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. The hotel, which was an historical Art Deco building constructed in 1939, had been restored under the direction of his Creative Team after Rosso had fallen in love with the building in 1991 and purchased it one month later.

Its kitsch, retro-styled interior with each room being independently designed and different from the others, was considered unique for its time and contributed to Diesel's image of the 'Successful Living' lifestyle.

Several years later the hotel was listed by British daily newspaper The Independent as one of the world's "best fashion hotels". Other brands included in the list were hotels by Missoni, Armani, Bulgari and Ralph Lauren, which had all been opened after the Pelican.

SOURCE: fillermagazine.com DIESEL IN THE LATE ’90s

In the second half of the 1990s, Diesel continued to ignore common marketing rules and began to establish itself as a major brand in the global fashion market.

This was a result of Rosso's ambition to always break new grounds and his aspiration to work with most creative agencies and photographers around

TERRY RICHARDSON

ERWIN OLAF

DAVID ELLEN VON LACHAPELLE UNWERTH

RANKIN In 1995, Diesel became the first major fashion brand to embrace the Internet with the launch of www.diesel.com, which two years later was followed by the first online store of any fashion brand.

Later in 1995 the company also launched one of its most popular yet provocative campaigns ever, featuring two kissing sailors staged at the peace celebration of World War II.

SOURCE: www.staleywise.com

Shot by photographer David LaChapelle, it was the first major public advertisement to show a homosexual couple kissing and was published at height of the Don't ask, Don't tell debates in USA, which had led the U.S. Government to refuse entry for openly gay, lesbian, or bisexual persons from military service. In the late 1990s, Diesel began opening a large number of stores around the world, starting with its first ever mono-brand store, located on Lexington Avenue in New York in 1996, which was followed by stores in Milan, Paris and Rome. In contrast to common retail norms of the time, Rosso decided that each Diesel store should be

styled independently.

SOURCE: www.archdaily.com SOURCE: SOURCE: www.creativeboysclub.com SOURCE: Occasionally, he would also collaborate with famous artists in this progress, as in 2003 when he let the artist Stephen Sprouse personalize the Union Square Diesel store in New York with graffiti. Rosso also opened up new locations to showcase the creativity of the Diesel Creative Team, such as the DIESEL DENIM

GALLERY in New York and Osaka, Japan. SOURCE: SOURCE: www.dezeen.com

The galleries showcased hand-treated denim of the highest quality and gave exhibition space to young, local artists. The Diesel Denim Galleries were much acclaimed by the fashion press and were described by The New York Times ‘Suzy Menkes’ simply as "super- cool". DIESEL IN THE 2000s

Throughout the 2000s Rosso increased Diesel's share in the global fashion market, mainly through opening more company owned stores, embarking on a series of brand collaborations, and by expanding on the business of Diesel.

SOURCE: www.vogue.it COLLABORATIONS

SOURCE: www.vogue.it

In 2002, Rosso was asked to collaborate with Karl Lagerfeld on a denim collection for the designer's Lagerfeld Gallery. The collection, which was titled Lagerfeld Gallery by Diesel, was co-designed by Lagerfeld and then developed by Diesel's Creative Team.

It consisted of five pieces that were presented during the designer's catwalk shows during Paris Fashion Week and then sold in very strict limited editions at the Lagerfeld Galleries in Paris and Monaco, and at the Diesel Denim Galleries in New York City and Tokyo. During the first week of sales in New York, more than 90% of the trousers had already been sold out, even though prices ranged from as

high as $240 to $1840. SOURCE: SOURCE: www.mfga.com

In 2003, Rosso asked legendary street and graffiti artist Stephen Sprouse to do a take over of Diesel's Union Square store for New York Fashion Week in the following September. As part of the collaboration Sprouse designed a series of limited edition jeans, T-shirts and hats, and made a complete makeover of the Diesel store, which meant adding his renowned Day-Glo design to windows, interiors, and outer building exteriors. BUSINESS PARTNERSHIPS

In 2007, Rosso and Diesel partnered with L'Oréal for the production of Diesel's first fragrance, titled

FUEL FOR LIFE. SOURCE: SOURCE: www.mfga.com SOURCE: www.wgsn.com

This was followed by a partnership with Italian carmaker FIAT in early 2008 to re-design the classic Fiat 500. Originally being one of FIAT's most popular models ever, the new version, simply titled '500 by Diesel', featured several unique design details throughout the car's interior and exterior and was only produced

in 10,000 units. SOURCE: SOURCE: www.quietglover.com In the spring of 2008, Rosso launched a collaboration between Diesel and sportswear giant Adidas.

