Diesel's fake and stupid launch party in Mumbai

You'd have to be stupid not to notice sassy denim brand Diesel's BE STUPID hoardings plastered across Mumbai these past two months.

A clever and in-your-face way to announce its arrival in the country, the ad campaign coincides with the launch of two slick new stores in the city -- a towering 7,500 square foot stand-alone store in Juhu and a 2,600 square foot space at the swank Palladium mall at Phoenix Mills in Lower Parel.

The self-declared brand 'For Successful Living' has made a name for itself with edgy, controversial ad campaigns, and for its Indian debut Diesel did not disappoint. To wit: taglines like "Smart may have the brains, but Stupid has the balls," "Smart had one good idea and that idea was Stupid," or "Smart critiques, Stupid Creates" brings forth an irreverent sense of humor that forces you to take notice. 

The real Renzo Rosso

With a black cap covering his mop of tousled hair, and distressed denim jeans paired with a crumpled t-shirt and leather jacket, Renzo Rosso epitomized the Diesel look at the press conference and launch party in Mumbai last week. Targetting naff townies and Mumbai's hip suburbs, whose topography of models, actors and media industry types set the tone for style across India, the brand may have taken a while to enter, but now has big plans for being here. 

"It was a dream to be in India. There’s a big youth culture and we missed that relationship with the young when we weren’t here," Rosso says. Brought to the country in a joint venture with Reliance Brands, the luxury arm of industrial behemoth Reliance Industries, Diesel hopes to tap into consumers seeking an "alternate to established luxury," according to Darshan Mehta, CEO, Reliance Brands. He explains, "Diesel gave the world a reason to dress casual. It has incredible unaided recall and awareness among consumers. This will set it apart from other brands in the country. We target a lifestyle, not a select audience. Diesel is a dual gender brand and cuts across age groups. Both my son and I wear it." 

Diesel's whole philosophy is about being an anti-brand brand, and heaven knows, after the plethora of luxe purveyors inundating our shores, it is a welcome change to have relaxed, quality casual wear. 

Store openings are planned for Bangalore, Hyderabad and Delhi in the next few months, in addition to Mumbai. Given the denim revolution that has surged across the world over the last five decades, and with US$200 jeans par for the course in its haute avatar today, it’s hard to think back to 1978 when Renzo Rosso founded Diesel. So named because it connoted an alternate energy source, the cult jean brand was created to evoke a hint of rock 'n' roll, a dose of science fiction, a passion for denim and a sense of humor. Today Diesel has a ubiquitous presence across the world with 5,000 points of sale across 80 countries and revenues of €1.3 billion. Along the way, Rosso added to his stable such iconoclast brands as Viktor + Rolf and Maison Martin Margiela.

Rosso's been to Mumbai thrice, including this most recent fly-by-night visit for the launch, and admits he loves the place. He has great faith in Indians. "You are a very positive people and very creative. We just gave a brief for the BE STUPID launch and everything was done locally. It was impressive."

Smart may have the brains, but Stupid has the balls -- BE STUPID, says Diesel's ad campaign.

Fake love and happy Indians

While the ad campaign was shot in California, a lot of the BE STUPID campaign material, and entire launch concept, was developed locally by Bangalore boutique creative agency, Happy. Co-founders Praveen Das and Kartik Iyer came up with zany ideas like the Fake Party, to spoof the fact that India has more Diesel fakes than any other country. (Apparently the largest number of fakes sold in the world are Diesel... take that, LV!) Invites to the party were customized based on guest profile. Bollywood, for example, got a Tears of Joy invitation, replete with fake tears, a standard tool of the trade. Socialites and industry-wallas, on the other hand, received fake party cigarettes (the classic Phantom variety) along with their invites. 

The tag line on the invitation read: "Oh yeah baby, I’m coming," with a close-up of a red lipsticked mouth, biting down on a lower lip. "Indian movies are famous for the lip bite, which is meant to suggest the girl's having an orgasm, and what's more fake than a woman faking an orgasm?" quips Iyer.

With a fake entrance (guests went through an elaborate maze after making it past the bouncers), and fake celebrities walking the mall’s escalator in lieu of a ramp -- the whole event was one big gag. The Shah Rukh Khan, Hrithik Roshan and Amy Winehouse lookalikes were especially convincing. Alas, the

crowd didn't quite seem to get it and the laughs weren’t too loud. Or perhaps there were too many people drowing out the sounds. Or perhaps they were more focussed on not becoming road kill on the way to the limited bar space. Party favors did include condoms packaged to read "Smart gets the girl, Stupid attends the orgy." The kissing booth, fake art museum and fake confession booth were nice touches, but in the end, the lobby of the Palladium mall, where the store is located, was too constrained to really take it all in. 

Still, you've got to hand it to the Diesel folks for not being shy or playing it safe and exclusive. In fact, when asked if India would tolerate his particular style of marketing, Rosso shrugged and said, "My philosophy for the company is happiness, and Indians are happy. I think we should be fine."

Diesel Mumbai stores at Western Wind Building, opposite Manikjee Cooper School, Juhu Tara Road, tel. +91 (0) 22 2661 8383/84; Palladium, High Street Phoenix mall, Senapati Bapat Marg, Lower Parel; tel. +91 (0) 22 2493 2726/27