What’s in a name? L’Occitane casts Nick Grimshaw to clear up confusion over how to pronounce brand name

By Becky Bargh | Published: 28-Oct-2019

The French beauty brand hopes the campaign will boost brand awareness in the UK

L’Occitane has solved the mystery of pronouncing its name with a new campaign video starring TV presenter Nick Grimshaw and French content creator Manon Lagrève.

The film plays on the difficulties experienced by many trying to pronounce the French brand’s name and delivers a way to remember it.

According to L’Occitane, brand awareness is at 54% in the UK, however, a large proportion of this was put down to pronunciation not being synonymous with the brand.

Grimshaw was among those who admitted to pronouncing the name incorrectly.

He said: “I’ve been saying this wrong my entire life. Why didn’t we do this sooner?”

Meanwhile, Lagrève added: “I am so proud to be part of the new campaign with L’Occitane to show how to pronounce the name of one of my all-time favourite French beauty brands.

“I’ve been using L’Occitane since I was a teenager and love the products even more as an adult.”

So how do you pronounce L’Occitane?

L’Occitane, or Lox-ee-tan as the video describes it, means the woman from Occitania, France’s most southern region, and pays homage to the women in founder Olivier Baussan’s life.

To create the film, the brand teamed up with RSA Films and award-winning director Nova Dando.

She said: “It was an honour to collaborate with L’Occitane on their first UK film.

“When they came to me with a brief, I knew that it would a great shoot to be part of.

“We kept it relaxed on set and has a lot of fun with Nick, Manon and the rest of the cast, and I feel we captured that in the final film.”

Currently the brand has more than 80 stores across the UK.

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