BRAND REPORT
CONTENTS
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY 4
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CHOSEN BRAND 6
THE TALE OF THOMAS BURBERRY 8
BRAND CONSUMERS 12
BRAND POSITIONING 16
BRAND IDENTITY 10
ROMEO BECKHAM 14
COMMUNICATIONS MIX 18
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EXECUTIVE SUMMARY AN ENGAGING SUMMARY OF MY WHOLE FINDINGS Throughout a collaboration of both primary and secondary research this brand report concludes the ideas of Burberry being one of the most functional, digitally advanced and B2C oriented luxury brands of today’s modern society. Thriving from being a staple for both luxury and functionality since 1856 the prestigious brand continues on into history for being a luxury British brand. My findings throughout the report highlight the importance of factors such as celebrity endorsements, social media and the relationship between the brand and the consumer.
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CHOSEN BRAND BRAND DEFINITION, HISTORICAL DEVELOPMENT AND THE KEY BACKGROUND INFORMATION Burberry is the ultimate British luxury brand. A company thriving from being a “staple for both luxury and functionality” (Iamia, Brand Identity, 2011) the company’s first store opened in the heart of the big city in London’s prestigious Haymarket in 1891. Burberry was founded in Basingstoke, by Thomas Burberry, an apprentice for drapers who began his venture into the world of fashion and started considering all things bold and beautiful. A company of whose origin remains above all others in England; it now maintains global partnerships with companies such as Sephora as they “venture into a social commerce with Sephora and Pinterest to promote it’s new mascara line to beauty shoppers” - (Lab Team, August 11, 2016). Within EMEIA alone, Burberry boast 75 stores, 62
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concessions, 24 outlets and 47 franchises. Although Burberry have many of their palaces placed around the world for the people appreciative of quality and opulence, it also offers their website in 44 different countries and 11 different languages, representing the diversity and suitability to all people in every corner of the world. Burberry is known for its iconic trench coat, specialising in all womenswear, menswear, bags, scarves, accessories, beauty, fragrance and homeware,it is distinctive and stands apart from it’s competition highlighting the divergent products it offers and not just specialising in one single area. They cater for all, “for the blooming 25 year old or the conservative 60 year old” (Iamia, Brand Identity, 2011), it’s purely functional luxury. 1856 was the year of which this exalted brand flourished as Burberry followed in years to come creating the acclaimed gabardine and altering the trench for the soldiers in World War One. In terms of Burberry’s position within the current market there is no denying the brand will continue on, the brand is indeed a “staple for both luxury and functionality” (Iamia, Brand Identity, 2011) and all of Burberry’s products fall into either one of the following two categories, fashion or continuity.
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http://theinspirationroom.com/daily/2016/the-tale-of-thomas-burberry/
“A STAPLE FOR BOTH LUXURY AND FUNCTIONALITY” 8
https://uk.burberry.com/our-history/
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BRAND
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http://www.glamourmagazine.co.uk/news/beauty/2014/03/12/kate-moss-cara-delevingne-burberry-fragrance-campaign-pictures
IDENTITY An insight into what the brand is communicating to its consumers
With regards to the ideology Burberry is communicating to its consumers it ranges throughout underlining messages, history and the hierarchy of today’s society and fashion. Burberrys first ever consumers were people who went out in extreme weather conditions and needed the likes of Burberry’s gabardine fabric, which revolutionised rainwear to protect them and help them survive in situations, such as Sir Ernest Shackleton whom of which wore Burberry throughout three expeditions in the early 20th century whilst exploring the polar. In terms of brand identity Burberry began on a strong platform, from the gabardine fabric to the trench coat Burberry produced for the British Army in world war 1 which continued from the previously started base. From past to present Burberry consistently represents the importance of elegance and class through every single garment you wear and this is communicated to the companies consumers throughout the wide variety of products they produce only supporting the fact they will cater to you in whatever you want to wear and also hand you accessories and homeware to go with it.
