Punk drives in again, but with diesel

Legalize the 4 day weekend", "Kiss your neighbour" or "More green traffic lights" - with these and four other slogans, unknown people called for a grotesquely original protest. The Dadaist-inspired action attracted attention throughout Europe last week. The slogans were painted with water-soluble paint on sidewalks in various major cities. It became clear this week that Diesel's in-house agency KesselsKramer was behind the street graffiti. It followed up these rather unusual teasers with an APG poster campaign. They show young people carrying exactly the same messages on banners or on walls. While the Italian jet-set jeans brand conveyed imaginative impulses on the themes of pleasure, freedom and happiness in its last, equally quirky campaign, it is now being stylized as the pioneer of a retro wave with all the trappings of punk. According to Nomad Communication in Lausanne, which is responsible for the Diesel press in Switzerland, the amateur models booked during a street casting in Paris provide additional credibility. The uprising against everything and nothing is accompanied on the Diesel website. The "Global Protest Guide" section offers further absurd ideas for action.
With sales soaring to nine million francs in 2001 and another pleasing increase in incoming orders (plus 25%) in the current year, Geraldo Egitto, Sales and Marketing Manager for Switzerland, is convinced that he will reap the rewards of his marketing budget, which has doubled to 700,000 francs. The Sex Pistols have already impressively demonstrated that punks have great sales-boosting potential. However, it has yet to be proven whether Diesel can profitably reanimate this youth trend of the seventies for its marketing goals. Luca Aloisi