There have been countless articles about celebrity branding, and quite a few about the power of nostalgia. But just lately, brands have been combining these two powerful tools to great effect. The thought occurred me this morning when I heard Gainsbourg and Birkin crooning Pour un homme de Caron on Europe 1. I immediately thought of Alain Delon, whose younger self has been repackaged to sell us Eau sauvage.
I wonder if men prefer their idols older or dead? Perhaps we are too competitive to admire a man who is roughly our own age, but obviously richer, handsomer and more successful than ourselves? A father figure is fine: we can look up to Delon and appreciate the restrained poise he showed as a young star. Gainsbourg is even better – he's long gone, leaving only an image that we can aspire to. He has become a brand. He recorded the Caron song in 1972, but it works even better today.
In a way, Tag Heuer started this trend a couple of years ago when it started using Steve McQueen – who left this world in 1980 – in its print ads. McQueen defines the idea of person as brand. Cool and inaccessible, his rugged features frozen on celluloid. We never had to watch him age or lose his charm. We don't feel jealous when our girlfriends fancy him. He is the dictionary definition of an icon: a sign whose form suggests its meaning; an object of uncritical devotion.
