“I’ve never done a campaign before, and this is my first,” a carefully grizzled Mr. Bana says in a YouTube video for the new fragrance Bulgari Man Extreme.
“I always make a point of trying to smell nice for my co-stars,” he adds later.
And for some, the feeling is mutual, as the bare-chested, blank-faced models of yesterday’s after-shave campaigns are increasingly being replaced by recognizable Hollywood personalities. Garrett Hedlund, Mr. Bana’s colleague in “Troy,” will be the newest “face” for Yves Saint Laurent La Nuit de L’Homme, with print advertisements making their debut in June. Simon Baker, a k a “The Mentalist,” is the well-mannered, umbrella-toting image of Givenchy’s latest Gentlemen Only scent. Alexander Skarsgard, with his cool Nordic features, represents Calvin Klein Encounter, which was introduced in September. And that’s not counting Brad Pitt’s ads for the women’s perfume Chanel No. 5 (which had some observers scratching their heads).
While actresses signing fragrance deals is nothing new, actors have historically been harder to woo, industry members say. “Males, especially in the U.S., have always been more reluctant,” said Catherine Walsh, senior vice president for American fragrances for Coty Prestige, who worked on the Encounter fragrance. “You’ll see Clooney doing a campaign in Asia, and that was O.K. as long as it was far away.”
Apparently (Joe Namath for Brut notwithstanding), representing a cologne had come to seem unmanly. “Ten years ago, it was quite difficult for an actor to admit that they take care of themselves,” said Valeria Manini, managing director of Bulgari Parfums.
But with the rise of the metrosexual and increasingly sophisticated grooming products for the furrier sex, the stigma has lessened. “There’s no barrier anymore,” said Ms. Manini. For today’s multimedia campaigns, she said, actors are easier to relate to and better trained than models.
Footage from television commercials and mini-movies can be cut or repurposed for YouTube and print ads, industry executives said. And production values are rapidly improving. Bulgari originally approached Quentin Tarantino (who passed) to direct the commercial, eventually hiring the Italian filmmaker Matteo Garrone.
“You only have a few seconds to convey the brand,” Ms. Manini said. “An actor can work with a director better.”
Appearance is also important, of course. “If he doesn’t look right or it’s not a fit, it can really hurt you,” Ms. Walsh said. Coty chose Mr. Skarsgard — the vampire Eric Northman on “True Blood” — to help convey a film-noir aesthetic, she said. Mr. Hedlund exudes a sensitive masculinity, said Stephan Bezy, international general manager for Yves Saint Laurent Beauté.
In the past, YSL Beauté has worked with French actors and celebrities like Vincent Cassel, Olivier Martinez and Benjamin Millepied, but Mr. Hedlund is from Minnesota. Mr. Bezy suggested that the company wanted to focus in particular on raising the profile of the L’Homme franchise among Americans. “In France it’s No. 1, and in the U.S. it’s No. 4, very close to No. 3,” he said, referring to the list of best-selling male fragrances. “It’s a very important decision who to choose for the brand.”
It helped Mr. Hedlund that he is in the coming Coen brothers film, “Inside Llewyn Davis.” “We like to capture the actor or talent when he’s blossoming,” Mr. Bezy said.
A following can also help, as generations of sports stars who have converted their fame to fragrance can attest. (Derek Jeter for Avon, anyone?) And so luxury brands, which usually favor film actors because of their international reach — Mr. Bana was surprisingly popular in India, Ms. Manini said — are starting to pick television stars, like Mr. Baker, who brings along a devoted fan base.
“ ‘The Mentalist’ is very popular in Europe — it’s in the top five most-watched programs in France,” said Thierry Maman, president of Givenchy Parfums. “But to tell you the truth, in the beginning, the television aspect was not very flattering for us. We really chose him because he was in line with the story we wanted to communicate.”
The campaign’s plot demanded a person who would come off believably as a modern-day gentleman, Mr. Maman said. First, the company considered male models. “He would be a beautiful guy, very handsome, but why would he be a gentleman?” Mr. Maman said. “So we rapidly searched for actors and sports guys, and also dancers and singers.” Mr. Baker won out for his elegance and a certain delicacy.
“When the ads ran, I realized finally that TV stars have a very, very strong power: their reach is huge,” Mr. Maman said, adding that he overheard a few female workers at the company’s production facility in the French countryside, a region he compared to Oklahoma or Minnesota, coo over Mr. Baker’s old-fashioned charm. “If I went with a movie star, it’s not clear that they would know them,” he said. “They might not go to the movies.”
And this being fragrance (“We’re selling a dream,” Ms. Manini said. “Fragrance is an ephemeral thing.”), a baseline requirement is that the actor should have sex appeal — even an unkempt, shaggy sex appeal like Mr. Pitt’s.
“I suspect a lot of wives want their husbands to smell better and are buying the fragrances for them,” said Nick Sullivan, the fashion director at Esquire, who thinks that fragrance companies’ choosing actors for their ad campaigns is in line with a current general “hunger for fame.”
“The fact that they used Brad Pitt for a women’s fragrance says something,” he said. “Men have a greater cachet in beauty than they have had for a long time.”
Article source: http://www.nytimes.com/2013/04/25/fashion/best-actor-in-a-spritzing-role.html?partner=rss&emc=rss