Louis Vuitton Spring 2021 Ad Campaign

Review of “On The Beach” Spring 2021 Ad Campaign by Alex Israel with actor Eiza Gonzalez

Louis Vuitton unveils a new fragrance campaign, created by Los Angeles-based visual artist Alex Israel, that channels all the magical energy of summer.

Though in itself his work is quite vapid, Israel’s signature pastel gradient style – which recalls sunsets over the ocean – feels like the perfect choice for the brand identity of Louis Vuitton’s “On the Beach” perfume. Fragrance campaigns can be elusive in that they must convey the spirit of a scent through image and sound alone. In marketing perfume, it is also important to highlight the bottle design, as it is the main tactile experience through which potential customers will have access to the scent. Israel’s vague yet colorful work checks both these boxes.

The animated short film feels like a refreshing change of pace from the usual live-action ads we see. The film follows a young woman who heads to the beach for a day of solo surfing. The animation creates the opportunity for subtly fantastical touches that convey a strong sense of color and character.

In his photographs, Israel makes use of body painting on actor Eiza Gonzalez, the star of the animated film brought to life. In the gradient of orange and blue that appears both on her body and on her surfboard, we see an echo of the bottle design – a smart way to connect the character of the fragrance and this world of endless summer.

As far as artistic collaborations go, Israel’s work offers very little in the way of aesthetic interest or intellectual challenge – but it is for just this reason that his work lends itself so well to a brand. When a work of art has no ideas of its own, it is easy to fill it with a content from outside – in this instance, a vision of a fragrant summer fantasy. Simple and sunny, the campaign has us ready to wake up and smell the beach.