After Diesel made a special denim collection for Adidas that was exclusively available at Adidas Originals stores, called Adidas Originals by Diesel, the collaboration then developed into a number of additional product collaborations between Diesel, as well as its sister brand 55DSL, SOURCE: www.sellao.com and Adidas.

SOURCE: www.preciolandia.com SOURCE: www.fashionbombdaily.com SOURCE: www.supermototecnica.com In January 2011, Rosso took Diesel into its first sponsorship of the Grand Prix motorcycle racing, the MotoGP, through a partnership with the iconic Italian manufacturer Ducati.

Following the deal, Rosso said "This season in particular is extraordinary and with the arrival of Valentino Rossi, the association between our brands is perfectly in line with our 'Only the Brave'

SOURCE: www.diesel.com philosophy". DIESEL BLACK GOLD

In February 2008, Rosso launched a new, premium line extension called Diesel Black Gold. The new line combined Diesel's original expertise in denim and casual wear with the craftsmanship of tailoring.

SOURCE: www.fashiongonerogue.com

Through its collections of artfully distressed denim and leather, new twists on traditional garments and iconic blends of past and future, Diesel Black Gold has become the largest non-designer label in the contemporary high-end fashion market, and has successfully managed to become a casual alternative to other luxury brands. Sophia Kokosalaki left her position in 2012, and Andreas Melbostad was appointed in October 2012 as Creative Director of Diesel Black Gold womenswear collections; his first show was a success with style. com claiming him to be "the perfect

man for this label". SOURCE: SOURCE: fashjon.wordpress.com

SOURCE: www.eatsleepdenim.com SUCCESSFUL LIVING FROM DIESEL

In 2009, Rosso launched Diesel's first home collection, called Successful Living from Diesel.

Produced together with pioneering Italian manufacturers Moroso, Foscarini and Zucchi.

For Successful Living from Diesel was credited by Wallpaper magazine for its style and comfort when it premiered at Salone del Mobile in April, 2009.

SOURCE: pdf.archiexpo.com SOURCE: www.informinteriors.comSOURCE: BRAND ERA ANALYSIS

ERA 1 ERA 2 ERA 3 Greasy Rockabilly Quirky Urban Conscious Hedonism (1978-1993) Fashionistas (2000-Present) (1993-2000)

REASON FOR BEING Dress the tough guys Make people feel Help people carry a and their smoking girls different and more pleasant provocative experience

VALUE PROPOSITION Stylish jeans and work Affordable fashion Fun, imaginative and wear with a used worn- urban street wear colorful fashion out look

DIFFERENTIATION Worn-out style Risky and experimental Stimulating happy hard urban style clothing

PERSONA Tough, wild, living on Provocative, polemical, Wit, culture aware, the edge sarcastic, extravagant conscious, ironical

ASSOCIATIONS Rebels, hot chicks, Political issues, social Youth, vitality, bikes, cigarettes, gas conventions, sexuality happiness, hedonism, stations sex, carefree

RANGE OF AUTHORITY Jeans and work wear Jeans, clothing, shoes, Jeans, clothing, fragrances watches, sunglasses, shoes, bags

AUDIENCE Tough guy wannabes Intelligent urban Hedonistic hipsters fashionistas ERA 1. GREASY ROCKABILLY

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. SOURCE: www.wallpaper.com

The jeans came pre-washed and some with holes on them. People didn’t realize at the beginning that this was the intended look and often returned the jeans believing them to be defective. The misunderstanding didn’t take long to be cleared and soon the people began to be get attracted to the look.

