CASE STUDY ANALYSIS REPORT

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Benetton Group: Evolution Of Communication Strategy
Marketing

INTRODUCTION

Advertising is an important aspect of every business and industry, and the

advertising strategy employed by the business impacts its success. Every
business has its own way and strategy of advertising, some use it raise demand
for its products and services, some use it for generating brand awareness,
generating leads for the sales force, reassuring customers about the purchase
they made, or helping create a favorable image of the company.

The Benetton Group is a clothing manufacturing brand who has used

advertising in the most unconventional form to create awareness about the
different political and social issues. Before the 1980s, Benetton’s advertising
focused largely on its products logo, a stylized knot of yarn with the word
Benetton printed under it. Luciano Benetton, the owner, realised that in order to
stand out among its competitors, he needs to use a different approach. He hired
Oliviero Toscani, a fashion and advertisement photographer, to be the new
Creative Director of Benetton. They first used photos of teenagers from diverse
cultures wearing their colourful clothing, and this led to the formation of the
trademark, “United Colours of Benetton”. They launched more campaigns
using photographs of people and things that wouldn’t typically go together,
such as a wolf and lamb, trying to spread their message of unification.

This case examines the “shock advertising” technique adapted by Benetton in

most of its campaigns which has made the company one of the most visible
reatilers in the world. Under Toscani, the company has used a lot of shocking
advertisements to capture the audience’s attention and to spread awareness. The
images that were used were very unconventional and shocking that people kept
talking about their advertisements. Some people reacted negatively and others
appreciated their attempts at creating awareness about the social and political
issues. Benetton has always been known for its provocative advertising and
campaigns circling around issues like racial integration, AIDS awareness, war,
poverty, child labor, and so on. Many of these advertisements generated critics
to think that it is just using publicity to promote its brands and others think that
it is exploiting human suffering for its benefit.
However, in 2000, Toscani went too far and crossed the line with a campaign
called “We, On Death Row”, which featured photos of death row inmates along
with their names and the dates which they are to be executed. This became so
controversial that it led to the resignation of Oliviero Toscani. Benetton hired a
new creative Director, James Mollison, who started going back to the traditional
product-based advertising.

Luciano Benetton once said, “The purpose of advertising is not to sell more. It's
to do with institutional publicity, whose aim is to communicate the company's
values.We need to convey a single strong image, which can be shared anywhere
in the world.”

BENETTON’S STRATEGY

Benetton carries the concept of “A big idea” in most of its campaigns. It wants
to paint a bigger picture in the minds of the people anout real life issues instead
of just portraying their products and brands.
Benetton advertising campaigns revolve around creating awareness about the
various issues in the society that most people do not feel comfortable talking
about. Hence, their campaigns are described as shocking, unconventional and
even controversial. They want to build a social conscience in the minds of their
audience and their goal is to position themselves as a brand that is socially
conscious.

Benetton used three types of advertising strategies in their campaigns:

  The cycle of difference
 The cycle of reality
 The cycle of free speech and right to express it

The cycle of difference is the type of strategy in which Benetton expresses a

sense of unity among people of different cultures and ethnicities in their
advertising campaigns. The aim of these ads was to break the societal norms of
inequality among people and by showing these ads in which people from
different races are together in peace and harmony, the company hoped to spread
the message of equality and at the same time promoting the brand of Benetton.

The cycle of reality was another way of spreading awareness about situations or
problems that were shared by all humankind to promote a sense of belonging. It
aimed to tapped into the similarity of human beings with each other. While
some of the ads showing the war cemetery and the newborn baby with the
umbilical cord were not as controversial, however, the campaign where the man
was dying from AIDS in front of his family and the buring car were deemed as
insensitive by some people.

In the cycle of free speech and the right to express it startegy, Benetton
partnered up with various non-profit associations, institutes and organisations to
spread awareness about different issues like world hunger, poverty, child labor
and by associating itself with organisations who focused mainly in these types
of issues, Benetton started painting itself in a more bright light in front of the
public.

Some of the other initiatives and campaigns of Benetton includes:

 “All the colours in the world” campaign featuring teens from different
parts of the world.
  In 1985, a campaign featuring two black boys kissing with the flags of
USA and USSR painted on them.
 Themed ads called “All colours are equal, just as all men are equal” in
countries that were in political battles with each other.
 In 1988, a campaign which merged culture and legends together called
“United Superstars of Benetton” was launched which depicted Adam and
Eve, Joan of Arc and Marilyn Monroe in their ads.
 In 1989, Toscani changed the style of advertising and replaced the knot
logo with a small green rectangle to invoke thinking beyong.
 In 1991, Toscani introduced a number of ads that centered around social
problems.
 In January 2000, “We, on death row” campaign was launched to show the
reality and futility of capital punishment.
 In September 2001, “International Year of Volunteers” was launched in
collaboration with the United Nation and it was about devoting one’s time
and energy to others to lead the way to self improvement.
 Colours magazine was launched in $ languages and the catalog themes
included “People and Places”, “Sunflowers” for down syndrome
awareness, “Enemies”, and so on.

PROBLEMS

 Controversial methods of advertising sometimes leading to protests.