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http://www.trendhunter.com/trends/fashion-ads-burberry-spring-2009-campaign
http://www.gettyimages.co.uk/pictures/christopher-bailey-587505?#christopher-bailey-wearing-burberry-attends-an-event-to-celebrate-the-picture-id620131676
BRAND CONSUMERS A PROFILE ON THE CONSUMER OF THE BRAND
Within the 20’s Burberrys acclaimed check was introduced as a lining within their trench coat. Due to the new introduction of the check and the trench becoming more popular it changed the consumer approach and Burberry began to be introduced to people such as politicians and celebrities as their now consumers, alongside actors and actresses as they began wearing the trench within Hollywood, this created a whole new feeling for the prestige brand. Burberry began to receive more recognition for the work they were doing and the garments they were producing. Following the introduction of actors and actresses Burberry then took on a whole new consumer as their designs and garments were favoured among royalty, this was one of the pinnacles in the rise to luxury and ultimately Burberrys main entrance to the top of the hierarchy. Although the brand had built up an admirable consumer stereotype, within the 90’s this all changed as Burberry started aiming their brand towards the older generation and stores were inconsistent throughout the market, it took on a conservative feel and downgraded from the dignified status it had created, this is the main downfall of Burberry. Rose Marie Bravo
was appointed in 1997, Bravo changed the company from an outerwear company to the starting point of the company it is today, a luxury brand. Following Bravo’s takeover, she began to reinvent the brand, following 1997 came the closely growing relationship with Mario Testino and Kate Moss after they were both involved in the first advertising campaign for Burberry. Placing renowned people into the brand brought the class of the consumer up and reached out to the illustrious members of society. Burberry previously launched a program called Customer 360 “which invites customers to digitally share their buying history, shopping preferences and fashion phobias. The program relies on SAP HANA platform — which can analyze huge amounts of data quickly — to analyze customer likes and tastes and deliver that information to employees on the sales floor via their tablet devices.” (SAPVoice, Forbes,2013) This therefore implicates the importance of Burberry’s consumers and portrays the relevance the consumers play in the past, present and future of Burberry.
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FROM LONDOn WITH LOVE 14
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BRAND POSITIONING HOW THE BRAND COMPARES WITH ITS COMPETITORS, HOW THE BRAND USES USP AND ESP AND WHERE THE BRAND SITS IN THE MARKET.
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In terms of how Burberry as a company is positioned strategically within the current market they will perpetually be known for their high quality and the place that will carry on being dedicated to them right at the top of the market. Bravo decisively positioned Burberry in a much better place than they were following the beginning of the 90’s and began to take the brand in the right direction again. Bravo made it her task to think about everything surrounding the downfall of Burberry in the market and she brought them straight back up through things such as updating the product line and fitting all fashion desires, she took Burberry back to its routes and it worked. Burberry’s other points of difference to their competitors are factors surrounding the actual garments rather than the marketing and revenue side of things which support the diversity within Burberry as a brand. Burberry have many signature trademarks about their brand which separate them from the competition including their allusive check print which lines their trench coats, not forgetting their distinguished british sentiment within their garments.
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COMMUNICATIONS MIX
THE COMBINATION OF DIFFERENT TYPES OF COMMUNICATIONS TO SUPPORT MARKETING GOALS.
ADVERTISING Advertising has been a method for brand publicity within the industry for a substantial amount of years but only recently has become as commendable as it is now. Burberry’s latest TV advertisement was the promotion of their aftershave ‘Mr.Burberry’, the commercial was led by Steve McQueen and that alone portrays the excellence. Burberry launched a ‘discovery’ channel when the aftershave was released, this included style tips and the director’s cut. The channel was only live for 24 hours and the content was only accessible after this by scanning the barcode on the bottle of ‘Mr Burberry’, a perfect marketing strategy. Alongside the persistent supremacy of Burberry’s advertising they are also very strategic about it, using well known celebrities such as Sienna Miller and Domhnall Gleeson in their story of the 160 year old brand. The short film itself took on a cinematic approach to the life of Thomas Burberry and the evolution of the brand. 60% of Burberry’s marketing budget now goes on digital advertising. Their most successful social media campaign was their ‘Art Of The Trench’ launched in 2009.
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The campaign was a way of allowing customers to have their face on their websites as models but additionally allow Burberry to maintain relationship with aspiring youth and the high-end customers all wearing the iconic trench. “November 2009, Burberry’s Facebook fan base grew to more than one million, the largest fan count in the luxury sector at the time.” (Tobia Katie, How Burberry Capitalized On Social Media, 2013)
PUBLIC RELATIONS Burberry additionally run the Burberry Foundation, an organisation which supports young people and helps them to achieve their goals. It supports and helps young people within communities where the company’s employees work and live. Burberry’s statement for the charity was to encourage the point and prove that they were not just a company based on consistently wanting
money, but a company wanting to help the community and become part of it alongside supporting their employees to volunteer within areas. Burberry previously released their first non-fashion project within the brand. As a brand they support upcoming artists to support them in the creation of both music videos and the production of their music. Whilst showing the diversity within brand it also examples the different dimensions of which they have within the brand. Celebrity endorsements are a big factor of Burberry’s public relations sector, there are always a new phase of celebrities who rise within times of the run up to collections, editorials and advertising which means brand such as Burberry aim to endorse such celebrities within all of the above. The celebrities luckily enough to be chosen are evidently ones of which the target audience of Burberry must feel they can relate to, otherwise the whole celebrity endorsement is almost pointless as it then doesn’t achieve their aim of attracting customers. Romeo Beckham was one of Burberry’s most famous celebrity endorsements, being just 13 and the face of one of the biggest brands in the world achieved Burberry’s goal of ensuring press attention in a positive light additionally attracting a whole new crowd of customers wanting their sons to be like Beckham wearing the acclaimed Burberry trench at the age of just 13.
