The Diesel Brand and the Cult of Stupidity

The Diesel brand was born more than 20 years ago and is today an innovative international design company, manufacturing jeans and casual clothing as well as accessories. It is present in over 80 countries with 10,000 points of sale and almost 50 company-owned stores.  


From the very beginning, Diesel’s design team rejected the slavish trend-following typical of the fashion industry, turned their backs on the style-dictators and consumer forecasters of the fashion establishment and let their own tastes lead them. In short, the company viewed the world as a single, border-less macro-culture. Today Diesel is a global brand with a consolidated annual turnover of 575 billion Lire (US$ 330 millions), 85% of which is generated outside Italy.


From an agency standpoint, we can only imagine that working on a Diesel campaign would be a great deal of fun.  The Diesel brand seems to acknowledge the stupidity of brands at large (and life and general) becoming a parody and caricature of itself - a mirror to the absurdity of the human condition.  





The essence of all Diesel creative is fun, clever innovation with a touch of mischief - and despite being a global brand Diesel's 'Be Stupid' campaign has provided some breakthrough work in different markets around the world.  You may remember Diesel’s ‘Safe For Work Fruity Porn’ (below) or the recent ‘Diesel Island’ campaign.

The latest example is Diesel’s recent promotion of its footwear in Japan. Diesel wanted to offer consumers a chance to enjoy being stupid, while communicating a 'kick ass' theme to its young, fashion-conscious target audience. So what’s so different about Diesel shoes?  You guessed it. They are superior for 'kicking ass’.  So how do they evidence this simple insight while generating buzz and peaking interest across social networks?

If Diesel sneakers were made for kicking ass (a cultural faux-pas in Japan) then the most obvious choice was to give shoppers the opportunity to test the brand's claim.  A 'Kick Ass Hall' was built at the Nagisa Music Festival where Diesel turned the idea of ‘kicking ass’ into a game. In said game, participants competed to see how far they could kick a willing volunteer (dubbed 'the Asser') down a short track.  

The incentive? A pair of Diesel sneakers of course to the contestant who succeeded in kicking the Asser the farthest down the track.  We should note that the role of ‘Asser’ came with an attractive remuneration package of ¥50,000 per day and the ‘Asser’ recruitment exercise served to generate even more PR hype before the event.

RESULTS

• The ‘Asser’ recruitment story was ranked the top new story for several days on Mixi news, the largest social network in Japan. 
• PR coverage equivalent to more than ¥30,000,000, was generated during the course of the campaign, which included coverage in both online and print.
• More than 3,300 tweets were received during the campaign phase.
• Diesel received more than 4,960 applications from prospective ‘Assers’
• All activities generated buzz and product interest all while reinforcing the brand attributes.

♔ SOCIAL MEDIA CASE STUDIES [GB_V35.0]

THE BIG PICTURE?  Agencies are increasingly incorporating tech talent into the creative process and building tech expertise inside and outside client relationships in order to produce integrated campaigns that effectively use social media, apps, mobile and viral video.


The Desperados YouTube Experience – it’s über Social, viral, interactive and extremely well executed across multiple properties – Site 

Morgan Spurlock’s TED Talk - naturally, Spurlock put the naming rights to this TED speech up for bid on eBay—and got a company to pay $7,100 - Video 

GM is taking the extra step to start a conversation and interact with fans with a personalized presence at SXSW - Faces of GM

Here’s a great example of branded utility - Belgium's Flair Magazine's Facebook App lets women tag a friend's outfit and ask where she got it – Video Overview 

Radio Shack discusses how their Foursquare fans typically spend three-and-a-half times more compared to what their non-Foursquare customers spend - ClickZ 

Hyundai Accent's 3D Projection Mapping integrates the car into the installation – Video 

Skittles' new "Touch the Rainbow" campaign features a variety of interactive videos on their YouTube channel, including the viral "Touch: Cat" video - brandchannel 

Xbox Kinect’s 'Design your own Souvenir' - of YOU! Using openFrameworks and openKinect, in combination with 3 Xbox Kinect’s, this installation delivered a 360 degree point cloud that could then be extruded in real time with a 3D printer – Video Overview 

KLM Royal Dutch Airlines is engaging with fans directly on Foursquare, Twitter, and YouTube. Recently, they changed their flight schedule to accommodate a fan's tweet request and the result was a world record, in-flight dance party - Social Times 

RED BULL's STREET ART VIEW – Using Google Street View to showcase street art (i.e. graffiti) all over the globe. Tag your favorite spot, share it with friends and help build the world's largest art collection – Site 

"Best in Class" finalists for Bazaarvoice's 2011 Social Commerce Summit include RUBBERMAID, 3M, DOMINO'S, ESTEE LAUDER COMPANIES, HP, AND MACY'S -  Social Commerce Summit

Clients From Hell – An online collection of anonymously contributed client horror stories from designers – Site 

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Charleston District, share their uses for social media ranging from project updates to recruiting purposes - SmartBlogs 

