In what some may consider a patriotic Italian marketer’s dream youth fashion label Diesel has signed a sponsorship deal with iconic bike brand Ducati. Throw in the arrival of MotoGP superstar Valentino Rossi and a three-way Italian partnership may prove a powerful compelling force.
The link up was promoted via a new website which is spearheaded by an online film featuring the founder of Diesel and the managing director of Ducati – Diesel vs Ducati.
Using a twin screen shot of both men throughout, the Diesel founder (also coincidentally called Rossi) and the bike boss interview one another about their own lives, their companies and their synergies. Whilst they discuss their past, their inspiration and the values of their companies, the film is something of a vignette of the clichéd Italian male.
Innate ‘Italian-ness’ is the core theme, with the two men musing and joking about sex, women, style and the good life. So much so that the film’s endline copy, ‘Only the brave’, doesn’t quite seem to fit.
The film also ran on the fashion brand’s website and appears seeded across the net on sites ranging from YouTube to CastTV.com.
The fashion brand will also supply the Ducati Corse team with apparel for the 2011 season.
Comments:
Quite where this tripartite Italian dream team leaves other sponsors of the team (such as the Mercedes-Benz tuning house AGM) remains to be seen.
Furthermore, all this macho, Italian male marketing posturing may run in to trouble on the track where Ducati is widely expected to struggle against its rivals.
Links:
Leave a comment
You must be logged in to post a comment.