New York City, the United States of America, 1989

Aldo Palmeri had a simple solution for raising cash for Benetton Group in the New York financial markets. He offered shares in Benetton directly to people in the United States, Canada, Japan, and Europe.

Benetton had the support of business strategists. They recognized that Benetton had problems in the United States, but that the company was taking steps to solve these. The relationship between Benetton Group and Edizione confused some people. They noted that Benetton Group managers appeared to spend company time (and therefore shareholders' money) on personal Benetton family interests which did not bring profit to outside shareholders.

Palmeri handled these tricky questions.

"We need to define a new strategy," he said. "We need to strengthen our management in the US and we may need to bring in different people."

He won agreement for his plan to widen the range of brands beyond the Benetton name.

Gilberto Benetton was taking Edizione "the strong box," as he called it-further away from clothing and the Benetton Group. The family were involved in new financial service activities, and started to buy ranches, property, and businesses in the United States. In May 1989, Edizione also bought a 70 percent share in Nordica of Italy, the world's leading maker of ski boots.

Nordica and the other sports companies were privately owned by Edizione and run by Gilberto completely separately from Benetton Group. The independent nature of these companies meant that Benetton Group advertising did not cover their activities.

Within Benetton Group itself, a new communications system had placed total power for managing the image-making of the business and brand in the hands of fewer than ten people. United Colors Communication became responsible for Toscani's pictures and for showing them to Luciano for his final agreement. The Benetton knot logo also disappeared, and a small green square was put in its place with the words "United Colors of Benetton" stamped on it.