PERSONAL SELLING Although Burberry are heavily B2C oriented, B2B is present in every luxury brand. Burberry recently began their chat live video broadcasting featuring non other than Christopher Bailey himself and the senior leadership team. Using devices such as the chat live attracted more than 500,000 viewers within the company and with regards to things such as the live question and answer they also had within the chat live it led to an increased number of employee engagement within the company around the world. Using devices like the question and answer enables the company to communicate easier for ideas and suggestions to be corresponded and directed globally. Burberry are one of the only luxury brands who operate successfully well beyond just social media, they’re known as one of the only ones who understand social media, the audience and can relate to them superbly. Events such as the livestream of the women’s catwalk in Feburary 2015 allowed the audience to feel like they were one of the prestige members lucky enough to be granted a front row seat, they engage the audience as well as they can. Livestreams and the Art Of The Trench campaigns allowed the customers to post images of themselves wearing the Burberry trench leads them to a road of purchasing Burberry products and being inspired by them which is conclusively, what the company wants. With regards to POS Burberry’s Regent Street store is most likely the best example, the store maintains an outstanding digital system of which contains every previous customers purchase details and buying habits which means when they come into the store to
make a purchase or look around, the staff immediately understand the customer’s purchase history and allows them to alter their experience to the items they tend to go for, introducing a new direct approach. Although Burberry don’t have any direct loyalty schemes they thrive from keeping their customers loyal through their excellent customer service they produce. The customer 360 programme is their terms of loyalty as it allows staff to understand the customers, what they want, and even go as far as being on first name basis with them improving the customer experience and ensuring they’re going to return.
DIRECT MARKETING
Burberry approach their direct marketing through different email strategies. As with every luxury brand, as soon as you enter the Burberry website there is an opportunity to sign up to their newsletter to receive new campaigns and short films emailed directly to you. You can obviously unsubscribe from the newsletters at the bottom of every newsletter although they are not too consistent for it to become irritating. Another direct marketing strategy Burberry introduced to support the company was ‘Burberry Booth’, this allowed customers of the brand to be included within a personalised 15 second video of their campaign. Including the consumer within the video allows them to feel more involved and related to the brand, after the consumer had their 15 seconds of fame alongside the other cast members throughout the video booth the sharable video is then sent directly to them on varied social media platforms and their personal email included.
SOCIAL MEDIA
Burberry are known as being one of the very only luxury brands who understand social media and manage to conquer each corner of it in approaching the audience and promoting their brand. Different coinciding factors such as consistent fonts and contextual layouts introduces and immediate understanding that the platform of social media you’re looking at is Burberry, for example, their instagram. Burberry are also renowned for being “one of the most digitally innovative brands of it’s kind” (Periscope cheat sheet, 2013). By using social media platforms such as Facebook for live streams of events and catwalks it then brings the consumer closer to the brand and also allows people to then get a grasp of the lavish lifestyle the people on the front row experience. Art Of The Trench was one of Burberry’s most popular social media campaigns as it offered the opportunity for all consumers to upload pictures of them wearing their trench coat and hashtagging ‘#AOTT’, this results in the colossal numbers Burberry have on social media. The number of likes received can vary but when colossal campaigns come out such as Romeo Beckham’s the numbers rise rapidly to 100,000 likes and 13,000 shares. Burberry have excellent understanding of their brand in both physical form and digital form making them unique.
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http://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz/article-2873984/Naomi-Campbell-Jourdan-Dunn-team-Burberry-campaign-together.html
NAOMI AND JOURDAN 20
http://pursuitist.com/naomi-campbell-and-jourdan-dunn-front-burberrys-ss-2015-campaign/
TWO GREAT BRITISH ICONS
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