Benetton’s Unhate campaign, which launched yesterday, depicts photoshopped images of world leaders, from politicians to religious figures, kissing. The campaign started with the unveiling of several banners with this imagery, strategically placed in a few European cities. The youth-oriented Italian fashion label, which is certainly no stranger to launching polemical advertising campaigns, has setup a traditional offline campaign that incorporates some supporting online channels (YouTube video, website, Facebook page). However, one would guess that Benetton was very aware of the magnitude of social media and that they intended the campaign to play itself out online.
A quick review of the impact of the effect of the campaign in social media channels shows that the Unhate video is the most viewed video in Benetton’s YouTube channel, having been viewed approximately 171,000 times, substantially more than any of their other videos, which range from a few hundred to a few thousand views. Social Mention stats for the word Benetton show a reach of 46%, a 3:1 sentiment, 41% strength and an average mention every 22 seconds. The word unhate generates very similar statistics indicating that the company was at least successful in associating the campaign with their brand. The Vatican quickly complained about the photograph depicting Pope Benedict Sheik XVI and Sheik Ahmed el-Tayeb kissing, to which Benetton responded by removing it from the campaign and issuing a statement on their Facebook page.
It is interesting to note that the campaign has yet to run in any print publications but will do so later this month. Of course one has to wonder if anybody will care by the time the advertisements are published, making one question the relevancy of traditional print ads at this point in time, and reconsider the best use of these traditional platforms, particularly when combined with online channels.
1 comment:
I had seen the doctored photos of Obama kissing Chavez, etc and heard about the hoopla. I did not know that it was a Benetton was the source for the ad campaign. Now that I've researched it more however, it seems like it really has paid of for the brand. It certainly is stirring up a great deal of commotion, and in the world of any (most press) is good press that seems like a good think for Benetton. One exception to this would be the Kenneth Cole Arab Spring campaign gaff during fashion week as discussed in class!
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