The combination of their ads, their great fitting jeans and a breaking and radical logo portraying a mohawk soon made an impact on the youth and soon these t-shirts with the mohawk became a must-have. SOURCE: www.wallpaper.com SOURCE:

SOURCE: www.wallpaper.com ERA 2. QUIRKY URBAN FASHIONISTAS

Their initial image of denim, motorbikes and American life gradually shifted in the early 90s. 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.

SOURCE: entia-photography.com This branding redirection was exemplified with the shift from an advertisement based on a model posing in Diesel clothes in designed context with typography and picture to a more staged kind of advertisement where models and non-models were portrayed in one

single picture. SOURCE: SOURCE: www.pinterest.com

These contextualized scenarios provided situations that portrayed some mismatching with reality, very often with a lot of humor and criticism that made them different and quite often arose controversy.

From this era, the most well known ad campaigns that created the buzz are the ones about ‘LUXURY LIFE IN AFRICA’ portraying a futuristic scenario of Africa getting rich and the Western World being the “Third World”.

Another one was where they showed “young people in jeans drowned under water with a stone attached to their feet”. This proved to be quite controversial in Argentina as during the dictatorship many people were murdered in this manner.

Also the “being a man” campaign where they showed the gay sailors kissing at the peace celebration of the Word War II. SOURCE: www.designboom.com

SOURCE: www.coloribus.com ERA 3. CONSCIOUS HEDONISM

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. SOURCE: SOURCE: www.mensunderwearworldt.com

Thus their following campaigns were centered around the idea of pleasure, mortality and staying young, urban daydreaming and lusciously loving nature as a quirk ecological impulse. With the consolidation of the Internet and the explosion of free fashion magazines, they realize that their consumers are really smart and hence DIESEL decided to change its strategy and gear the brand towards very informed people, more intelligent and more individualistic. This new strategy resulted in the placement of more advertisements in niche publications and in the creation of more campaign specific websites that perfectly complimented the story of their campaigns

and provided a more intimate relationship with their audience.

SOURCE: www.designyourway.net SOURCE: SOURCE: SOURCE: www.pichaus.com COMPETETIVE ANALYSIS

REASON FOR BEING Help people carry a Look ultracool and Make people look cool more pleasant edgy with fashion cut and feel comfortable in experience jeans their clothes

VALUE PROPOSITION Fun, imaginative and Denim and urban Casual cool natural colorful fashion greyish colors on without being stiff fashion cut clothing

DIFFERENTIATION Stimulating happy Plain clothes with just Comfortable and well clothing a different cut and fitting jeans and style with detailing clothes

PERSONA Wit, culture aware, Fashion conscious and A not so worried about conscious, ironical nightlife urban fashion persona

ASSOCIATIONS Youth, vitality, Hot models, Metropolis, soccer, happiness, hedonism, artificiality, coolness gang of friends, stay sex, carefree beyond associations active and in motion

RANGE OF AUTHORITY Jeans, clothing, Jeans, clothing, guest Jeans, clothing, shoes watches, sunglasses, designer experimental shoes, bags clothes

AUDIENCE Hedonistic hipsters Metropolitan fashion Urban youth with other people worries besides fashion The jeans and urban clothing industry has many competitors: Levi’s, Replay, Acupuncture, Wrangler, Lee, Energie, Gas, Paul Frank, G-Star Raw, Miss Sixty and Calvin Klein to name a few. More specifically, with the new revival of stylish jeans, many brands have joined the Jeans Wave such as Seven for all Mankind, Blue Cult, True Religion, Citizens of Humanity and many more.

Even though DIESEL started as a jeans and workwear apparel brand, and the fact that denim is still very present in every season, they are not perceived as a “Jeans Only” brand anymore. In this sense, they are seen as more of an urban fashion brand.

SOURCE: behindjeans.wordpress.com

Early in the 90s, Diesel made a statement by opening a flagship store in New York, right across the Levi’s store. Obviously Levi’s had been an early competitor, but this legendary brand that everybody wanted to wear in the end of the 80s, had lost most of its appeal and hipness and as a result, could not be considered as a serious competitor now. SOURCE: SOURCE: theessentialist.blogspot.com

Among all these brands and clothing companies that targeted the casual fashionable youth, the only ones that could be considered as DIRECT competitors were G-Star Raw and Energie. Energie is also an Italian-based company that bases its collection on denim. It also provides other clothing alternatives, not so stylish and designed, but appealing to a much more casual youth.

