Fashion brand Diesel launches world’s largest store in New York
on February 21st, 2009 at 1:37 pmNEW YORK: Fashion brand Diesel launched its largest store in the world on February 16 in New York. Despite a recession that is hitting retail hard, the company developed a guerilla marketing campaign, including experiential store events, street teams, media relations, and paid media.
According to Diesel US CEO Steve Birkhold, Renzo Rosso, the company’s founder, recognizes the value of PR and marketing and has increased its spend. “In a time of economic difficulty, Renzo Rosso believes now is the time to makes sure we clearly communicate what our brand stands for and what our path forward in future is,” Birkhold said.
However, rather than throw a typical splashy launch party, the company chose a more localized and “understated” approach in deference to the economic downturn, he noted.
The PR team, working with Fingerprint Communications, transformed the store window into a dining room. Throughout the week iconic New York figures like Giants players and Ford models will sit, in full view of passers-by and partake in dinners catered by well-known New York restaurants. Diesel also planned to deploy a “street team” in Mohawks and Diesel gear for the week.
“We’ve shifted our strategy to… focus on [driving] traffic into our retail stores because the majority of our business is our retail stores,” he said. “We didn’t solicit a lot of media. We thought we’d do it organically… People are going to walk by and discover it.”
Source: PR Week
