Chanel was an early adopter of the fashion film, beginning in 2004 when it released "Chanel No. 5, The Film." If ads could be blockbusters, this was it: The clip starred Nicole Kidman, and was directed by Baz Luhrmann, who were both still riding high off their recent success, "Moulin Rouge!" In fact, the short's story bears quite a bit of resemblance to the movie in look. "That's what a lot of people said to me at the time," Luhrmann told the Telegraph. "I can see why they thought that. I'd been working on 'Moulin Rouge!' so long, it was in my bloodstream." 

By tying the ad to a major motion picture, Chanel was positioning its spot as a movie and not as a commercial, all while anchoring it to a specific moment in popular culture. But, because someone thought it would be fun, or because someone sensed the importance video content would become in online branding, the house soon began using movies to make its own pop-culture moments.