There were many pros and cons of Benetton’s shock advertising
campaign. They were a good example of showing how you can use
product advertising for dual purposes. Many people praised the fact that
Benetton tackled social and political issues and put them in consumers’
faces when they would normally have gone unnoticed. Also, Benetton felt
socially responsible for bringing awareness to these issues, and they
 probably felt a great deal of personal satisfaction from taking that giant
leap from a clothing company to a socially active company. Their
advertisements also showcased their creativity and ability to think outside
the box. There were many downfalls from using this type of advertising
though. In most cases, people were offended by the photographs used, or
had mixed responses. Many countries tried banning some of Benetton’s
advertisements. Many political leaders were also offended including the
Pope, which also influenced how their followers viewed the Benetton
brand. A problem with using such controversial advertising is that the
consumers who feel negatively about the images portrayed in the
advertisements will feel negatively toward the company as well. Another
problem is that advertising should be used as a tool to promote your
product and reach your target markets, and when you aren’t doing that,
you aren’t going to generate sales. Benetton probably did not reach its
targeted markets using their shock advertisement campaigns, and as a
result they probably didn’t reach their full potential of profits.
 Difficulty in correlating the themes with their products. Advertising
and product promotion may not be a good platform for raising social
awareness because it is too hard accomplish without leaning too far one
way. Benetton’s advertisements were not as effective because they only
showed the social issues and had nothing to do with the product. It is
believed that advertisements for social issues should be just that, and
separate from any kind of brand or product. This would be the best choice
for a company to promote their brand or product, because it focuses
mainly on the product and the market it chooses to reach. Also, a
company cannot please everyone with its advertising and there will
always be someone who does not agree with a campaign, but you can’t
tackle such controversial issues and expect it to not have a negative
impact on your brand.
 Problem with their promotional strategy. Benetton gained a lot of
publicity over the years for their controversial advertising. Whether or not
the public liked their promotional strategies, this publicity did great things
for Benetton. I think that after Toscani left Benetton, it was a good time
for the company to reassess their promotional goals and make changes to
 their campaigns and company image. They will always be known for their
radical campaigns and the fact that their company stood for the
betterment of humanity, and raising awareness of social and political
issues. I agree with their decision to drop the use of shock advertising,
and return to the use of more conventional advertising. After Toscani left,
Benetton was able to realize that they needed to have advertisements of
models wearing their clothes. They needed to show consumers that they
are an actual clothing line, not a political or governmental company.
 The effect of these advertisements on the buying behaviour of
customers are difficult to be quantified. Benetton still stands for many
social issues, but they are ceasing to offend the consumers by not placing
these issues in their advertisements. It is hard to imagine how Benetton
was ever successful in sales without showing their products in
advertisements. People want to see the product and they want to be
assured of its quality. I think using photographs of attractive models
wearing their brightly colored clothes will positively promote the
Benetton brand, and they will see a huge increase in sales. I think that
Benetton can also promote brand awareness by supporting its causes on
different platforms. They could team up with other organizations and help
promote their causes and attach the Benetton name to the advertisements
to show that they still believe in promoting social and political issues. I
think that separating social and political issues from the actually company
and its products will greatly increase Benetton’s consumer approval.

RECOMMENDATIONS

 Even though the shock advertising has worked for them, it can be done in
a more customer friendly way
 Reverting back to more conventional advertising
 The collection of ideas for the campaign can be done more carefully not
to hurt any one’s feelings.
 Benetton should conduct more consumer insights in their ad production.
In 2001 Benetton began running a new campaign featuring product-focused ads
that ran in print, on TV and on billboards. The ads showed exuberant teen
models in Benetton clothing against a crisp white background and were
designed to convey a sense of freedom and a positve, dynamic expression of the
Benetton style. The impact of Benetton reverting back to more conventional
advertising is yet to be determined, although given the way Benetton had built
its brand image under Toscani, this approach does appear rather conservative.
As noted in the case, Toscani dismissed the more conventional ads as a “waste
of money.” While these types of ads may not generate as much attention and
interest as the shock ads, they may be effective in shifting attention to
Benetton’s products and image as a retailer rather than as a social crusader. The
use of conventional advertising will assist the company in gaining back some of
the brand reputation. Through the use of conventional advertising they can still
transmit the core notions of “peace and unity” which are their strong points,
without risking to negatively influencing their audience. Such a strategy would
still make them innovative. Rather than moving solely into product based
advertising after Toscani’s exit, the company could still continue to address
social issues like war, poverty, education, child labor and exploitation and the
like but with less controversial ads. In fact, Benetton indicated that it would not
be completely abandoning its social issues messages and planned to run ads
speaking to the refugee issue.

CONCLUSION

I believe that shock advertising most often repels the audience. As these adverts
might distort the customers from the main objectives of purchasing the brand, at
subconscious level it might associate Benetton more with their human rights
campaign than with the products they actually offer. While other companies
have used shock ads to differentiate themselves and increase sales, Benetton’s
use of the advertising genre is unique. Their goal was to raise the public’s
awareness and make them more conscience of important social issues. Few
companies are brave enough to experiment to such a degree with their
advertising. Also, there was substantial damage done to Benetton’s reputation
and they needed to undo the damage by changing their approach. I think
consumers are very forgiving, and if they see a change in a company for the
better, they are more willing to embrace that company.
Oliviero Toscani stated “Benetton creates an empowered viewers who will buy
their product through shock value, empowerment and memoribility”. Toscani
stayed true to his statememt and although his methods were questionable, he
had succeeded in creating an image as well as an impact for Benetton in the
hearts of the consumers all across the world.

REFERENCES

 http://www.benettongroup.com/media-press/image-gallery/institutional-
communication/historical-campaigns/
 https://www.coursehero.com/file/18919824/CASE-STUDY-Benetton-
Group2/
 http://vasipitu.wikaba.com/article_72.php