G-Star is a Dutch brand that with the launch of its last collection by renowned product designer Mark Newson, they targeted a design style-conscious crowd that wanted jeans and other clothing with a higher level of detail and differentiation, not only on fabrics and style,

but also on the cut of the clothes. SOURCE: www.celebrityendorsementads.com SOURCE: The truth is that Diesel has been in the business for so many years and has done things so well that it is difficult to find a company now that can overshadow it.

Although now new threats lie ahead. The fact that it is growing so much can damage their reputation as a non-mainstream brand, but nowadays they are working to counter-effect this by setting their own network of self-owned stores where they can control better, the environment where the product is sold and are removing their clothes from big commercial centers where they are seen in the same environment as the other brands.

SOURCE: designer-clothing.tumblr.com PORTFOLIO ARCHITECTURE

COEXISTENCE OF SISTER DIFFERENT LOGOS BRANDS

Diesel uses a combination of The sister brands have a the old and the new logos. completely different style and The mohawk is still used in in the case of 55DSL, the the trouser labels, the red diesel name is contracted as a box is mainly used for the reference to slang. They have campaigns and the D is used one image-type which to label products. changes with every season. PRODUCT BRANDING ON CATEGORIES CLOTHES

TIME FRAMES

SHADES

SPARE PARTS

FRAGRANCES

The product categories are Diesel clothes are always also labeled in an unusual branded . On trousers both manner: “TIME FRAMES” for the D in front and back watches and “SPARE PARTS” have become part of the for accessories, “SHADES” design already. for sunglasses and “FOOTWEAR” for shoes. T-shirts and other items of clothing use the brand in a They don’t have a logo and very expensive and free on the ads their name is manner, whereas labels combined with the D, but change from collection to occasionally, when the ad is collection making different about only one category, the use of the brand’s imagery Diesel logo is modified, as constellation. seen above. MARKETING APPROACH

INDUSTRIAL ECONOMY INFORMATION ECONOMY

Customer-as-target Customer-as-relationship

Diesel is establishing a close relationship with the customer by whispering and establishing a dialogue with it.

Organize by product units Organize by customer segments

Diesel organizes itself, not only in product units but also in customer segments beyond men and women by including 55DSL for skaters and more urban street life and Diesel Style Lab for hardcore fashion victims.

Focus on profitable Focus on customer lifetime transactions value

Diesel focuses on keeping the margins up and at the same time maintain a close relationship with the customers by providing a full range of products to accompany and match their lifestyle and the campaigns to be happy beyond the clothes. INDUSTRIAL ECONOMY INFORMATION ECONOMY

Judge performance primarily Look at marketing metrics as by financial results well as financial ones

Diesel is not a public company so it does not really have pressure to make enormous profits or to meet the year sales expectations. As Renzo Rosso appoints, he does this for fun so we can assume that Diesel looks both for marketing metrics and financials.

Focus on satisfying Focus on satisfying several shareholders stakeholder groups

As Diesel is not a public company, it is more focused on satisfying the stakeholder groups.

The marketing department Everyone in the company does the marketing does marketing

Even the clothes are the face of the marketing directly. And their own stores let them interact with customers.

Build brands primarily Build brands through through advertising company behavior

Diesel both has campaigns that impress as well as have side projects that support new musicians, art, and pleasure in general. INDUSTRIAL ECONOMY INFORMATION ECONOMY

Emphasize customer Emphasize customer acquisition retention

In clothing, it is very hard to retain a customer who while being influenced by ads and campaigns still end up buying from the brand mainly because of the design.

Measure customer Measure customer value and satisfaction loyalty

The clothing category is very volatile and customers loyalty is almost null due to the speed at which clothes and fashion change. Hence, the immediate satisfaction of the customer at the moment of considering the purchase is what is more focused on the company.

