Diesel Social Media Diesel is a clothing designer and retailer based in Italy. The company is privately-owned. Diesel is a design house with an emphasis on casual clothing, aimed at younger consumers. The company also runs its own retail shops, in dozens of countries around the world. Diesel operates exclusively in the clothing business, and with their emphasis on consumers in their 20s and maybe 30s, Diesel has emphasized social media in recent years as a means of reaching their target market. The company has five social media platforms in addition to their website -- Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, Instagram and Pinterest. This paper will examine Diesel's social media presence to analyze its potential effectiveness.

The Brand

The Diesel brand was formed with the company in 1978. The brand has distinguished itself with Italian styling, American marketing and an emphasis on the younger consumer (Surendar & Roy, 2010). The brand image is focused on fashionability, blending the Italian and American concepts of youthful fashion. The brand is augmented by the fact that Diesel does runway shows and in many respects behaves like a high-end fashion house rather than mainstream clothing retailer. This raises the prestige of the brand in the eyes of the target market. Further, there are relatively few Diesel stores compared with many of its competitors, and the relative exclusivity of the brand helps to enhance its image as well.

Current Customer and Markets

Diesel aims its products at consumers in their 20s and 30s. The consumer has more disposable income than is average for these age groups, especially with respect to clothing expenditure. The target consumer is also someone who thinks of himself or herself as being relatively fashion-conscious, but not the point of consuming primarily high-end fashion. This is an "upper middle"...

It has stores in a large number of countries. The company's home country of Italy has the most stores, followed by the U.S. And the UK. The fourth-most number of stores is found in China, and the company also operates in non-Western markets like South Korea, Israel, India and Saudi Arabia, giving Diesel a global consumer base rather than a regional one. The company targets both males and females with its clothing, producing a wide range for each. There is little to indicate that the company has a specific ethnic presence, especially given the diversity of the different countries in which it operates. The company caters to a fairly broad market within its core age bracket, however, as its clothes appeal as casual wear from young professionals, or to students and others within the demographic. Income and psychographics are more important determining factors in the likelihood to purchase Diesel than anything else. Most customers are better-educated.
Social Media Profile

Diesel utilizes five different types of social media. The company's Facebook page is the main conduit in social media. It has 3.5 million likes, which is fairly effective. The company uses the page to share news and photographs of clothing, rather than to specifically interact with its audience -- the Facebook page is essentially just a marketing channel rather than a two-way flow of information. However, the company does monitor the page and respond to questions, such as about pricing and availability. Facebook is one of the strongest social media sites for the ability to interact directly with consumers. Diesel does not seem to promote a strong brand identity aside from in the imagery, which mirrors that of the company's conventional advertising.

The…