BENETTON GROUP:

Evolution of Communication Strategy

A Group One Case Presentation
 Group One MEMBERS

 Maxwell Annor-Williams MBAE09030049

 Albert Nyarko MBAE09030164
 Anita Anipare MBAE09030048
 Elizabeth Addison MBAE09030008
 Prince Atta Osei MBAE09030183
 Frank Ankama Asamoah MBAE09030060
 CASE OVERVIEW

 Benetton - Italian retailer

manufacturing and distributing
clothing, undergarments, shoes,
cosmetics and accessories.

 It was started in 1955 by the

Benetton family (consisting of three
brothers – Luciano, Gilberto, Carlo The Benetton family
and a sister - Guiliana) in a small
Italian town.

 Benetton today operates over 5000

retail outlets and megastores in
about 120 countries employing over
7250 people.

Luciano Benetton
 CASE OVERVIEW

 It has licensed it brand name to other

manufacturers of sunglasses,
stationery, cosmetics, linens, casual wear
watches, golf equipment, designer
condoms and luggage.

 Popular Benetton’s brands includes Leisure wear

United Colors of Benetton (UCB),
Sisley, Playlife and Killer Loop.

 Benetton became well known for its Street wear

colourful and provocative “shock
advertising” that employed the
power of photography to grab the
attention of viewers.
fashion wear
 Cont.
 Benetton’s unique advertising campaigns created by Oliviero
Toscani (Benetton’s then creative director) focused on social
and political issues like Racism, AIDS, War, Child Labour,
Capital Punishment, Pollution etc. that it thought needed more
attention.

 Benetton’s communication strategy attracted a lot of criticisms

and generated a lot of controversies the world over causing
the withdrawal of some of their ads from various countries.

 Industry experts and critics worried about Benetton’s Oliviero Toscani

communication strategy and execution approach, some
describing it as offensive, exploiting and unethical to the
advertising profession.

 When Oliviero Toscani finally resigned, Benetton reverted to a

more conventional advertising strategy under its new creative
director James Mollison a product of fabrica – Benetton’s a
communications research center.

James Mollison
 Benetton’s campaigns

Caused Sears to canceled an Banned by the Italian Advertising

exclusive $100 million contract Authority (The Vatican took a stern
to sell a line of Benetton clothes view but in England, this ad won the
Eurobest Award)
 Benetton’s campaigns

Banned in Germany. The tattoo Misinterpreted as reminding

mark was similar to the numbers blacks of the days of slavery
tattooed by Nazis when black women breast-fed
white babies
 Benetton’s communication strategy

 Benetton’s communications always carried a ‘big idea’ that focused

on a social or a political issue.
 It used ‘shocking images’ in the context of advertising to grab the
attention of its audience.
 The emotive communication approach draw the public to pay
more attention to issues such as Racism, AIDS, War, Capital
Punishment etc. that affects the world.
 Benetton used its communication to take a standpoint on such
social and political issues affecting the world and forced the public to
take a positive action.
 This strategy gave Benetton a distinct image – a competitive edge.
 It positioned Benetton as a caring, socially responsible brand with
the interest of society at heart.
 But in the mind of critics Benetton was a controversial brand.
Benetton’s strategy
 Benetton’s creative execution

 Ads had a universal theme

 No image of the product
 Original - real images of the topic
 Touching images that is capable
of driving the debate on the topic
or ‘big idea’.
 Strong visuals that can make a
lasting impact in the minds of the
people.
 No copy, just the Logo
 Simple and effective
 A blend of corporate social
responsibility with advertising
 SWOT – Benetton’s ads
Strengths
 Benetton is a world leader and a
famous brand so its ads gets noticed
 Creative grabs attention at a single
glance
 Delivers message in a clear an
concise manner
 Simple and straight-forward
information is used
 Influential
 Good visuals
 Global target audience
 Combines advertising with Corporate
social responsibility
 SWOT – Benetton’s ads

Weaknesses
 Ads are controversial and gives rise to public
resentment
 Morality and ethics of the ads are questionable

Some of Benetton’s controversial ads

 SWOT – Benetton’s ads

Opportunities
 Social causes can be touched without controversies
 Ads can be run on other media – TV, radio, internet
 Ads can target national social problems around the
world with different ads for different countries

Two ads on racism but one is more controversial than the other
 SWOT – Benetton’s ads

Threats
 Critics are of the view that Benetton’s is using
cheap and exploiting ads to market their brand.
 Controversies resulting in ads pull out.

was withdrawn from the

media in Italy, France and
the UK
 The thrust of the case

 Benetton’s communication strategy, creative approach and execution.