Over-promise to get an order Under-promise, over-deliver

Diesel promises clothing for successful living, and promotes happiness through their clothes. So as many other clothing companies, they charge their product by embedding values that go beyond the clothes.

Make the firm the unit of Make the value chain the analysis unit of analysis

Slowly, Diesel has tried to capture more of the value chain by reducing the amount of non-Diesel retail stores and starting to control all aspects of the offering. BE STUPID AD CAMPAIGN PRINT

OBJECTIVES:

 Brand building/showcasing brand identity  Brand awareness  Brand recognition

Print media, the most traditional form of advertising, remains a dominant means for brands to raise awareness and reach specific demographics. Recognizing this, Diesel strategically chose magazines reflective of the brand and target market such as GQ and Vogue to ensure maximum exposure.

These magazines provided geographic selectivity, extensive penetration, permanence, and prestige whilst working in unison with other campaign elements to bring attention to the brand. SOURCE: taylerz.blogspot.com

The print ads are visually arresting to break through the high clutter existing in modern media. The copy is bold and eye-catching as the imagery and font are vivacious, bright and youthful allowing the slogan to stand out. Also alluring, is the fact that that the models seem to serve as a figment of the target market’s personality. In effect, viewers may identify the individuals as a reflection of themselves or friends maximizing the chance for a positive emotional

connection to form with the brand. SOURCE: SOURCE: gaberobertsart.com It is apparent that Diesel was playing on consumer feelings through an emotional appeal as everyone can relate to ‘BEING STUPID’ at

some point in their life as the ads depict.

SOURCE: www.creativeadawards.com SOURCE: SOURCE: www.fashionadexplorer.com ONLINE WEB-BASED VIDEO YOUTUBE

OBJECTIVES:

 Entertain viewers to promote positive word of mouth  Engage audiences  Raise brand action intention

Diesel utilized YouTube as a social media tool to reinforce other viral campaign components. The video intended to reach the target demographic as it is known that internet users aged between 18-32 use the internet primarily or entertainment through online videos and social networking [Fox, 2010]. The video supported the other mediums as the main feature told the story of the ‘Stupid Philosophy’.

SOURCE: www.creativereview.co.uk LOCATION BASED SERVICE - FOURSQUARE

OBJECTIVES:

 Build customer shopping experience  Drive online customers [in location] to retail stores  Create buzz/hype  Engage customers

The Diesel inclusion of Foursquare was strategic in that it was used for promotional hype, as the company targeted individuals that may never have entered the store. Intentionally, the company didn’t want 100 blog features going up before hand. The results of the event were 44 Foursquare check-ins, 17 tweets, and 20,957 twitter users reached via social updates.

SOURCE: www.insidefmm.com WEBSITES

CORPORATE WEBSITE

OBJECTIVES:

 Showcases brand identity  E-commerce  Lead generation  Customer support

Bringing the Diesel philosophy to life.

SOURCE: www.9ja-sports.com MARKETING CAMPAIGN/SERVICE SPECIFIC WEBSITE

OBJECTIVES:

 High response rates/ action response  Form relationship/ bond with customers

Diesel capitalized on the generational trend and popularity of user submitted content, as the objective was to provide the opportunity for maximum user influence. The competition allowed participants to become part of the brand through the music video and catalogue and

in effect this would have built Diesel’s credibility and reputation. SOURCE: SOURCE: www.creativeadawards.com SALES PROMOTION

“FACES OF STUPID” CONTEST

OBJECTIVES:

 Drive-in store  Customer interaction/ involvement

In an effort to shake up the customer/ brand interaction Diesel hosted a contest as a spin-off to the “BE STUPID” campaign. To date, this is one of the most intricate campaigns implemented by a fashion brand. By doing this, Diesel utilized psychographic targeting through

offering incentives appealing to the audiences’ lifestyle. SOURCE: SOURCE: www.fashionistameg.com It is apparent that Diesel’s objective is to foster an authentic relationship with customers as this contest, along with the various campaign efforts, provide social gratification among the target market. This is effective as all too many brands use stereotypical means of reaching the public.

