When the world zigs, zag / ‘We see differently and unite with those who see it too,’ is part of Diesel’s manifesto. This year, through its marketing campaigns, the brand has earned a lot of PR love and solidified itself as a different, cheeky, and bold player that’s not afraid to make fun of itself or the whole fashion system.
For example, when fashion brands were trying to battle the rise of fake products, Diesel created a knock-off brand Deisel and a pop-up shop in New York’s Canal Street – a location famous for stores that sell replicas of designer products at cheap prices. It sold real Diesel products to unsuspecting bargain hunters at knock-off prices.
In another activation during Berlin’s fashion festival Bread & Butter, the brand poked fun at brands trying to stay relevant by partnering with street wear companies. Diesel combined street fashion and street food by releasing a collection with Berlin’s most famous kebab shop, Mustafa Gemüse Kebap.
The Hate Couture campaign is building on this behaviour and solidifies the personality of the brand. ‘The main challenge is to stay true to yourself. The risk today is to follow what every other brand is doing in a bid to court the new generation of consumers, and in the process, losing your identity,’ a Diesel spokesperson told Contagious ahead of the Hate Couture campaign launch.
Haters gonna.. / Around 40% of Americans have personally experienced online harassment, and 62% consider it a major problem, according to a 2017 study by Pew Research. Even though cyberbullying is a growing issue for consumers, usually brands try to cover up their own experiences of online hate.
Recent research by agency We Are Social found that 89% of brands silence hateful comments they receive online by hiding or deleting them, as opposed to publicly standing against them. ‘When you sweep hateful [comments] under the carpet, you are ignoring the harm caused to those communities targeted by the hate. If you are silent in your response to hate, you are complicit in its continuation,’ reads the report.
Hate Couture is tackling online bullying in several ways. First, the idea came from the hateful comments the brand has been receiving. Instead of hiding them, Diesel is using them to brush off the haters and stand up against cyberbullying. ‘Online hate is linked to hiding yourself. Writing something hurtful but hiding yourself behind a screen,’ Bruno Bertelli, global CCO of Publicis Worldwide, told Contagious ahead of the campaign launch. ‘The way to not get hurt isn’t keeping it inside, but showing it off. If you spread this around, the hate will be pointless.’
Second, by using some of the most polarising celebrities as brand ambassadors for the campaign, as well as letting shoppers customise the product in a way they want, the project becomes less about pushing a new line of clothing and more about equipping people with the tools (in this case, the clothing) to laugh off hateful comments. ‘The main goal is to empower people. It’s not about having the product or the logo in the centre, it’s about the message we’re trying to push. The message in this case is more important that the product itself,’ Bertelli told us.
