Iveta Martinkova
Student ID: 26005029 Business of Fashion
BURBERRY ESTABLISHED 1856
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CONTENTS
• Executive Summary • Introduction • Brand Identity • Burberry’s consumer • Market positioning within the UK • Advertising • Public relations (PR) • Personal selling • Sales Promotion • Direct Marketing • Extended luxury leadership position in social media • Bibliography 2
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EXECUTIVE SUMMARY This report explores the English fashion house Burberry, which is now one of the leading clothing luxury brands with a large global business. The project discusses the origin and historical development of Burberry, the type and number of the stores it possesses worldwide, the product offer and its current market positioning within the UK. Also, analysed in the formulation are the visual elements of the brand, representing its identity and the way they are perceived by the consumers. The project summarises the strategies the brand uses to attract its customers’ attention through advertising, PR, personal selling, sales promotion, direct marketing and the power of social media to secure its leading role in the today’s marketplace.
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Introduction Burberry Group Plc is an English fashion house established in 1856 in Basingstoke, Hampshire, England by a 21-year old apprentice Thomas Burberry and is headquartered in London, United Kingdom. The company designs, develops and sells luxury goods for men, women and children, providing outwear, trench coats, shoes, bags, rucksacks, scarf bars, dresses, ponchos, fashion accessories, fragrances, sunglasses, cosmetics, watches, house and home goods. The brand worked as an independent company until 1955 and was then reincorporated and taken over by Great Universal Stores (GUS). Its original name was “Burberry” but it was soon switched to “Burberrys” because of the tendency a lot of customers to call it “Burberrys of London”. As of November, 9, 2016 the brand manages 211 mainline stores, 205 concession stores, 49 Burberry stores and 60 outlets all over the world, establishing its place on the high fashion market thanks to its consummate adaptability to the ever-changing consumer mindset.
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In 1910 the brand opened doors of its first store abroad in Paris, soon followed by shops in the United States and South America. Five years later deliveries of raincoats to Japan have already been made. The company now operates in the Asia Pacific, the Middle East, Europe, the Americas, Africa and India. Because of its variety of products, it has something to offer to everyone from its differing clientele. Competing with other worldwide famous brands such as Coach, Polo, Armani, and Gucci Burberry is being one of the most copied brands in the industry. However, it has established its way to appeal the market continuing to develop over time.
Brand Identity In Burberry’s case the year 1901 marked the development of the Burberry Equestrian Knight logo, later registered as the brand’s trademark in 1904. However, it appeared on the lining of the raincoat two decades later, in 1924. It holds the Latin word “Prorsum”, meaning “forwards” and aims to protect the interests of Burberry’s business and his products. The logo illustrates an equestrian, standing for purity, nobleness and integrity, who’s carrying a shield, symbolizing protection. The black colour of the logo represents strength and durability. The font of the Burberry Logo is simple, yet strikingly elegant and borrows from the Linotype Didot Bold typeface.
The brand identity, representing the visual element of a brand and providing the articulated description of its aspirational image aims to describe what it stands for in the eyes of the customers and employees. It includes name, logo, logotype, colours, tagline, typeface, symbols, design, etc.
Another registered trademark of the brand was the iconic Burberry check, created in 1920s and representing tan, camel or cream color, black and white intersecting stripes, narrow red accent stripes and the Knight insignia, which later became an additional highly recognizable symbol of fashion and synonymous with the brand. The Burberry check had been originally used as a coat lining until a presentation in 1967 when it was discovered its suitability to umbrellas, luggage and scarves as well. 5
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Burberry’s consumers “To provide world class levels of service the customer must be placed at the centre of all business activities” Chris Daffy. He then continues with the explanation that if a business aims to make a profit it needs to find people willing to pay more for the product than it actually costs. Burberry has always been a synonym with quality but without its customers who invest in the future development of the brand, it would never have come this far as it is at the moment.
Burberry’s target market is the dual gender audience aged between 20 and 50. The brand is identified with excellent products and style that appeals to those with high spending levels, appreciating the classical English elegance. They vary from middle-class consumers to the most popular celebrities, wearing the clothing on the red carpet and most important events through the year. The clothing lines are smart, sophisticated but modern and innovative at the same time, helping the customers stay up-to-date with the constantly changing fashion trends.
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Market positioning within the UK To expand its growth and extend the customer base, Burberry created a strategy which offers “Accessible Luxury””. By opening a flagship store on Bon Street in London (Moore, C., Birtwistle, G., 2004) placing it among Gucci, Versace, Prada and Chanel the brand repositioned itself. Being among the top ten luxury brands, Burberry’s being placed between Polo Ralph Lauren and Armani considering apparel and Coach and Gucci for Accessories. Some others of the brand’s competitors are Giorgio Armani, Coach, Donna Karan, Escada, Gucci, Max Mara, Polo Ralph Lauren, Tod’s, Hermes, LVMH, PPR, Prada, Chanel and Richemont (Burberry Plc,2009c) . After going thought a recession, Burberry managed to increase sales up to £1,202m by 31st march 2009. During 2008/09 the sales increase through retail by 14%, 2% in wholesale and 9% decline in licensing which redounded to overall 7% revenue increase from the past year (Burberry Plc,2009a).
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One of the most famous innovations of the brand which is now an iconic product and one of the key element that differentiate it from its competitors was the introduction of the gabardine - a hardwearing, lightweight, water-resistant yet breathable fabric, making the coats more comfortable and protective. It was originally used for creation of the trench coats for the First World War. What brought this idea to life was the dissatisfaction Burberry felt with the then trending mackintosh raincoat, which was too heavy and suffocating, making his owners feel restricted. The innovator established five different weights of the cloth as follows: “Airylight,” “Double-Weave,” “Karoo,” “Waita-bit,” and “Tropical.” Since then the famous Burberry’s coat is one of the most recognizable items in the fashion market. During the Second World War the brand still supplied servicemen with clothing and was later awarded the Royal Warrant from Her Majesty The Queen in 1955.