The GOAB TV Experience - This app transforms your handset (tablet/mobile) into a socially and commercially-enabled TV remote. The app brings the possibility of user interaction within television to life with a look at how social integration may work in the future – Video 

HYPER ISLAND get creative about getting their students agency internships with an iApp and a website (launching tomorrow) at www.InternStore.com - App Overview 

State Farm has launched a new social networking page for Latinos on Facebook that features bilingual posts and partnerships with Telemundo.com and Tu Musica - MediaPost 

'Seattle's Best' (Starbucks subsidiary) is hosting a live 24-hour show dubbed the "Declare Your Level Show" with famed comedy troupe Second City - Article 

Scholz & Volkmer (Berlin) are launching a new campaign for Adidas where they are staging a live “interactive” online competition for 5 days where FB fans will be able to control everything a German player does (who wants to become the 12th man of FC Bayern) – Website 

GameStop is launching a Facebook-based store called ShopStore that will allow fans to browse merchandise and make purchases directly from the Facebook application - CNET 

Clever Chromaroma turns London's transport infrastructure turned into a dynamic multiplayer gameplay experience – Video Overview 

Research in Motion is giving away a BlackBerry PlayBook tablet to the fan with the best haiku submitted on Twitter - Twitter 

REI share how they are using location-based check-ins to build relationships and drive sales - Vimeo

Have Case Studies or other examples to share?  Join us on Facebook and post or e-mail us and we'd be happy to do so. 

♔ SOCIAL MEDIA CASE STUDIES [GB_V34.0]

The big picture?  Agencies are increasingly incorporating tech talent into the creative process and building tech expertise inside and outside client relationships in order to produce integrated campaigns that effectively use social media, apps, mobile and viral video.


Hasbro, the board game maker, developed an app that turns your social network into one big Facebook-powered game of 'Guess Who?' - Video 

Miracle Whip – ‘Haters Gonna Hate’ Campaign embraces peoples polarizing reactions to generate buzz and pique interest taking the unusual route of offering an online forum to consumers who both love and hate the product - Video 

Organic brands Stonyfield Farm and Honest Tea are teaming up for a contest that encourages fans to submit videos about why organics are important to them - JustDrinkOrganic.com

Nissan's Accidental Test Drive - Car dealers have to get extremely creative these days to get people to take the all-important test-drive - even if that means accidentally blocking them in – Video

Search for places nearby using Google Maps, monitor your driving efficiency or even update your Facebook and Twitter status. MINI USA demonstrate their advanced integration between physical and digital worlds with ‘Connected’ - making it one with the MINI's hi-res cockpit display – Video


Absolut Vodka's campaign, "The Stoop Life Movement," has been honored with PRWeek's "Consumer Launch Campaign of the Year Award."  The campaign featured Brooklyn blogger outreach, fans' personal stoop stories, and local partnerships to drive engagement - PRWeek 

Test-drive a BMW X3 smashing across your favourite (and least favourite) websites. Browser-based game developed by (MDC's) Kirshenbaum Bond Senecal + Partners and Dotglu - Website 

Starbucks and MTV are using ‘Instagram’ (a photo sharing mobile application) to offer fans exclusive behind-the-scene views (that can be easily shared across the social space) - 360 Digital Influence 

Volkswagen (Australia's) 'Boot Tetris' Campaign took over shopping centers and 71 VW dealerships across Australia engaging more then 17,000 people (and exceeding sales targets by 25%) – Video 

Tipp-Ex's video (highly viral and interactive with 16,014,627 views) video plays off of your expectations of YouTube's functionality – Video 

EA SPORTS is using a new Facebook app that gives fans an exclusive view of the Augusta National golf course to promote their new video game - Facebook 

H&R Block, Comcast, Southwest Airlines, Zappos, and Whole Foods Market were among the top ten companies named in Time Magazine's  ‘140 Best Twitter Feeds’ - TIME 

The successful PEDIGREE Adoption Drive for Dogs features Facebook Ads and PR activities and has led to the donation of more than 1.2 million bowls of food to shelters across the U.S. Read the Case Study 

In the spirit of April Fools, Molson Coors announced the sophomoric ‘tongue koozie’ by partnering with a Canadian lifestyle blogger - Casie Stewart 

Major League Baseball has named Mike O'Hara as their official Social Media Ambassador to run the new MLB ‘Fan Cave’ and manage all of the league's social media correspondence - MLB.com 

MATTEL goes guerrilla and wows with disruptive creative billboards – More

Winners and runner-ups from BtoB Magazine's second annual Social Media Marketing Awards are open to public voting for the "People's Choice Award." The finalists include EMC, Cisco Systems, Microsoft, Firehouse.com, LexisNexis, and Omni Hotels & Resorts - BtoB Magazine 

InterContinental Hotels Group shares how IHG used online communities to jumpstart its global social media programs - Vimeo 

