THE POWER OF DIESEL DIESEL AS A BRAND IN FRANCE R A S H I K A C H A N D R A CHAPTER I DIESEL : A MULTINATIONAL BRAND/ COMPANY DECLARATION I declare that this report and its contents are the original work. All references used in the report are given credit duly in the literature review and bibliography. This report and its contents are the property of the report writer and the same cannot be reproduced in any other manner without her due permission. ACKNOWLEDGEMENT I take this opportunity to express my profound gratitude and deep regards to my mentors, Mr. Ankur Gulati, Mr. Anuj Lall and Ms. Vaishali Khurana for their exemplary guidance, mentoring and their constant encouragement throughout the course of this research. TABLE OF CONTENTS EXECUTIVE SUMMARY INTRODUCT -ION RENZO ROSSO HISTORY + ORIGIN CLOTHING PYRAMID DIESEL DIESEL ACQUISITION GREASY ROCKABILLY STORE QUIRKY URBAN BRAND ERA LOCATOR FASHIONISTA ANALYSIS CONSCIOUS DENIM HEDONISM FACTORY COMPETITI- AD DIESEL IN CAMPAIGNS VE ANALYSIS WORKED + FRANCE DIDN’T WORK GASTRONOMY CULTURAL COLLABORATIO -NS FRANCE EXCEPTIONS SOCIAL BEHAVIOUR RECOMMENDA BUSINESS -TIONS ETIQUETTES EXECUTIVE SUMMARY Diesel was founded by the ‘Jeans Genius’, RENZO ROSSO, and Adriano Goldschmied in 1978, but when he wanted to take the company to a whole another level, he sold his shares of the Genius Group, and took the company and set out to enter into a new era. Diesel’s growth and development can be categorized into three separate eras: GREASY ROCKABILLY [1978-1993], QUIRKY URBAN FASHIONISTAS [1993-2000], and CONSCIOUS HEDONISM [2000- Present]. Their original motto “ONLY THE BRAVE” characterizes their first era. Defining themselves as a ‘jeans and workwear’ clothing company and trying to find their place in the context of the 80s fashion , they try to differentiate themselves from the rest by innovating and selling jeans that looked worn. Their initial image of denim, motorbikes and American life gradually shifted in the early 90s, where the second era promptly began. By incorporating odd messages and sometimes unexplainable “HOW TO” guides, they managed to puzzle customers and make them question, think about and try to understand the sense of their advertisements. After spending some years centered on criticizing present society, its politicians, ridiculing religions, mocking the fashion industry and its personages, and walking along the extravagant side of personalities and situations, DIESEL made a turn towards the individual itself and its passions, fears and motivations for life. And that was when DIESEL evolved into the third and final era. To build and develop Diesel as a global brand, Renzo Rosso, collaborated with many brands to form products core to the identity of Diesel. He collaborated with L’Oreal to form their first ever fragrance “Fuel for Life”, with Fiat to redesign the classic Fiat 500 into “500 by Diesel”, with Ducati to form the “Monster Diesel”, and other collaborations with Coke Zero, Adidas Originals, among many others. Diesel also had many ad campaigns that were criticized and appreciated like the “Fetish-vertising” and “Be Stupid” campaigns respectively. France on the other hand is a country filled with the most unique cultural exceptions, where a person can marry a deceased person under exceptional circumstances and because DNA testing is banned in France, any man who reaches first in the town hall can claim a fatherless child to be his without any real proof. It also has many cultural, business and dining etiquettes that must be followed if one wants the French to like him/her. But when it comes to Diesel in France, it has left almost no stone unturned, from opening a temporary café, designing 14 unique window displays for its Loverdose fragrance and holding a grand launch party for its collaboration with Edun Studio Africa. The only development that we recommended could be in terms of its advertising campaigns keeping in mind the French demographic, and creating bolder campaigns, keeping in mind the color palette, tag line and overall idea. INTRODUCTION We are required to choose a country and a foreign brand that has a strong presence in the chosen country. We have to research on the specific country and the brand in order to understand the image of the brand in that particular country. We will research on the strategies the brand follows to maintain its image and identity in a foreign culture. We will also shoot one campaign image of that brand keeping in mind the identity of the chosen brand maintaining its image in the chosen country. RENZO ROSSO – JEANS GENIUS Italian Not-For- RED Fashion Profit Org. CIRCLE Entrepreneur INVESTMENTS ONLY THE Jeans DIESEL BRAVE Genius FARM FOUNDATION President PELICAN FOUNDER of OTB OF: HOTEL IN Group MIAMI HISTORY & ORIGIN ROSSO ALSO BECAME SHAREHOLDER OF THE GENIUS GROUP FORMED DIESEL CONVINCED RENZO ROSSO TOGETHER TO STAY IN MOLTEX