The faces of the Bentetton Autumn/Winter 2010/11 have been chosen with the help of blogging and social networking sites
Known for its multi-ethnic branding, fashion giants Benetton decided to take a new-age route to discovering the faces for their Autumn/Winter campaign, utilising the web and social networking sites to reach applicants in 217 countries for their It's My Time campaign.
Open-casting was completed via the It's My Time website and entrants were encouraged to communicate and express their ideas via new-media platforms such as Twitter, Facebook and You Tube.
From a staggering 65,000 entrants, 100 were selected by the online community, and finally whittled down after the 36-day search to twenty winners by a panel of internal experts.
With its new muses spanning the length and breadth of the earth from Kazakhstan and Ukraine to here in the UK, Benetton has proved its eclectic credentials more so than ever.
UK winners include Londoner Soroya, a finance student, and 24-year-old musician Francis, so we can be sure we will be well represented!
The winners can look forward to being flown to New York, where they will meet outside of cyber-space for the first time and be shot for the forthcoming campaign. They will be photographed by world-famous photographer Josh Olins in Benetton's quintessential colourful style.
Benetton will continue to track the movements of its 20 new recruits with an online diary that will follow their hectic new lives as models in The Big Apple. See it all at www.benetton.com.