Today we are going to talk about the partnership between Johnny Depp and Dior, which teaches us a story about why loyalty is so important, and how nailing a marketing plan leads to worldwide success.
You probably know both of these names really well, but for the sake of the story let’s have a quick introduction about them.
Johnny Depp is a world-class actor, starring in movies for 30 years now, most commonly known for his performance in Pirates of the Caribbean as Jack Sparrow. He is highly praised for his enthusiasm for his roles and his ability to make his roles so memorable, immersive, and unique.
Then we have Dior, a designer brand most commonly known for its designer pieces and fragrances. Today Dior is one of the leading designer brands in the world, and their path to success is certainly something to behold.
Our story first takes us back to September 2015, the release date of Dior Sauvage. This was Dior’s first brand-new men’s fragrance release since 2005, so the anticipation was high, this had to leave a mark. Dior chose Johnny Depp to be the face of Sauvage when they released this masterpiece of a commercial that you can watch here:
Both the commercial and the scent of this fragrance was a striking success and the DNA quickly became the most trending in the world of fragrances.
They continued to ride the waves with this success and kept releasing more flankers of Sauvage and pushing out more and more commercials. Sauvage remained in the top category of men’s fragrances in the following years, releasing 3 new flankers next to the original, with different striking commercials for all of them.
This is where our story takes a turn. In 2022 Johnny Depp and Amber Heard were found in the middle of one of the biggest cases in history. This case made headlines for multiple months straight, the whole world was talking about it.
It all started with Amber Heard accusing Johnny Depp of domestic abuse, and at first, the media believed her. This resulted in Johnny Depp losing most of his contracts among major roles such as Grindelwald in “Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them” aka the sequel of Harry Potter. This point was of course a major damage to his career with major studios and brands not standing up to defend him.
All but one. Dior has never left the side of Johnny Depp and was the first to defend his name and fight with him through this trial.
The case started shifting in Johnny Depp’s favour. It shifted into a defamation trial, where the accusation was that Amber Heard defamed Johnny Depp with malice.
We are not going to go into details about the case, after all this isn’t a Law School lesson.
In the end, Johnny Depp won the case. How much did Dior’s loyalty help to uncover the truth? We cannot tell. But it for sure makes for a great story and serves as a testimonial for their image.
All while this was happening, the success of Sauvage was not stopped. It was said that Dior was selling a bottle of Sauvage every 3 seconds. This is estimated to be around $4.5 Million a day in sales.
After 9 years, today Dior Sauvage is the #1 most sold fragrance EVER.
The brilliance of a man and the loyalty and image of a brand takes you this far.
I hope that this has given you inspiration and gave you a sense of direction for your next project!
See you next time!