Diesel to begin advertising on dating apps and adult entertainment websites

By

Obi Anyanwu

Published
Jan 12, 2016

Nicola Formichetti is taking a unique approach to target his key demographic with Diesel advertisements. The American media has reported that the brand’s artistic director plans to rollout the Diesel Spring 2016 campaign on dating apps, Grindr and Tinder as well as adult entertainment websites, Pornhub and YouPorn.
 
"I wanted to dissect the idea of digital culture," Formichetti told i-D Magazine. "We're all obsessed, we're crazy in love and hate with social media and I just wanted to do something that was fun."

 
The Spring ’16 campaign features the current Internet language of hashtags and emojis that compliment models wearing the collection, Diesel underwear, and pop singer, Joe Jonas. A few of the emojis in the campaign were created by the brand.
 
Formichetti continues, "We created our own emoji, using the outfits from the campaign and we're planning on creating more and more throughout the season. Why emoji? It's our new language. We have to show this campaign globally and emoji is a universal language, it's funny across the globe. From the emojis to spelling and grammar, we tried to converse in today's language. Most people struggle to relate to advertising copy but not this."

He has a strong argument to get behind emojis after Oxford Dictionaries made the ‘Face with Tears of Joy’ emoji the Word of the Year, and with Kim Kardashian launching the Kimoji app that “shut down the app store,” and “made a million a minute,” according to her husband Kanye West’s song Facts that released on New Years Eve.
 
Formichetti explains why he turned to dating apps and adult entertainment websites to roll out the campaign, stating that the traffic analytics are astounding. Pornhub is the 64th most popular website globally and YouPorn is ranked 172nd.
 
He added, "Of course, this won't replace traditional placements on billboards and in magazines but it's an extension. This is where people are now, we live on our phones. I want to go where people are. Tinder, Grindr and Pornhub might appear a little left field but it's Diesel, we can do it, we're not scared of these places, we're not high fashion, we are street."
 
Formichetti is making history with Grindr and Pornhub by making Diesel the first fashion brand to advertise on the app and websites. The gay social networking app also recently live streamed the J.W. Anderson AW16 show on the app on January 10 at London Collections: Men.