Happy to creatively fuel Diesel

Diesel, the Italian fashion brand, will enter the Indian market through a joint venture with Reliance Brands. Diesel owns 51 per cent stake in the new entity, which is called Diesel Fashion India Reliance. In the New Year, Diesel stores will be launched in Mumbai and New Delhi.

Happy Creative Services has been assigned the creative duties for the brand. It may be recalled that the Bengaluru-based creative hot shop also handles the creative duties for another global brand, Lee.

Kartik Iyer and Praveen Das, the directors and co-founders of Happy, are excited about working on the brand. "It's encouraging to know that our ideas matched the tone and energy of the brand, as it stands today," says the duo.

Though the brand is based out of Mumbai, Happy was chosen for its creative prowess. Darshan Mehta, chief executive officer, Reliance Brands, says, "In Happy, we found a creative partner who best understands and resonates the Diesel DNA."

Diesel will be launched over spring/summer of 2010. An interesting mix of media will be used for the communication in India. In international markets, Diesel's communication stands out for its style and tone. The communication in the Indian market will be along the same lines.

This is not the first time that Diesel has attempted to enter India. In 2007, it entered into a joint venture with Arvind Brands, but that venture did not fructify. It was in October last year that Diesel found a suitable partner in Reliance Brands, an arm of Mukesh Ambani's Reliance Retail.

Among the other brands that Happy works on are e.go, the notebooks offered by Wipro and Wipro Servers.