In this case, however, an experiential opportunity is created and rewarded through activities reflective of the ‘Diesel People’ making participation naturally appealing and not forced.

SOURCE: www.robertvaningen.com SOURCE: SOURCE: www.creativereview.co.uk LATEST AD CAMPAIGN SPRING/ SUMMER ‘15

Diesel’s new #DieselHigh ad campaign for the upcoming Spring/Summer 2015 season centers around love, and aims to encourage tolerance and inclusiveness. Conceived by creative director Nicola Formichetti, the campaign is about elevating oneself, with every individual celebrating their unique point of view. Shot by star photographer Nick Knight, the campaign got “him to do something he’s rarely done – which is shoot people smiling. It feels spontaneous,

like they are selfies and he’s just the one snapping the photo.”

sociallife.com

- SOURCE: SOURCE: www.the The fashion industry often comes under fire for promoting a one-size- fits-all idea of beauty with some brands only using models of a certain height and weight for their campaigns. Diesel, however, is proving a point with its spring/summer 2015 campaign, which aims to promote 'tolerance, equality and unconditional love'.

The star of the new shoot is, without a doubt, 19-year-old Winnie Harlow who has vitiligo, a pigment condition that causes white patches to form on skin.

SOURCE: www.nicolaformichetti.com

This Diesel campaign is the latest string to her bow. Conceived by creative director Nicola Formichetti and styled by Anna Trevelyan, the campaign aims to be provocative and optimistic, inspiring people to live life in the moment and to enjoy the ride. Speaking about the campaign, which also stars alternative model Charlotte Free, Nicola said: 'There are so many crazy things happening now that you don’t see people just having fun any more. SOURCE: www.twitter.com

SOURCE: www.nicolaformichetti.com CHAPTER II

DIESEL IN FRANCE STORE LOCATOR FRANCOIS RUE GRANDE 15 QUIEVRAIN, BELGIUM 7380 MOCKELS MARYLINE GRAND STREET 29 SAINT GHISLAIN, BELGIUM 7866 NACHEZ BRIDGE STREET TO FAULX 7 PERUWELZ, BELGIUM 7600 EMILIE D’OR MONS ROAD 163 HORNU, BELGIUM 7301 GOSI SPRL STREET MONSVILLE 278 QUAREGNON, BELGIUM 7390 RACK STORE MONS AVENUE WILSON 510 JEMAPPES, BELGIUM 7012 TIME SQUARE 13 GRAND STREET MONS, BELGIUM 7000 CLAERHOUT MARKET SQUARE 26 MOESKROEN, BELGIUM 7700 EUGENOR 12 B STREET FAUCONNIER FONTAINE L EVEQUE, BELGIUM 6140 LICATA RUE SYLVAIN GUYAUX 65 LA LOUVIERE, BELGIUM 7100 DIESEL DENIM FACTORY

Diesel Denim Factory opened up at the flagship store in Paris, at 21 rue Etienne Marcel 75001 Paris Montmartre. DIESEL offered with every purchase of an item of clothing, to customize the item and make it personal with designing it with graffiti, tattoos, markers, doodling, painting, etc.

with the help of graphic artists. SOURCE: SOURCE: www.foursquare.com SOURCE: www.foursquare.com LE GRAND NETTOYAGE

With its new "Operation Spring Cleaning " , the brand wanted to assert its entry into the era of " Dirty New Age " and " Power of Powder ". A street marketing campaign for its new collection Denim Spring / Summer 2011 was organized throughout France and began in the shops of Paris Etienne Marcel , Paris Opera, among others, and until February 19, 2011 in stores of Marseille , Lyon , Strasbourg and Toulouse.