DUE TO MAJOR BOOST IN SALES OFFERED 40% STAKES IN MOLTEX MOLTEX’S PARENT ADRIANO COMPANY – THE GOLDSCHMIED – HEAD GENIUS GROUP OF THE GENIUS GROUP JOINED AS PRODUCTION MANAGER AT MOLTEX ROSSO DROPS OUT OF UNI OF VENICE IN ‘75 HOW DIESEL GOT ITS NAME The brand name Diesel was chosen because 'diesel' was considered to be the ‘ALTERNATIVE FUEL' in the current oil crisis Rosso and Goldschmied liked the idea of their brand being perceived as an alternative jeans brand in contrast to the prevalent casual wear brands. The word ‘DIESEL’ was an international term pronounced ‘EQUALLY’ all over the WORLD It appealed to Rosso's view and that the global fashion market was not segmented by national borders, but by people's lifestyle. In 2004, after having followed those core values for nearly 20 YEARS, CNN accredited Diesel for being "the first brand to believe truly in the global village and to embrace it with open arms." TARGET AUDIENCE Young adults; teenagers – 25 year olds As when the brand had Predomina begun, it was focused -ntly on “the WORKING CLASS” men. MALES The target market is Fun-loving, energetic, young and somewhat portrayed REBELLIOUS. as: CLOTHING PYRAMID At the top of the pyramid, is Diesel’s “BLACK GOLD” brand, which is seen on the catwalk and celebrities In the middle, are Diesel’s Jeans, luggage and dresses At the bottom are their mass market products; accessories, phone cases, belts, etc. DIESEL ACQUISITION In 1985 Rosso wanted to achieve creative freedom over the brand's direction and took complete control of the company, by trading his shares in the Genius Group, at the time Diesel's parent company, for Goldschmied's remaining shares in Diesel. Following the launch of Diesel Kid the year prior, at the time called Dieselito, sales of the Diesel-branded clothing had by that point reached about $5 million annually. Wanting to focus on denim, Rosso began experimenting with different ways of treating the fabric with stones and washes. Then, after handpicking a team of likeminded designers in the late 1980s, the company began a period of remarkable growth and expansion. SOURCE: www.theimpression .com DIESEL IN THE ’90s During the first of the 1990s Rosso pioneered Diesel into the fashion world and set the grounds for its establishment in global markets. In 1991 the company launched its first international marketing effort with the highly successful ‘GUIDES FOR SUCCESFUL LIVING’ campaign series. In 1992 the campaign, which was Diesel's first advertising campaign ever, won a Grand Prix at the Cannes Lions International Advertising Festival, the world's leading awards in advertising. SOURCE: assets.wallpaper .com Later on that same year Diesel launched the campaign on TV and would eventually become part of the company's global communication work for a decade to come, bringing in multiple advertising awards across the world. DIESEL FARM, MOLVENA In late 1992 Rosso purchased a farm close to the DIESEL headquarters in MOLVENA, province of VENETO, where he began producing wine and olive oil under the name DIESEL FARM. Initially the purchase was meant as a gift to his father, who until then had questioned his choice of career, but then for the first time understood that his son had in fact become a successful business entrepreneur. SOURCE: www.hintmag.com At the time of the purchase the farm and its land was at risk of getting divided into separate lots for multiple buyers, but Rosso was able to prevent this by taking charge of the whole estate. Today the land and the old farm buildings are considered a nature reserve. 55DSL In 1994 Rosso created a new sports line and sub-brand, called 55DSL, which was inspired by the passion for snowboarding he shared with his sons. The first collection was titled 'FW94, Subzero Winter' and consisted of 55 pieces. That same year, 55DSL became one of the first clothing lines to endorse snowboard competitions around the world, starting with competitions in Riksgransen, Sweden. SOURCE: www.blogsp ot.com The competitions featured several now legendary snowboards pioneers like Todd Richards and Peter Line. In the following years 55DSL progressively became an independent brand and in 1999 moved from Diesel's headquarters in Molvena, Italy, to Balerna, Switzerland. There it remained until 2005 when its headquarters re-located back in Italy. Since the mid-2000s it has been spearheaded by its Creative Director and Rosso's eldest son, Andrea Rosso. Since then 55DSL has established itself as a globally recognized urban and street brand that is well known for its vast variety of collaborations. • ERIC HAZE ARTISTS • ALEX FAKSO • TONY HAWK ACTION SPORTS • LUKAS HOFFMAN • STEVE AOKI MUSICIANS • BLOODY BEETROOTS • POO ON ART ART FOUDATIONS • TWO STEPS BACK • COCA –COLA ZERO GLOBAL • MTV BRANDS SOURCE: www.pinterest.com PELICAN HOTEL Also in 1994, Rosso reopened the Pelican Hotel on Miami's South Beach strip.