#product naming

Rouge Coco: Chanel gets an A+ in lipstick naming

This March, Chanel will relaunch its flagship lipstick range Rouge Coco, first commercialised in 2010. The lipstick has a new formula and an array of new shades.

Naming make-up hues answers to the same requirements as naming any luxury product: it needs to be aligned with the brand’s values, history, perception and with the way it wants to market the item. For beauty, the additional challenge is to appeal to the aspirational customer who might make their first brand purchase via make-up.

Inits previous, currently-on-the-shelves iteration, the Rouge Coco shades were somewhat related to Chanel’s history, with names such as Cambon, Gabrielle, Magnolia, and even Superstition (Coco Chanel was highly superstitious).

For 2015, Chanel has tightened its lipstick-naming strategy, looking to its founder’s nearest and dearest: her lovers for the reds, her family for the nudes, her muses for the corals, her best friends for the pinks and artists for the plums.  

I love both the idea and the execution. Chanel is one of the few fashion houses who has managed to keep its founder’s mystique alive and central to its marketing. The Rouge Coco naming is the latest example of it.

Digital storytelling in the US and France

Although the relaunch has yet to happen, the new Rouge Coco has already been announced on the Chanel websites. The associated storytelling very much depends on the market and country.

In the US, the brand only lists shade names alongside visuals of the product. It does with the background in an introductory paragraph, never going into the details of who each colour was, which I found quite frustrating.

‘[…] named for Coco Chanel and the friends, artists and lovers who inspired her. Five colour ranges celebrate her intimate circles. Every shade tells a story … a colourful expression of Mademoiselle’s life and legend’ (Chanel.com United-States, retrieved 18 February 2015)

On its French website on the other hand, Chanel delivers high-level biographical details of the men and women behind the shade names, each following a set format: opening with two adjectives describing the spirit of the shade; a short sentence explaining the spirit of the woman who would wear it; and a closing sentence explaining who the shade is named after.  

For instance, for the red Arthur: ‘Free and determined. For the bravest who listens to her heart. Named for Arthur Boy Capel, Coco Chanel’s greatest love.’ (Chanel.com France, retrieved 19 February 2015, translation my own)

Or the deep plum Emilienne: ‘Atypical and charismatic. For avant-gardists ready to take the lead. Inspired by music-hall artist Emilienne d’Alençon, one of the first to wear Chanel.’ (Chanel.com France, retrieved 19 February 2015, translation my own)

And finally, the bright coral Coco. Despite her extensive network, Chanel was always about Chanel: ‘Radiant and at ease with herself. For the impulsive who fully lives and grabs the moment. Just like Coco Chanel.’ (Chanel.com France, retrieved 19 February 2015, translation my own)

Chanel currently holds two spots on the top 10 best-selling female fragrance list in the US with Coco Mademoiselle and No.5. Yet Gabrielle Chanel, the woman, doesn’t enjoy the same fame there as she does in France where, as part of the national culture, she is the subject of multiple biopics and biographies.

For instance, Anne Fontaine’s 2009 movie Coco avant Chanel only made $6,113,834 in the US compared to $8,680,317 in France, despite a much smaller market (Box Office Mojo data). Starring Audrey Tautou, the film focused on the early Chanel years: her friendship with Emilienne (Emmanuelle Devos), her love story with Étienne Balsan (a dramatic red in the Rouge Coco range, in the film played by Benoit Poelvoorde) and her eventual decision to leave him for Boy Capel (Alessandro Nivola).

The same year, Jan Kounen’s Coco Chanel & Igor Stravinsky told the affair between Mademoiselle (Anna Mouglalis) and the famed music composer (Mads Mikkelsen).

“Igor” is absent from the Rouge Coco range. Maybe Chanel decided to keep some names aside for later additions. Or maybe the names not mentioned say as much as the listed ones about the story Chanel wants to tell about its founder. Even though Mouglalis is a long-term house muse, the brand didn’t support Coco & Igor, while it was involved with Fontaine’s movie. In fact, Tautou was the face of Chanel No. 5 for several years.

The affair between Chanel and Stravinsky is disputed. In the beautiful and very official CHANEL and her world Friends, Fashion and Fame (I was gifted it at a Chanel PR event five years ago), Edmonde Charles-Roux describes the months Kounen shot as a torrid love affair during which “Stravinsky, who for a while had made his home in the couturière’s villa”.  Even if theirs was a platonic friendship born of shared creativity and mutual respect, I feel Igor had a space at least among the deep plums. Maybe next season.

Photos: 1, 5 and 6 from Stephanie Zwicky; 2 and 3 New Rouge Coco campaign with Keira Knightley; 4 Rouge Coco US landing page graphic; 7 - 9 Rouge Coco colours; 10 Previous Rouge Coco ad

The Candide: Zadig & Voltaire gets an A+ in bag naming

Back in 2011 Frédéric Lefebvre, the then French Secretary of State for Trade, Small and Medium Enterprises, Tourism, Services, Liberal Professions and Consumption, made a idiot of himself on national media by naming Zadig & Voltaire as his favourite author.

Of course, Lefebvre meant the Enlightenment philosopher Voltaire, not the high-end high-street brand. Growing up in France, I have come to love both the writer, who I read extensively at school, and the brand, which I wear extensively on weekends.

I have a particular fondness for their handbags. Whereas star items such as the Tunisien T-shirts, which can loose their shape after a few washes, or the cashmere jumpers, which tend to pile, have disappointed me, my three handbags have never failed me. The leather is supple; beautiful to the eye and touch. They have the right number of pockets to enable me to organise my stuff, but not so many that I forget where I put everything. They always get me compliments.

So when I received a Zadig & Voltaire email announcing a new structured tote for Spring/Summer 2015, The Candide, I was pretty excited. Not least by the name, the best synergy between a bag name and a brand name I have seen in a while.

Bag naming is tricky. It needs to work across platforms. It needs to be true to the brand’s history and to its public perception. It needs to be short enough not to take up half a tweet. More importantly, considering the competition on the bag market and the income brands derive from leather goods, it needs to be memorable and to stand the test of time. Bonus points if it has worldwide meaning.

With The Candide, Zadig & Voltaire ticks most boxes. Candide ou l'Optimisme is one of Voltaire’s best-known novellas. When it comes to alignment with a brand DNA, you can hardly be more spot-on than a satire written by a man whose name is in your logo. It’s so obvious it’s hard to believe they didn’t think of it before: previous star bags were named The Sunny bag or The Rock clutch. The idea is scalable, thanks to Voltaire’s prolific writing. How about a Micromégas hobo bag and a Zaïresatchel?

Contrary to most brands, Zadig & Voltaire didn’t premiere The Candide at its Spring/Summer 2015 show. But then artistic director Cecilia Bönström doesn’t envisage the runway the way competitors do. According to Amy Verner at Style.com, Bönström sees it as a conceptual event, an introduction to what she thinks for the upcoming season rather than an exact display of what will be on the shelves next. True to this idea, The Candide is available in two key runway colours: black and yellow.

The tote has so far enjoyed limited marketing and publicity. Aside from the global email introducing it and print campaign, Zadig & Voltaire have promoted it on social media to limited engagement. A tweet posted on 28 January has so far gathered five retweets and four favourites; a similar post on Facebook has five likes and one share; one on Tumblr has three notes. In terms of earned coverage, it has been photographed at Heidi Klum’s arm and it is currently in the display windows of key Parisian shopping destination Printemps. But these are early days; we are merely getting to know The Candide.