Benetton relaunches Sisley as ‘sexy, urban and contemporary’ brand
Benetton Group has unveiled its first marketing campaign since announcing a reorganisation to focus on its core fashion brands last year.
By Sarah Vizard
Video: The new ad for Benetton’s Sisley brand
The ads for the spring/summer 2014 collection of its Sisley brand portray two “celebrity couples” as their lives are captured by the media. It features four models who are the new brand ambassadors for the fashion range, chosen to represent its “sexy, urban and contemporary essence”.
The ads will run in print, as well as on Sisley’s digital and social media channels. The brand is also promoting the new campaign on its website, Sisley.com, offering exclusive backstage photos, an interactive tour of the New York penthouse where the campaign was filmed and links to buy direct from the website.
Benetton Group restructured its business last year to separate out the United Colors of Benetton and Sisley brands to support the distinct needs of the two fashion lines. That means functions such as product development and store management that used to work across all its brands will now work on each brand separately.
This is the latest stage of a strategy aimed at rebooting Benetton Group as it bids to recapture its former glory as an owner of well-known high street fashion stores. United Colors of Benetton was a leading European fashion brand in the 1980s, led by edgy ad campaigns that played on race, gender and religious stereotypes.
It has since lost its market leading position to brands such as Zara, Topshop, Gap and H&M. It is trying to recapture lost ground and hopes this latest ad campaign will promote brand continuity between its marketing, its fashion range and the shopping experience.
