INTRODUCTION BENETTON
This introduction is meant for readers who are not familiar with United Colours of Benetton and enables them to understand our final paper.
United colours of Benetton is an Italian clothing brand. The company was grounded in Ponzo Veneto in 1965 by the brothers Luciano, Gilberto and Carlo and their sister Giuliana.[1]
Benetton has been in the news very often. Especially, because of their controversial campaigns. Some people call the advertisements art, while others believe that it is pure empiricism. Until 2000 Toscani was the photographer and the mastermind behind the controversial advertisements. He said that he created these advertisements to make people think about different subjects within the society. The advertisements differ a lot, however we can agree on the fact that Benetton is a company that has turned in to a clothing giant in a twinkle of an eye. Although the brand is often linked to Toscani, the success of the company is not only due to this photographer. It is the Benetton family who managed to bring the company at the position where it is now. Because of the strategy of Luciano, Giueliana, Gilberto and Carlo, United Colours of Benetton has become such a big, successful and well-known brand.[2]
Giueliana Benetton started knitting sweaters for a local company when she was around fifteen years old. At this moment her older brother Luciano saw a future in the activities of his sister and decided to sell the sweaters to textile companies. Somewhat later, the other two brothers, Gilberto and Carlo, started to meddle as well. After sometime, Giueliana gave up her job at the local company and started to work fulltime on the production of their own collection. When Luciano managed to convince the Dellasiega’s to sell the sweaters in their store, the Benetton family received more and more large orders. Because of the growing supply, the little factory had to move from the family home to a rented warehouse.
Meanwhile, every member of the Benetton family got his or her own job within the company. Luciano became the president and commercial manger, Giuliana was running the designing compartment, Gilberto became financial manger and Carlo managed the productions.[3]
After conquering the Italian market, it was time to focus on other countries as well. The fashion industry did extraordinary good work and Benetton knew to defy the competitors from all over the world.
In 1982 Luciano Benetton and Oliviero Toscani met each other for the first time. According to Toscani, the only thing Benetton was missing, was the spirit to, besides clothing, represent a new mentality. It took one and a half years before Luciano contacted Toscani again, but this call was the start of a successful cooperation that lasted for eighteen years. [4]
The first campaign was already a great success. Benetton felt that their fashion brand should appeal to everyone in the world, so therefore they chose to focus on peace and racial harmony. The following campaigns focused on similar subjects. One of the first campaigns was called ‘United colours of Benetton’ and from this moment on, this slogan became the motto of the company. Although Toscani had been criticised very much, his work has also been praised and awarded.
Within half a century Benetton expanded from a small home company to a multinational. This spectacular growth is not only due to the strategy of Benetton, however is also a consequence of the campaigns from Toscani.
When in 2000 Toscani leaves the company, the advertising of Benetton is taken over by Fabrica, a communicative research centre, established by Toscani himself. At this moment, Fabrica is still the creative mind behind the Benetton campaigns.
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