Prestige Brands Australia in partnership with Spark Foundry has launched a live-entertainment technology campaign for its new Dylan Purple ‘Endless Summer’ Versace fragrance.
In December last year, the advertising agency and cosmetics and perfume supplier teamed up to present a drone light show against the backdrop of Sydney Harbour’s night sky and 500 illuminated, choreographed drones to "paint the town purple".
The campaign aims to strengthen the women’s portfolio with scale, impact, and memorability in mind – achieving cut-through with the brand’s core and broader audience.
Some of Sydney’s hottest VIPs were hosted onboard a luxury cruise liner with optimal views of the 10-minute aerial display – creating an emotive experience for viewers to share via social channels.
The campaign also includes tactical placement of premium large format and street furniture OOH in Sydney and Melbourne CBDs, within proximity to retail precincts and high-dwell commuter hubs.
Watch the drone show here:
Prestige Brands Australia’s director of business and marketing, Jessica Charlesworth, celebrated the success of the work by saying that she could not have imagined a better way to introduce the fragrance.
“To celebrate Australia being one of the first countries to launch, we could not have imagined a better way of bringing the 'endless summer' fragrance to Sydney.”
AdNews spoke with client director at Spark Foundry, Nora Hammoud, planning & activation executive at Spark Foundry, Bec Cooke and Australian Traffic Network's head of operations, Vic Lorusso, to unpack the campaign brief and how the success of the campaign helped the brand reach its core audience.
Hammoud took her experience from the Australasian Versace launch to stand out in a cluttered beauty space. The client director says her team was tasked with creating a big, bold strategy to put the fragrance top of mind in the perfume space.
“Recently we were a part of the new Versace fragrance launch, where we were the first to go live with this product in Australasia. Given the importance of standing out in such a cluttered beauty space, especially in the lead up to Christmas – we were briefed on creating a big and bold strategy that’ll put the fragrance top of mind when it comes to the perfume space.
“To do this we partnered with our traditional OOH partners as well as beauty titles Vogue and Marie Claire to help build reach amongst an intent audience. We also lent into TikTok to further build scale amongst a younger audience, ensuring tactical placement within the beauty and fragrance category.
"However, we wanted to create a bang in the market. We wanted to paint the Sydney skyline purple – and we did just that, with a drone light show. Partnering with ATN, we created a 10 minute aerial show that displayed not only the brand but the shape of the fragrance bottle, with 500 drones lighting up the Sydney Harbour.
“The night was captured by social influencers (hosted by EVH), further leveraging their following to increase amplification. Since launching, we’ve seen an over delivery on all targets and it has been one of the most successful fragrance launches for our brand in Australia.”
Cooke provided insight into the rationale of the work, and explains that the goal was to create impact and memorability when painting the town purple.
“Our priority for Prestige was to “Paint the town Purple” – but in such a cluttered time of year, we knew we needed scale, impact and memorability for the launch of their newest fragrance. When ATN approached us with their new drone product, we knew it was perfect for what we were aiming to achieve.
“No less than true domination needed to be deployed alongside the drones. Though incredible on their own, there needed to be added elements to ensure Prestige were able to leverage their activation to a mass audience.
“We started strong with our traditional OOH buy across Sydney and Melbourne’s CBD, alongside partnerships with ARE Media and Vogue. This was complemented with highly targeted TikTok and YouTube placements in the lead up to the show.”
The planning & activation executive explained the difficulty building audience momentum in a well-known OOH location.
“It’s hard to be in a more iconic OOH location than the sky above the Opera House, but it’s obviously logistically difficult to get as many eye-balls on it as you’d like.
“With the momentum we had behind the start of the campaign, we were able to partner again with Vogue to amplify the influencer event with stunning video and editorial assets – taking the fragrance from Port Jackson to screens around Australia.
“This, alongside content created by the influencers at the event has helped us reach the brand’s core audience and has put the fragrance line top of mind during the gifting season.”
Lorusso provided AdNews with details around the logistic expertise behind the campaign, explaining that 500 drones were launched over Sydney Harbour to create a spectacular backdrop for the fragrance.
“The Australian traffic network in collaboration with Spark Foundry and Prestige Brands launched 500 drones over Sydney Harbour to create a truly spectacular backdrop for Versace’s Australasian product launch for the amazing fragrance.
“Australian Traffic Network's team of drone experts created the city’s largest billboard in the sky with 500 of ATN’S drones to create the complete package for an advertiser to capture real attention with significant size and design that created the ultimate wow factor for the brand in the best city in the world.”
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