BrandDigital | BrandSimple: The Blog

Despite what the calendar says spring fashions have arrived. At least on paper they have. I was flipping through the recent special style section of Time Magazine when one ad in particular caught my eye. It was hot, in every sense of the word. In it, an attractive young couple sat on a New York City rooftop trying to catch a cool breeze. They gaze out at the peaks of skyscrapers emerging from what was obviously an encroaching ocean, the tip of the Empire State Building among them. The single line of copy read, “Global Warming Ready?” It was an ad for Diesel. It ran in sync with “An Inconvenient Truth” being up for an Academy Award. And it’s an ideal example of what makes the Diesel brand so successful in an industry where success is very hard to achieve.

In my book, BrandSimple, I recount a wonderful conversation I had with Toni Belloni, a former executive at Procter & Gamble who is currently CEO of LVMH, the well-known purveyor of fashion and luxury goods. During the conversation he told me that managing a fashion brand is akin to a surfer riding a wave. The surfer, he said, has to be responsive to several things at once – the height of the wave, the speed of the wave, the wind, and the currents running beneath. To keep his balance, the surfer needs to make lots of quick, almost intuitive adjustments to keep from going under. What’s more, Toni told me, one must think about the fashion consumer as sitting on the beach watching the surfer ride the wave in. Nothing can give away the fact that the surfer is reacting to all these subtle changes. It must be seen as an experience both flawless and easy. It’s a great analogy. And Diesel is a great example of a brand that brings the analogy to life through its branding. From the DJ in its stores, to its merchandising, its striking models to its assertive red label, Diesel makes riding the wave of fashion brands look simple. Responsive to the subtle, but constant changes in the industry, Diesel knows exactly how to balance its branding signals to continue appealing to its forward-thinking audience, even further evidenced by its environmentally-aware advertising.

Building a brand is tough. Building a fashion brand aimed at 20–something’s is tougher. Expectations for relevant differentiation are high. As trends change, as brands gain and lose favor, Diesel has been able to keep its balance without anyone realizing exactly how it’s doing it. To the consumers sitting on the beach - or on the rooftop – all they see is how hot a brand it is.