Benetton goes social to harvest the market of unemployed in its new campaign
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Benetton
goes social in what could be more meaningful — and less controversial —
than its previous campaigns which have featured death- row convicts and
AIDS victims.
On a recent trip to Japan, while having a leisurely repast, Alessandro Benetton the founder and chairman of Benetton Group was struck by the success story of the Asian nation in the face of many perils. For Japan has survived a massive crisis in the late 1990s, a shrinking economy and has managed to rebuild and make itself a cleaner place, he said in an interview to The Huffington Post.
In his words, "You go to Tokyo and see that you have low noise, electric cars and no pollution or at least less pollution." That thought-laden meal along with the statistics presented by a team of 50 Benetton experts combined to give him the germ of the idea that has led to the recently launched 'Unemployee of the year' campaign under the Unhate Foundation.
The Benetton Group formed Unhate Foundation in 2011 to identify initiatives and projects that synch with the social aspirations of its advertising. The current campaign talks of one of modern-day society's most pressing issues — unemployed youth the world over. It seeks to challenge cliches about youth non-employment and asserts a belief in their creativity.
The television campaign narrates the story of four young people looking for an employment opportunity. Through a series of powerful montages, the narrative traces the backdrop against which the unemployed are often seen as lazy, anarchist or simply not hard-working enough, and ends with trying to break that myth. The campaign has been conceptualised jointly by the fashion brand's in-house agency Fabrica and MDC Partners-owned 72 and Sunny in Amsterdam. Benetton will broadcast these ads and a call to action, through a partnership with MTV and digital media, reaching more than 35 countries.
Realizing this could start and end as just one more ad-campaign that piggybacks on fancy creatives and then forgets about the issues raised, the brand has gone a step further, and put its money where its mouth is. To harness creativity of the target audience: young non-employed people between the ages of 18 and 30 from across the globe have been invited to submit outlines of projects to be supported by the brand.
The prerequisite — their ideas must lead to a concrete social impact in their community. The online community will vote for the ideas submitted and the 100 most deserving projects will receive support that will turn them into reality. The 100 projects with the maximum votes will be supported by the Unhate Foundation with 5000 each.
The Foundation, as its first concrete project, has supported the social reintegration through art and photography, of New Delhi's street children, in partnership with the Salaam Balak Trust, a local organisation. In Brazil it has associated with a project for children and youth of Sao Paulo, together with the local partner Projeto Quixote. Through art activities, street children and youth in danger are being given a chance of social uplift.
Benetton has been known for its provocative campaigns — almost everyone who has seen the campaign will recall Unhate released earlier this year that had unlikely, antagonistic world leaders kissing each other in the hope of spreading love across the world. It created controversy on a large scale — the first time such a thing had happened after Benetton parted ways with maverick photographer Oliviero Toscani. It irked the Vatican and many others, but that didn't stop it from bagging the Grand Prix for press at the Cannes Lions this year.
Prakash Yadav-PG-3
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