 The use of ‘Shock images’ which generated controversies and

condemnation from individuals and nations across the world.
 Problem Identification

 Critics were not worried about the images used

but the context in which they were used.
 The universal ads did not factor in the world’s
cultural diversity.
 The ads were oversensitive
 Oliviero Toscani’s background affected the
direction of their communication.
 Question One

• What are the basic

objectives of advertising?
• What are the advertising
objectives of Benetton?
 Answer

 The Institute of Practitioners in Advertising (IPA), defines advertising as:

"The means of providing the most persuasive

possible selling message to the right prospects
at the lowest possible cost".

 Kotler and Armstrong provide an alternative definition:

"Advertising is any paid form of non-personal

presentation and promotion of ideas, goods
and services through mass media such as
newspapers, magazines, television or radio by
an identified sponsor".
 Belch / Belch:

"Advertising is any paid form of non-personal

communication about an organization, product,
service, or idea by an identified sponsor".

3 basic objectives of advertising are:

• To inform – tell customers about products or services
• To persuade - encourage customers to switch to a different brand
• To remind - remind consumers of the company’s products
Other advertising objectives include:

 To build brand image

 To create awareness
 To educate
 To generate interest
 To induce desire
 To encourage action
 To support other marketing efforts
 Benetton’s advertising objectives

Benetton’s purpose of advertising was not to sell

more but to:
 To create and unconventional way of
advertisement to stand out of the crowd
 To communicate the company’s values
 To create a single strong distinctive corporate
image
 To create brand awareness
 Corporate social responsibility
 To encourage action on social and political issues
 Question Two

• Discuss the pros and cons

of the shock advertising
campaign Benetton used for
many years.
 Answer

PROS
 It creates an emotional bond
with consumers
 Grab attention of the audience
with a serious message
 Lives a long time memory and
not easily forgotten 
 Extreme content to influence
audience in a positive way 
 Shock advertisements stand
out more than traditional
advertisement

Timeless: 50yrs and people

will still remember these ads
 Answer
CONS
 Message interpreted by consumers as offensive
and insulting
 Offended consumers may avoid Benetton’s
products that can affect sales
 Controversies may gradually dent the brand
image
 Withdrawn ads - waste of advertising budget
 Ads do not directly sell companies products to
consumers

Misinterpreted as promoting
homosexuality
 Question Three

• Oliviero Toscani has defended Benetton’s use of

shock advertising by noting that it constitutes
nothing less than a debate between advertising and
art. He argues that potentially offensive images are
acceptable in the world of art and journalism while
in other realms such as advertising they are not.
Do you agree with Toscani’s position?
 Answer

Oliviero Toscani’s argument

 Journalism and Art use shock images to
inform, entertain and educate but the bottom
line is to sell their paper and art.
 Advertising is used to inform and also to sell
 With this aligning objectives, shock images
must also be acceptable in advertising.

Oliviero Toscani
 Answer

We do not agree with Toscani’s position

 Journalism and Advertising has different objectives and
different set of ethics and morals.
 Journalism is seen as for public good
 Advertising is also perceived as for the company’s benefit
 Critics argue that they are not worried about the use of the
shock images but the context in which it is used.
 Using shock images in advertising is criticized as exploiting
for the company’s benefit.
 Question Four

• Do you agree with Benetton’s

decision to drop the use of
shock ads and return to the
use of more conventional ads?
 Conventional vrs Shock ads
Conventional ads
 Generic and easy to copy by
competitors
 Get lost in the crowd
 Sells the products of the company
 Low level of awareness
 Low impact
 Easily forgotten
 High advertising budget to make
an impact
 Low emotional involvement
 Low controversies
Shock ads
 Unique and not easily copied
 Stands out from the crowd
 Do not sell the companies products
 High level of awareness
 High impact
 Highly memorable
 Low advertising budget to make an
impact
 High emotional involvement
 Highly controversial
 Conventional vrs Shock ads

Conversional ad Shock ad
 Answer

We do not agree with the decision of

Benetton to stop using Shock ads
 Shock ads are more effective than
conventional ads
 It’s more impactful
 It commands less advertising budget
 It is unique to Benetton’s brand
 It promises a higher brand equity
 Recommendations

• Benetton should the ‘Shock’ communication strategy

because it is more effective than conventional ads.

• They should reduce or tone down the level of

sensitiveness of the ad to reduce socio – cultural
controversies.

• Benetton should conduct more consumer insights in

their ad production before developing their Ad.
 Conclusion
• The success of the Benetton brand was due to their
unique advertising “shock ads” strategy.
• Totally dropping this strategy which Benetton is known for
over the years has serious implications on the brand.
• That is a compromise on Benetton’s stance and critics
would be vindicated.
• The issue of this strategy was the sensitive of the images
which in our opinion could have been toned down with
deep cultural insight.
• We believe the strategy can be revised in a more subtle
manner and still achieve its objectives.
• Oliviero Toscani in our opinion is considered a genius for
this great piece of history.
 Thank You

Unique, Bold, Daring, Timeless