US beauty powerhouse Coty is celebrating 100 years of Davidoff with the launch of Cool Elixir. The 100ml scent is available for US$90 across select travel retail locations.
The supporting campaign film features American actor Charles Melton, popular for his roles in television shows such as Riverdale and May December.
Melton said, “I enjoyed embodying the feeling of this gentleman adventurer and I’m honoured to be able to represent the modern interpretation of Zino Davidoff’s spirit through this campaign.”
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A tribute to Davidoff’s legacy
The scent pays homage to founder Zino Davidoff’s adventurous spirit, who travelled from his family home in Switzerland to Argentina, Brazil and Cuba in 1924.
Over time, he developed products from Cognac and coffee to sophisticated scents such as Cool Water. According to Coty, it celebrated Davidoff’s search for the extraordinary – an exploration beyond the obvious. Cool Elixir arrives as a tribute to this spirit.
Cool Elixir, featuring oud accord, lavandin absolute and rose oxide, is bottled in a deep-blue faceted flacon with a weighted, textured cap. The outer box comes in royal blue with a stamped gold Davidoff label.
The scent has been developed by three perfumers: Jean-Christophe Herault, Nelly Hachem-Ruiz and Anne Flipo.
Herault, a student of perfumer Pierre Bourdon who composed the original Cool Water in 1988, said, “We imagined depth as a double intention – in terms of the sea and in terms of freshness.
“The immediate impression feels like a deep dive, then the intensity takes over, leaving a lasting and seductive trail.”
Just as the original Cool Water marked a new direction in men’s fragrance, Davidoff has responded to the rise of niche perfumery by bridging a luxurious composition with accessibility.
Davidoff highlights that oud accord is a coveted ingredient in perfumery, often referred to as ‘black gold’.
Hachem-Ruiz said, “To illustrate this elixir idea, we chose an oud accord with a dark, mysterious character. With its leathery, woody notes, the oud accord lends a mystical dimension.”
On the other hand, lavandin absolute is derived from a lavender hybrid, harvested using an enfleurage technique that incorporates only the flower heads to create an enriched accord.
Flipo remarked, “By isolating the flower tips for the enfleurage, which involves extracting a delicate essence through a fatty material, we have arrived at a lavandin 2.0 that is especially sharp, almost icy.
“This is how we achieve the marine effect in Cool Elixir. Combined with the elegant base notes of oud, the fragrance leaves a highly powerful trail.”
Lastly, the rose oxide molecule brings a salty floral texture. Flipo added, “More than an ordinary floral note, rose oxide is far more unusual – as though the flower petals were suspended in liquid metal.
“As an aldehyde, its unique molecular structure results in a scent that is clean but also otherworldly. In using rose oxide, we have transported Cool Elixir to another dimension.”
‘James Bond meets Indiana Jones’
Loni Peristere, the American director and producer behind House of the Dragon, has crafted a perfumery campaign where Melton is the ‘gentleman adventurer’ who dives into the ocean.
Peristere said, “This Davidoff project is unique in fragrance because it takes the concept of an epic blockbuster trailer – a sea dragon and the launch of a new elixir perfume. This fragrance story where James Bond meets Indiana Jones has never been done before.”
The film shows the Cool Elixir bottle guarded by a mythical sea dragon in the depths of the ocean, and what follows are suspenseful encounters with the underwater creature and a guardian temptress played by American singer and model Annahstasia Enuke.
The cinematic experiences is brought to life by Oscar-winning Director of Photography Linus Sangren and photographer Matthew Brookes. ✈
