It is official, The Fragrance Brand Christian Dior has decided to call Miss Dior Chérie as simply as Miss Dior. But what happens to the 1947 Miss Dior? Well, it becomes now Miss Dior “Original”. What should we think about it?
1947 Miss Dior represented the uniqueness of Dior with its new look. The war was over and everybody was looking for something new, something exciting… a renewal. And since then, Miss Dior parfum was a big hit. This beautiful classical chypre with its green, floral and woody notes, became part of the fragrance legends.
With the launch of J’Adore in 1999, lot’s of things changed at Dior. The Fragrance Brand was not anymore a historical reference, it became one of the world market leaders. We could also talk about the Poison saga, especially with the latest Hypnotic Poison or the Dior Colognes for men, but the real big commercial hit after J’Adore was Miss Dior Chérie.
Remember the 2005 ad shot by Nick knight with the grandchild of Elvis himself? At that time the concept was a rock-little sister of Miss Dior. Naughty but still innocent.
Everything on the product mix was well done. Perfect fragrance as a clear modernization of a Fruity-Chypre (I love the beautiful Damascene Rose there), perfect flacon (classical but with a hint of modernity and youth) and above all the perfect communication.
Then, we got the arrival of Sofia Coppola and the concept evolved from rock-little sister to…. little sister. Remember the TV ad?
The music was Brigitte Bardot “Moi je joue”. Perfect.
After a while, Dior got into contract with one of the top ten best actress, oscar winner Natalie Portman. And this became a big hit for sure and the communication evolved.
They got one of the big fashion photographers for the occasion. Tim Walker. You know him because basically his presence in Vogue magazine over one decade made him one of the most important fashion photographers of his generation. His sense of colors, of “mise-en-scène” and his stylish and glamor impression, makes him the perfect photographer for Dior and Miss Dior Chérie.
So, as Dior is definitely making sales with Miss Dior Chérie, the question comes from a marketing perspective: “What should we do with Miss Dior?”. The answer from Dior was simple, let’s blend the 2 lines and we keep the 1947 Miss Dior somewhere there for the nostalgics.
So now, I invite you to check the Brands official website. You will discover that there is only one line called Miss Dior. Inside the line, you have Miss Dior (which is Miss Dior Chérie) and Miss Dior Original (which is the 1947 Miss Dior). See here the new TV Ad:
As you can see, they tried to bring a more timeless elegancy. The white swan is there, as in the original 1947 Miss Dior first Ad. All the Fragrance flacons you see in the movie is with the label Miss Dior Chérie but now it is Miss Dior. Brigitte Bardot, one of Serge Gainsbourg lovers was replaced by his official first wife, Jane Birkin with the famous “Je t’aime, moi non plus”.
In their dedicated mini-website you can read that Mr François Demachy did Miss Dior. Of course they meant Miss Dior Chérie but as it is now called Miss Dior, now we get this chronological mistake. We could also mention that the real “nose” behind Miss Dior Chérie is Ms Christine Nagel. Originally Swiss, she worked for beautiful Fragrance houses like Firmenich, Quest International (where she did Miss Dior Chérie) and then Givaudan. Now she is working for Mane&Fils and she is based in Paris.
As all the commercial efforts are made on Miss Dior “Chérie”, we are probably watching the programmed death of Miss Dior. I wonder why did they do this. Miss Dior Chérie entire concept was a perfect positioning, no need to change that. It is like Coco and Coco Mademoiselle from Chanel. The “little daughter” from the mother line.
I found this completely disrespectful for what Mr Christian Dior did. Marketing and sales should not take it over creation. Probably one should be working for Chanel or Guerlain to figure it out. It is a pity because the story was even more interesting than the Coco-Coco Mademoiselle one.
So probably now the “Miss Dior” customer should say: “Give me the green one or the pink-salmonish one. Or even worst, a Miss Dior Chérie customer looking for her Fragrance in a Perfumery store will not find it.
After a real concept evolution and now this positioning change, we are already nostalgics from Miss Dior… By cutting-down the heritage of the past you end it up by burning the wings of your future.
LA
Info sourced at Dior.com, Osmoz.com. All images are not free of rights and should not be used without further notice.