SOURCE: www.viacomit.net SOURCE: www.viacomit.net

Diesel will be launching a new marketing operation called “Big Cleaning”. The brand would like to enter into a new era « Dirty New Age » and « Power of Powder ». A Street marketing campaign for the Spring/Summer 2011 Denim collection is organized in France in selected boutiques. SOURCE: www.viacomit.net SOURCE: www.viacomit.net ADVERTS: GQ & VOGUE

FRANCE

GQ JAN ’09 GQ JAN

VERTISING

- FETISH

SOURCE: www.trendhunter.com

FRAGRANCE SURREALSM

LOVERDOSE DARK DARK SOURCE: SOURCE: www.trendhunter.com

GQ MAR ’09

VOGUE DEC ’11 DIESEL x MILK

RECYCLE YOUR DENIM SOURCE: SOURCE: www.milkmagazine.net

To celebrate 10 years of MilK , Diesel organized a creative workshop on September 18 in the Diesel store Opera (Paris 2) , led by Lisa Gachet’s Blog Make My Lemonade. The program consisted of two hours of surprises and activities surrounding rock denim ! To register your child and a friend , an email was required to be sent to: [email protected]. The collection for Diesel Kid’s A/W ’13 offered a playful approach to adult inspirations with its new range "Clean Essentials " for girls and boys. There arose an opportunity for moms to combine high quality clothing with fundamentals of ready-to-wear and compose a cover

functional dress and fashion for the autumn. SOURCE: SOURCE: www.fashionmention.com

Denim was not left out: the latest innovation of the brand ? Jean-ius choices for girls and vintage inspirations declined for a total denim look. For boys, Diesel reinterpreted work clothes in the original design , to associate with a sheepskin jacket. ` DIESEL CAFE INAUGRATION

In May 2012, Diesel temporarily opened its own Café , located in the basement of Spring.

It was a rather cozy lounge dedicated to the glory of DENIM. One could come across Olivier Zahm and Ines Olympus Mercadal,

freshly returned from Cannes. SOURCE: SOURCE: www.saywho.fr DIESEL x LOVERDOSE AT GALERIES LAFAYETTE

In a complete takeover of Parisian department store Les Galeries Lafayette, 14 windows along Boulevard Haussman were brought to life to promote the launch of the Loverdose fragrance. Inspired by the faceted shape of the bottle and the Diesel core materials, a limited

material palette is used to spell out Loverdose. SOURCE: SOURCE: studioxag.com SOURCE: SOURCE: studioxag.com

Mild steel is rusted and torched to create a purple hue, hand painted concrete treatment is applied to walls, crystals in oil slick tones add embellished elements. Every window has a pulsing lit element, from a freestanding 3D neon sculpture wrapped around the letter E, to hanging clusters of cage lighting intertwined with perfume bottles. A beating heart soundtrack pumps out of the windows to further intensify the spectacle. SOURCE: www.thedollsfactory.com DIESEL + EDUN LAUNCH

STUDIO AFRICA SOURCE: www.modemonline.comSOURCE: EDUN is a fair brand launched by Bono and Ali Newson, in 2005, who joined forces with Renzo Rosso in Jan 2012, to create a new Diesel+Edun label which was created entirely in Africa to generate sustainable development and raise awareness of the creative

opportunities in the continent, as that was EDUN’s reason for being. SOURCE: SOURCE: www.afroblush.com

They produced all the clothes in Africa from cotton produced and processed by the Cotton Conservative Initiative [CCI]. On 3 March 2013, DIESEL+EDUN feted its new collection at the Gaité Lyrique

theatre in Paris for the Paris Fashion Week. SOURCE: SOURCE: www.fashioncelebritieswonder.com Rosso Nicola and Unwerth Kardashian+Kanye The theatre was filled with likesthe Nicole Richie, of Kim Bajoli Solangeby Knowles,many performancesthere beenhadmusic acoustically isolated,was advantagewhich an forevent this as La Gaîté , Batilda , Franca, Lyrique and Sozzani Formichetti , B West, JessicaTeresa Alba, Palmer, Ellen Von is a is a digital music and arts enjamin Clementine. enjamin , Tilda Tilda , Swinton,course of Renzoand . . centre , which is which ,

SOURCE: www.saywho.fr AD CAMPAIGNS THAT WORKED IN FRANCE

The word ‘SURREALISM' was coined in 1917 by the French Poet and art critic Guillaume Apollinaire (1880-1918) to describe the work of certain artists.

Surrealism has always played a big part in the cultural influence of France. With great artists like Marcel Duchamp, Andre Breton and Jacques-Andre Boiffard, it was inevitable that surrealism was an accepted and known concept in France.

