Kenneth Cole Puts Joe Jonas in an Off-Key Power Ballad and Calls It a Fragrance Launch
INSPIRE, the designer's new men's scent, skips the moody desert-and-jawline formula for a Jonas-led parody, because sincerity was never really Kenneth Cole's thing anyway.
Every men's fragrance ad follows the same script: brooding lighting, a jawline, a whispered promise about what she'll remember. Kenneth Cole looked at that script and set it on fire.
The designer partnered with fragrance house Parlux to launch INSPIRE, a new men's fragrance pillar fronted by Joe Jonas as global brand ambassador. Rather than leaning into the genre's self-seriousness, director Anthony Mandler built a campaign film around Jonas performing an original, deliberately over-the-top power ballad backed by an all-Jonas choir, promising the fragrance's effects with a straight face that is clearly in on the joke.
"Fragrance campaigns have a history of feeling very serious and very sexy, so naturally we decided to take that very seriously," Kenneth Cole said, which is either the most self-aware line in fragrance marketing this year or the setup to next year's follow-up bit.
The scent itself splits the difference between the campaign's chaos and something you could actually wear to work: bergamot, lemon and grapefruit up top, rosemary and black pepper in the middle, cedarwood and amber underneath. It launches nationally through Nordstrom stores and online, priced from $15 for a body spray up to $75 for the full 3.4-ounce bottle.
The lesson for anyone building a fragrance line, or any brand extension that risks feeling like a cash grab: if the category is drowning in false gravity, the fastest way to stand out is to refuse to play along.
Kyle Duford, Founder & Editor, BRNDWIRE. More from Kyle →
