Benetton Unhate Campaign – Politics shock

Benetton is going for shock value in its latest ad push, which shows major world leaders, including Barack Obama, Hu Jintao and Benjamin Netanyahu, kissing. And not just any old peck. It’s a full head-tilted, eyes-closed sort of deep smooching. Agency is the Italian Fabrica, in partnership with MDC Partners’ 72andSunny.

What is more, the outdoor prints:

The campaign also leans heavily on social media, including a website that Benetton is calling a “Kiss Wall” where consumers can upload pictures of themselves kissing. It has also created a short film about spreading love, or as Benetton calls it “unhate.” All of the work was created by Benetton’s internal agency, Fabrica, which is based in Treviso, Italy, in partnership with MDC Partners-owned 72andSunny, out of its Amsterdam office.

Alessandro Benetton, VP at the company and son of Benetton’s founder Luciano, unveiled the campaign on 16th November in Paris. He said in a statement: “It fits perfectly with the values and history of Benetton, which chooses social issues and actively promotes humanitarian causes that could not otherwise have been communicated on a global scale, and in doing so has given a sense and a value to its brand, building a lasting dialogue with the people of the world.”

It’s also a smart move considering the company — which had been building year-over-year sales up through last year — in its latest earnings period saw net income fall 33% to $42.3 million. The dip was largely blamed on economic conditions. Currently Benetton has about 6,000 stores and its 2010 sales figures show that nearly 50% of its business is in Italy, about 30% is the rest of Europe, 16% is Asia, and the remaining 5% is from U.S.A and other parts of the world.

Full credits for the work can be found here.

WOW!

Better tomorrow,

PR Pret-a-Porter.

Kim Kardashian’s marriage: PR ?

If PR Daily is writing about her, then is big. Not only news for fashionable magazines, but an example for PR itself.

The Kardashian family provokes strong feelings. You either love’em or you hate’em.

Whether the reality stars inspire devotion or dry heaving will likely dictate your reaction to the widely reported divorce between Kim Kardashian and Kris Humphries.

The pair was married two months ago in a much-hyped ceremony that was a big television event. While the couple shot a season of reality television in New York, rumors swirled that the relationship was on the rocks.

And now, 72 days after they said “I do,” Kim has filed for divorce.

Thus far, it has inspired the Twitter hashtag “Thingslongerthankimsmarriage,” which has been trending since word of the divorce leaked on Monday.

Days or weeks or months from now, Kim will do the People interview. She might talk to Barbara Walters before the Super Bowl. Humphries will talk to Matt Lauer. And we’ll all cast judgments on a relationship about which we have no idea—but that’s exactly why Kim made a reported $10,358.80 an hour while she was married to Humphries.

So, let’s judge. What do you think: Will the (soon to be) twice-divorced Kim come out of this looking more like Elizabeth Taylor—or a desperate fame junky?

My personal opinion is that it’s all about advertising. Glam life is better online, offline and at TV!

Better tomorrow,

PR Pret-a-Porter.