Csr - Benetton

CSR in war-torn Africa: Benetton leads the way

Benetton chose Senegal's capital, Dakar, to launch its new global advertising campaign called 'Africa works'. It is centered around a micro-credit programme-Birima, spearheaded by Senegalese singer Youssan N' Dour. The 2 billion euro Italian fashion brand Benetton was making its brand socially relevant in a war-torn west African country last week. Social marketing is the new trend to look out for amongst brands.

Grammy Award winning Senegalese singer Youssan N'Dour's latest composition was created specially for his micro-credit project-Birima. As Benetton lends support to the program, 'Africa Works' will be its communication theme around the world.

Alongwith outdoor and press ads, the campaign will include a series of projects and events around Birima. Plans to take this micro-credit project beyond Senegal within the next six months to Ivory Coast are already in place. It is starting off with a corpus of around half a million euros, funded by the Senegalese singer himself, and the Benetton Group. Financial help would be key, if this project has to be a success.

"People from different parts of the world have come to us after they heard about the programme. We would need financial help and people who would take risk,” said Youssan N' Dour.

Benetton is known to create some of the most controversial and provocative ads. Its ads deal with issues such as war, AIDS and death row convicts. It has now embraced Africa's spirit to work. The campaign shot over three weeks features Senegalese workers who have used micro-credit to start small, productive businesses. The idea was to produce a confident