Between physical and virtual reality: the case of Benetton brand “a company that is born from ideas

This chapter presents a perspective theory, not yet fully developed, that seeks to analyze the connections between “Social Representations and Corporate Communication” (Penz, 2006; Usunier & Lee, 2009). It is divided into two sections. In the first, descriptive section we identified the organizational dynamics of the Benetton Company utilizing structural elements found in the enterprise’s literature and documents. The objective was to understand Benetton galaxy’s role in globalization and its complex market strategies. Since this was an internal view of the company, data was obtained from internal documents, including the company’s publications, such as Global Vision and Colors publications. In order to understand the company from an external perspective, we consulted studies conducted on the Benetton universe that considered the marketing element as interaction between the company and the market (Kotler, 1997; Nardin, 1987; Semprini, 1996; Moliner, 1996; Tafani, 2006). In the second, empirical section, the social representation of the Benetton brand is analyzed using a large sample of Benetton’s advertisements, selected as the basis for research to identify the perceptive modalities of advertising messages and attitudes in Benetton’s communication strategies (de Rosa, 1998, 2001; de Rosa & Losito, 1996; de Rosa & Bocci, 2009). In this second section the relationship between social representations and corporate communication will be presented in a dialogical perspective that examines the social discourse “of”