SOURCE: www.trendhunter.com Thus, when DIESEL launched its “DARK SURREALISM” themed advertisements, they worked well as people were fascinated and curious to see the bigger meaning behind the actual picture.

SOURCE: www.trendhunter.com AD CAMPAIGNS THAT DIDN’T WORK IN FRANCE

Now, if thought about for a second, it is evident that a person would always prefer to read and speak in their own language, i.e. their mother-tongue.

So when majority of the country’s first language is French, Diesel’s BE STUPID ad campaign, although a major hit in other countries, failed to generate a similar response in France.

The simple reason being, that the titles of the Be Stupid campaign had been translated in French beneath the actual banner, and they failed to relate to the visual image of the title in French.

SOURCE: www.ep-webeditors.eu SOURCE: www.styleite.com

When an advertisement gets printed in another language in a French magazine, their law states that there be a translation of the text on the advertisement, in French.

So when the translation happened the result was something like this: “SMART CRITIQUES. STUPID CREATES.” became “Les intellos critiquent. Les stupides créent.” which had the complete opposite effect wanted by the copywriters, as the plural didn’t favor the two adjectives characterization.

Hence, the campaign failed to garner the same amount of appreciation and support in France, as compared to in other countries. STORE LAYOUT + CUSTOMER REVIEW

Diesel is one of the extremely few brands that has most of its stores designed individually and uniquely. So therefore, it is no surprise that the stores in France, differed in the general layout, although

their overall concept remained the same. SOURCE: SOURCE: www.gettyimages.com SOURCE: SOURCE: www.yelp.com

As neon lights are quite popular in France, especially in Paris [nightclubs, Moulin Rouge, sex shops], so to give the same sex appeal and feel to the store, they installed neon lighting sings indicating the men’s and women’s sections in the store.

While other parts of France, have stores that have a more sophisticated approach, even though the furnishing and the flooring tend to give an earthy garage feel.

This is probably because at the end of the day, France has a level of sophistication as compared to most other countries. The customers in France are generally satisfied and extremely pleased with the quality of the clothes, especially the designer jeans.

Their only complaints seemed to revolve around some products, wherein they seemed to be slightly overpriced.

But according to ‘yelp.com’, 90% customers seemed to like the whole deco vintage vibe of the store with great outdoors, beams and overall design.

When asked what they thought of the band in general, the overall review was extremely positive with most of them stating that they found DIESEL to be a dynamic, ultra-casual chic brand which translates high trends and has cutting-edge fashion.

SOURCE: www.retaildesignblog.net ONLINE STORE + WEBSITE

SOURCE: store.diesel.com

Diesel’s online store is globalized, i.e. it has the exact same layout, font and format for their online website for any country, be it France or U.S.A.

It has a very clean and clear format with the primary color palette consisting of muted tones of grey and white. It is easily maneuverable, and not cluttered or disorganized. Also the customers are at ease as 90% of the time, the clothes reach on time and in perfect condition and quality. SOURCE: store.diesel.com RECOMMENDATIONS/ SUGGESTIONS

Considering that this is the 21st Century, and France is so advanced in so many things with designers like Jean-Paul Gaultier, who has had ad campaigns ranging from Bold to Sexy.

So that means that there is an extremely high possibility that Diesel can make its French-centric campaigns, and evolve them to go from the subtle tones of pastels and greys + whites to brighter hues and a

bolder campaign in terms of the shoot itself. SOURCE: SOURCE: www.nymag.com

Establishing this, we decided to recreate a previous campaign that had happened only in France. We decided to revamp the DIRT NEW AGE/THE POWDER OF DIESEL campaign and changed it to THE POWER OF DIESEL with brighter hues in terms of background and overall color palette. We decided to do so as we recommend the brand to take in the development in the mindset of a country and develop a bolder campaign for France, similar to the ones in other countries. BIBLIOGRAPHY

 www.diesel.com

 www.trendhunter.com

 www.purple.fr

 www.yelp.com

 www.viacomit.net

 www.wikipedia.com

 www.pinterest.com

 www.wallpaper.com