SALİM KADIBEŞEGİL

We are at the beginning of a new year. Tens, hundreds and even thousands of people around the world are trying to get a 2017 Pirelli calendar. It is a “privilege” to have one of these calendars which have been published in a limited number of copies every year since 1964. Moreover, they are collectable. Go on online auction sites to see how much each calendar is worth.

The Cal: The “brand” state of Pirelli calendars. This project was created by Robert Freeman, the company’s representative in England, and Derek Forsyth, the Creative Director, when the Italian tyre production company asked for an approach that can make a difference in competition. I don’t think that the contents of this project had anything to do with Robert’s surname, Freeman. (You are meant to smile here.) However, Pirelli promised them absolute freedom to come up with a creative project. In the end, the company liked the idea of turning sexy, provocative photos of women into calendars on a monthly basis considering the fact that the primary target audience of a tyre producer was “men” in all the markets.

In fact, my internet research shows that The Cal project was not considered as the extension of a marketing strategy in the beginning. However, the popularity of this project had a leverage effect on the brand in the following years. It didn’t take a long time for the project to come to a point where many supermodels and photographers “were dying to be a part of it”. Productions with significant budgets were considered to be a “benchmark” in those people’s careers. In fact, The Cal project, which led to outcomes exceeding all expectations in the world of marketing, was only an annual calendar which could be owned by 20 thousand people in the world.

This calendar, which objectified women and associated nudity with months and seasons, has been produced 43 times so far, and 34 of the world’s best photographers have worked in this project. The project was stopped due to the oil crisis in 1974. However, it resumed more strongly ten years later.

In 2000s, we saw that not only supermodels but also women renowned in their fields started appearing in Pirelli calendars. Amy Schumer, a philanthropist, and Serena Williams, a tennis player, were among those women.

A famous photographer, Peter Lindberg, was assigned to prepare the 2017 calendar. He had plans about photo shoots in Berlin, London and New York. January 2017 was the month we saw Linberg’s work including Julianne Moore, Nicole Kidman, Robin Wright and Uma Thurman. (Please visit)   The Cal 2017 was shared with 800 distinguished people in Hollywood last month.

So far, we’ve been talking about a project which can make a difference in a brand and which is considered as an unarguable “success story” in the world of marketing. It is a 50-year story, and the brand (Pirelli) is extremely pleased with its existence.

In fact, the very essence of the matter is photos and “women and sex” divided into months. Discrimination against women, connotations of nudity in different cultures and association of all these with a brand were undoubtedly different in 1960s compared to today. “Women, objectification, sex and nudity in diplomatic discourse” can be defined as dangerous ground in terms of the experience that brands wandering freely in global markets have with local cultures.

However, I would like to carry on with a different story.

Female students of the University of Warwick in the UK have also been producing calendars including their nude photos for three years. The calendars produced by the girls in the university’s rowing team were banned on Facebook. It was claimed that they reminded of pornography and therefore broke the rules of Facebook. However, Warwick girls’ rowing team prepared the calendars for a simple reason: they wanted to raise £5000 for Macmillan Cancer Support. Facebook had to lift the ban because of the students’ uncompromising resistance and support they received from the public.

Turn the page and you’ll see firemen! (You’re meant to smile here once again.) Think of “unattainable” and even “undeniably-strong” lines of male body turned into a calendar and hung up on the wall of your study! Nearly $2 million were raised for a children’s hospital by selling such a calendar on https://www.firefighterscalendar.com.au.

When the journey we started with Pirelli calendars continued to take us towards “women, sex and nudity” in the world of brands, we heard that Abercrombie & Fitch, one of the brands which used these things most in communication, switched their approach. The brand was pleased to turn that approach into “sales” in terms of their young customer group. However, we saw that they changed their approach into visuals which were not conservative although they were required according to “some people“. (http://www.businessinsider.com/brands-are-no-longer-using-sexy-advertisements-2015-11)

Ruth Bernstein, who is the Head of Strategy in charge of image management at YARD and who has worked as a creative consultant for many brands, says that the public seems to have had enough of nudity and sex. She underlines that these elements are not as attractive as they used to be in marketing communication, and that the consumer looks for “sex-plus“.

Women, sex, nudity and even connotations beyond them can be the top marketing preference of brands in Turkey as all around the world. I guess Wall’s’ (Good Humor’s) Magnum has been the brand which suffered this preference most.

The rise of women’s social status and identity may have affected all aspects of life around the world in 1990s, but “women were not able to remove the image reflected on concepts like sex”. On the contrary, especially the dynamics of consumer society fanned this image. That’s what Bernstein means by sex-plus. Women can use these elements to argue when they compete with each other, and they make their buying preferences based on these elements.

So, what’s wrong then? Or we should ask the same question in a different way: Is there anything wrong? How do we know that women don’t buy Pirelli calendars for their partners from online auction sites when non-governmental organisations representing women strictly object to the fact that this identity of women is “abused”? (Calendars are sold for $250 on www.sahibinden.com.)

However, we should look at the differences between women, sex and other connotations used in The Cal, the Pirelli calendar project, and the ones used by the other brands. The Cal is an achievement that went beyond a brand and even beyond its own name. It’s a great achievement to carry out meticulously and uncompromisingly the principles determined in the beginning for nearly 50 years. Many brands (including some Turkish brands) wanted to imitate it over the years, but they weren‘t able to. When we look at the main input of this achievement, we see universality and local cultures within the scope of this universality. No matter where a photo shoot takes place, the characteristics of the local culture is seen in the related year’s project. The main attributes of being a brand, creativity, consistency and continuity, have penetrated into every part of The Cal project.

Referring to sex, nudity and further connotations in marketing management among men and women is one of the most significant references of the history of brands. This method will not be given up easily. We should keep in mind that men who appear in this competition cannot hold a candle to women.

How about making this concrete achievement acquired through objectification of women by Pirelli, a tyre brand, compete with stars given to restaurants by Michelin, another tyre brand? The adventure, which begun on express lanes of France to find out what to eat and where to eat it in early 1900s, is defined as the nirvana of food culture today. The Michelin concept, which gives a star for a chef’s talent and skills, a second star for the chef and his/her restaurant and a third star since the restaurant is worth going to by leaving everything behind, is one of the projects that are worth examining in the history of brands.

There are no women, no sex and no nudity in this project. What has this concept, a lifestyle starting in France and embracing an international culture, got to do with a tyre brand? Many people dream of being a part of that “red Michelin book” or having an experience in one of the restaurants mentioned in the book. As accepted by the managers of Michelin, the concept exceeded the limits of the brand, got ahead of the brand and the connection between those charming restaurants and tyres was pushed into the background most of the time. As you can guess, Michelin does not complain about this situation.

However, the examples of Pirelli and Michelin reveal that we have to produce projects that can leave a “mark” in the history of brands. Projects based on time and place sustain the existence of brands and guarantee their future.