Diesel Fall 2024 Ad Campaign

Review of Diesel Fall 2024 Ad Campaign by Creative Director Glenn Martens and Art Director Christopher Simmonds with Photographer Paul Kooiker and models Cherella Gessel, Will Core, Marjolein Treep, and Rolf Van Rooij

Diesel invites us to push boundaries and break down barriers of conformity with its Fall 2024 campaign. Titled “Break the Box,” the campaign once again sees the brand’s creative director Glenn Martens team with art director Christopher Simmonds and photographer Paul Kooiker.

Putting a literal yet larger-than-life spin on the familiar idiomatic concept of thinking outside the box, Kooiker’s dynamic group portraits situate their cast of characters within a space that feels like an oversized cardboard box. Yet rather than be contained, this eclectic array of individuals are, in true Diesel fashion, fiercely nonconformist and boldly stylish.

The accompanying short film cleverly expands on this concept, following a character through a surreal office space of fluorescent lights and cubicles – another example of the banal boxes which shape contemporary life – until they discover a television that transports them to the liberated world of Diesel.

As far as Diesel campaigns go, the breaking out of a box isn’t the most outlandish or imaginative campaign concept we’ve seen, at least on paper. But the familiar idea is executed with such thoroughness – bringing together a strong cast, richly textural styling, and a surreal visual perspective – that it feels fresh, distinct, and unmistakably Diesel.