Many companies offer discounts and deals on Facebook, but Expedia is giving away $1 million in prizes (including five trips that cost more than $100,000) - More 

Getting an extreme “social” makeover, the SKITTLES home page has been converted to a twitter search - targeted to the word #skittles from any twitter post – Website 

Ford, CBS, PepsiCo, Best Buy, and Procter & Gamble are all using social media to keep fans interested and engaged in their brand - Fast Company Design 

3LiveShop (by B-Reel) allows you and the sales person to see and talk to each other while the sales person demonstrates products and services to you (just like on a video conference – only better.) – Video

TOYOTA Prius turns its hand to real-time record breaking. Over two days - March 30th and 31^st, 2011 - Toyota Prius attempted to break 200 World Records - Video

Director Chris Milk's Interview at the Creativity and Technology Conference CaT (London 2010) talks about the evolution of Storytelling using digital tools - Video 

DDB° Paris created a billboard for TROPICANA completely powered by oranges.  Electricity is generated by attaching 2,500 oranges to wood fitted with zinc and copper spikes - Video 

PLAYTEX Sport’s ‘Unstoppable Moves’ (UGC) Campaign (by Social Control) encourages users to upload their best moves, make a video mash-up and view submissions on their YouTube Channel. For this effort they donate $5 to the Women’s Sports Foundation – More 

The Customer Service Happiness Manifesto by John O’Nolan – Article 

Coca-Cola brand Fanta's Chase 3D Projection Mapping (by Ogilvy) stunt at Dubai Mall definitely gets your attention – Video 

♔ Nissan's Accidental Test Drive

Perhaps more than any other brand category, the consumer purchase route in the automotive industry relies on pre-purchase trials. While this is understandable as the test drive is a lengthy process, and with so many marquees on offer, this presents another layer of competition for motor companies.  Although the Nissan Patrol had undergone several developments leading to a more sophisticated and luxurious design, the basic outside design had remained largely unchanged. Nissan needed to get potential drivers to experience the interior changes for themselves.

Recognising that drivers often prefer specific types of vehicle, Arabian Automobiles (the exclusive Nissan distributor in Dubai) chose to target drivers of competitor SUV models. But instead of wasting time trying to persuade otherwise loyal drivers to book a test drive with a different brand, Arabian Automobiles chose to take the test drive to the drivers - and force them to take part.

On different days at different car parks, Nissan Patrols blocked other SUVs in their bays by parking behind them. When drivers returned to their vehicles, they discovered a note on their windscreen encouraging them to move the Nissan Patrol behind them.

Once they were inside the Patrol and had started the vehicle, a CD automatically played a special message that apologised for the inconvenience, explained the new features of the Patrol and encouraged the driver to sign up for a real test drive. At the end of the message, drivers were invited to collect a CD from the central console that contained brochures and videos of the Patrol in action.  Since this took place in car parks, Arabian Automobiles needed police permissions, a filming permit, and of a new Patrol vehicle for the participant to use.

Results

After the mini test drive, Nissan invited drivers to sign up for a longer test experience. On average, 7 out of 10 respondents opted for a full test drive, including drivers of Toyotas, Jeeps and Range Rovers.  Two drivers failed to "get" the stunt. One woman who called the police and one angry man beeped the horn for 10 red-faced minutes.  Nissan plan to repeat the stunt over more weekends, and Arabian Automobiles have adopted this technique as part of the 2011 Patrol marketing plan.  The campaign was by TBWA/RAAD.

The New Capitalist Manifesto: Building a Disruptively Better Business

The New Capitalist Manifesto: Building a Disruptively Better Business - by Umair Haque  - 256 pages.  Publication date: Jan 04, 2011. Prod. #: 12794-HBK-ENG

Welcome to the worst decade since the Great Depression. Trillions of dollars of financial assets destroyed; trillions in shareholder value vanished; worldwide GDP stalled. But this isn't a financial crisis, or even an economic one, says Umair Haque. It's a crisis of institutions--ideals inherited from the industrial age. These ideals include rampant exploitation of resources, top-down command of resource allocations, withholding of information from stakeholders to control them, and a single-minded pursuit of profit for its own sake. 

All this has produced "thin value"--short-term economic gains that accrue to some people far more than others, and that don't make us happier or healthier. It has left resources depleted and has spawned conflict, organizational rigidity, economic stagnation, and nihilism. In The New Capitalist Manifesto, Haque advocates a new set of ideals: 

(1)Renewal: Use resources sustainably to maximize efficiencies, 

(2) Democracy: Allocate resources democratically to foster organizational agility,

(3) Peace: Practice economic non-violence in business,

(4) Equity: Create industries that make the least well off better off, and 

(5) Meaning: Generate payoffs that tangibly improve quality of life. 

Yes, adopting these ideals requires bold and sustained changes. But some companies--Google, Walmart, Nike--are rising to the challenge. In this bold manifesto, Haque makes an irresistible business case for following their lead.

Forward: