How are we all feeling about the new French Connection campaign?
Since my boyfriend started working as a junior creative at ad agency Adam and Eve I've found myself naturally analysing adverts in terms of their originality and creative quirkiness, which is why I'm really enjoying the new French Connection 'For Woman' / 'For Man' campaign.
Not everyone feels the same way (I believe one colleague used the word 'desperate' to describe it), but I think it's a pretty brave attempt by the brand to push their image in a totally new direction. You don't see many highstreet labels doing anything anywhere near as odd and interesting as this...
'The Man; a rugged, bearded and outspoken character who tells our customer how to dress. He has the physique of a bare-knuckle boxer, the brain of Voltaire and a discerning eye. Other men can learn much from him'
'The Woman is understated yet sexy. Her description is brief, as we know little of her. She is beautiful, enchanting, capricious and mystifying. We don't even catch her name'
The campaign was masterminded by Fallon London (the agency behind that Cadburys gorilla ad we all banged on about so much) who told me 'The overall brief was to launch the French Connection spring collection with a nod to the style and playfulness of the brand's original DNA'. Hence 'Franglais' lines like 'he knows not what sequins is' (check me out with my adopted knowledge of ad-land terminology).
Stephen Marks, founder and chairman of French Connection, hopes the love it or hate it buzz around the ads will translate to sales: 'We believe we have created an impactful and intelligent campaign which we hope will encourage talk-ability amongst our loyal customers and fashion opinion formers worldwide'...jobs a good'un Stephen.