worth noting how the type (Alright Sans by Jackson Cavanaugh at Okay Type) is treated differently for each.
1. Upper and lowercase (sentence) setting for the female ads, all uppercase for the male.
2. The male ads are in quote marks, the females are not (which could be seen as connecting the man with speech the woman writing?). Interestingly, the philosopher Jacques Derrida argues that throughout the Western philosophical tradition, writing has been considered as merely a derivative form of speech, and thus as a ‘fall’ from the ‘full presence’ of speech.
2010-08-24 02:29:41
brilliant.
2010-08-24 09:30:14
This is fashion advertising for Loaded and FHM readers. Nothing more. French Connections been sold a real stinker here. I pity them.
2010-08-24 09:57:46
But then that is their primary audience I suppose..
It's still a stinker though.
2010-08-24 10:23:57
I like the adverts, they are creative indeed. But I fail to see the level of engagement with the audience. Maybe I'm the wrong the demographic, I don't know. Is there anyone that can tell me on what level the ads engaged with them? Thanks. Rob
2010-08-24 10:34:00
I like the fact the models are posing in an almost mock chic style (especially the guy), with accompanying language that connects with the image. I believe the font is Avenir (could be wrong) which is becoming a font that is widely used across all medium.
I do have to agree with the comments about the creative and the demographic it's aimed at. I think we have to think back to the FCUK advertising which was extremely brave, but became instantly iconic and did wonders for the brand. I would guess the demographic is 20-30's, whether it will sell any clothes, I'm not so sure
2010-08-24 11:33:43
It's a really sexist campaign I have to say, I don't really care if that's what the research say people want, I don't care much for the message. Aren't we supposed to fight these stereotypes?
2010-08-24 12:15:12
I really like the look of the campaign. But why does 'woman' have to be depicted as a silly pretty thing... again? Come on guys, please at least try understanding the demographic, even just a little bit.
2010-08-24 13:52:42
I like the new direct and modern approach which French Connection have taken on their ad campaigns. Especially the phrase "Pity the ex-lover who sees the woman today" and image, as this is how a great dress makes you feel.
2010-08-24 15:46:22
Those quote marks should be hung!..
2010-08-24 16:08:13
Great concept and feel for TV executions, but the copy doesn't work on the print versions, it loses its charm instantly.
2010-08-24 16:35:18
Neanderthal childlike male.. overfamiliar + disappointing!
"Enduring the men.." ?? Oh dear..
2010-08-25 10:44:10
Wolf man made me giggle.
2010-08-30 10:17:50
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