Perfume advertising in India has revolved around a single popular idea: male fragrance equals female attraction. But BellaVita’s latest commercial attempts to depart from this long-standing formula. Something Fogg did years ago.
Rather than positioning fragrance as a tool to win someone over, the brand reframes it as something in the act of moving on, in this case, after a breakup.
Actor Raghav Juyal, fresh off the success of The Bads of Bollywood, carries a unique mix of credibility, fun, relatability, and star power. He is not the conventional, chiselled fragrance model. Juyal’s curly hair and buttery smooth slow-mo dance moves lend the commercial a softness that contrasts with the expected hyper-macho tone typical of the category.
The campaign was developed in collaboration with Daftar Creative Room, with production support from Juyal’s management team at Blue Orchid Entertainment. Together, they created a rhythm-driven film which resonates with both Gen Z and millennials.
Even the background music is intentional and not just because it narrates Juyal’s story post his break-up. Shah Rukh Khan’s ‘Yeh Dil Deewana’ from his 1997 film Pardes, a track that brings back late-1990s Bollywood nostalgia, is more than just a background score. Its enduring quality mirrors the brand’s “timelessness”, which the commercial aims at.
The film opens in a black-and-white setup, where a woman tells Juyal to move on. When he finally does move forward, it is only after spraying BellaVita’s Oud perfume. Soon his dance, from the streets, shifts into a film set, almost seamlessly, and with some colour.
The two-minute long film briefly becomes colourful before slipping back into a black and white aesthetic.
The commercial closes with Juyal on yet another date, but this time the dynamic has changed. He is not seeking external acceptance or validation. He knows he is the star.
This arc, in a way, also reframes masculinity. It says that masculinity is not something validated by external desire, but rather something reclaimed internally.
The transition between black-and-white and colour isn’t just for the sake of it. This, too, tells a story of the brand’s symbolism. BellaVita, despite being a relatively young player, is able to position itself through this film as something that will last long.
Also Read: Seduction to sanskar—How Darshan Patel’s Fogg helped India’s deo market grow up
Can BellaVita become the next Fogg?
In many ways, this is only the other significant attempt, after Fogg, to disrupt the typical deodorant and perfume advertisements in India. While most brands continued selling seductions like Axe’s 2008 Dark Temptation campaign, Fogg entered the market emphasising Indian sanskars (values) and the promise of “800 sprays” in 2011.
Over time, as the category matured, perfumes began aligning themselves with ideas of success, legacy, and status.
BellaVita, however, circles back to love, but with a twist. This isn’t about beginning a romance. It’s about ending one, moving on and feeling lighter.
But, as the film shows, it isn’t just about letting go, the last scene where Juyal finds himself on another date, shows that it’s about moving forward.
In doing so, BellaVita’s #OwnTheVibe campaign has made an effort to reposition fragrance not as a promise to others but as a reassurance to oneself.
Brand: BellaVita
Agency: Daftar Creative Room
Views are personal.
(Edited by Insha Jalil Waziri)