The fashion/retail category is one that has historically inserted entertainment into branding. Utilising both fictional characters and global celebrities to bring bravado and presence to their brand.United Colours of Benetton has taken branded entertainment in a provocative direction treading into the space of social issues and utilising their own brand presence, mixed with art, to bring taboo topics to the forefront of conversation.

In a year of crisis, government distrust, war and social and religious turmoil, we decided to deliver a simple and powerful message of tolerance and peace. Delivering a new expression of the brand’s original values and credo. An expression to put people in a new state of mind: UNHATE.

UNHATE is a message that invites us to consider that hate and love are not as far away from each other as we think. The two opposing sentiments are often in a delicate, and unstable balance. Our campaign utilised a mix of viral videos, earned media, strategically placed outdoor print, and a structural installation to promote a shift in the balance: don’t hate, UNHATE.

UNHATE means looking at the world with open-mindedness, and empathy. UNHATE means understanding our enemy’s reasons. If global love is a utopian, unattainable dream, global UNHATE is maybe something we can hope for.

On November 16th the UNHATE campaign was revealed. The campaign launched with a series of coordinated initiatives and guerrilla events in Tel Aviv, Paris New York, Madrid and Rome followed by press appearances in newspapers, periodicals and websites around the world. Within 2 weeks, the results were in:•100% increase in Facebook fans •3.7m UNHATE website page views •Top trend on Twitter •The campaign was covered by media outlets around the world resulting in over 500m individual impressions•The White House and Vatican comment on the campaign