The brand possesses the unique British sensibility, worldwide recognition and variety of trademark values across the generations and dual-gender audience. Burberry receives quite optimistic reviews of its general consumers. Being knows as one of the oldest, most admired and highly rated British fashion brands, it’s been recognizable for its symbolic and high quality products, as well as its characteristic prints and classical design. However, the younger consumers perceive the products as overpriced, thus they have a low consideration for the brand. Because of the high reputation the brand possesses, Burberry’s products evoke long-lasting emotions of social approval and self-respect, making the customers feel elite, magnetic and fashionable. The audience acquires sense of self-respect and attractiveness as well, because it feels sophisticated and wealthy when explores the brand’s products.
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Communications Mix
Advertising Advertising means “paid for, non-personal communication from an identified organization, body or individual designed to communicate information and to influence consumer’s behavior” – Tony Yeshin . By using its advertisements, Burberry reinforces even more its luxury, classically British image. “The ads feature iconic British backdrops, young British models, typically British weather and music from British bands developed with Burberry Acoustic” (Front Row Pr, by AVAPR, 27 March, 2013). These themes are consistent across all marketing tools and media. Out of Home advertising is also excessively used and integrated with Burberry’s digital campaigns, for example Burberry Weather, highlighting the typical British weather when all eyes were on London for the 2012 Olympics. The iconic brand is also the first one to work with DreamWorks Animation’s newly created technology firm NOVA in order to make the Christmas holidays even more cheerful to London’s Piccadilly Circus with an interactive 3D experience for pedestrians (Luxury Daily, December 15, 2015). The curved screen at Piccadilly will show computer generated images of Burberry’s heritage scarf via a digital billboard, enabling consumers to personalize, interact and purchase their scarf from Burberry’s ecommerce site once the experience ends all with just using their mobile phones. The large-scale display was too unlikely to be missed even in the heavily trafficked area of London, leading to more sales for the brand. 10
Communications Mix
PR
“Public relations (PR) is the practice of managing the spread ofinformation between an individual or an organization (such as a business, government agency, or a nonprofit organization) and the public” (Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia). The luxury brand often uses models and celebrities to expand its power in the fashion circles and represent the English lifestyle. Some of the most influential ones have been Stella Tenant, Rachel Weisz, Agyness Deyn, Lily Donaldson, Kate Moss, Jerry Hall, Nicole Appleton, Jarvis Cocker and Beckhams. By ensuring that products are endorsed by celebrities to whom their target audience can relate, Burberry constantly increases its revenue and popularity. One of the leading icons of the brand at the moment is the beautiful “Harry Potter ‘actress Emma Watson. With her growing popularity and fan base the brand’s aim is new young set of customer and raised the sales of handbags and pull on scarves called snoods.
In 2008, The Burberry Foundation was established, aiming to help young people achieve their dreams and potential through the power of creativity. The foundation supports chosen charities focused on helping young people in cities where the company’s employees live and work. Not only does the Foundation support charities and organisations financially, but it also encourages Burberry’s employees to volunteer their time and skills. Through its foundation, Burberry positions itself as part of the community and the connection to creativity keeps the Foundation related to the brand’s image.
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Personal Selling “Personal selling is a process consisting of related activities that generally must be performed in a prescribed order” –Patrick J. O’Connor (Patrick Joseph). It includes the exchange of a product, service, or idea, indicating that a certain transaction must occur for personal selling in order to take place. It’s most commonly perceived as an exchange of a product or service for monetary gain.
Burberry trades its products via mainline stores, outlets, concessions, Burberry franchisees, department stores, digital commerce, multi-brand specialty accounts, as well ad the brand’s official site Burberry.com. Shopping in its boutique stores is usually accompanied by a personal salesman, who helps the customers pick out the goods that suit them best. By making its clientele feel special and appreciated through this experience, the brand establishes a successful strategy for its profit.
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Burberry has another innovation since September 2016 - all of the clothes featured in Burberry’s runway shows will be accessible to buy directly from the catwalks, in store and online, which now makes consumers much more satisfied, giving them an immediate access to the collections.
Sales Promotion Sales promotion can be found whenever a shop offers ‘three for the price of two’, or pub offers a happy hour, or a product offers a free draw, or mail-in. If the sales promotion has the right qualities it will make the right impact on the customer and make them follow up the promotion. And while it offers the consumer more for a lower price, they will be using the extra products, instead of purchasing the competitor’s ones. (Cummins,J. 2002)
As all the Burberry’s products are luxurious items with outstanding craftsmanship and original designs, the pricing has to be premium because they are mainly directed to a high-class elite zone. However, it is both a luxury brand and a global company and thus its prices have to be consistent around the world everywhere in order to avoid price discrimination, otherwise it will result in diluting Burberry’s image.
However, one step the brand took in order to boost its customers’ loyalty is the creation of a personalised experience on Pinterest, enabling them to design make-up boards, promoting its new ‘Cat Lashes Mascara’ product. This was due to the pretax profits which fell 10% to £415.6m for the year to 31 March 2016. It is also the first brand using a ‘Snapcode’ on Snapchat to provide its visitors in store with privileged content.
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Direct Marketing
To connect to its customers, Burberry uses effective ways of communication such as emails, coupons, direct catalog, e-catalog, keeping them informed for the latest products and trends available. The brand is trying to build the Burberry community around the world. It’s offered in six languages and is proceeding in 45 countries. Burberry World is the optimum representation of the Burberry’s brand and allows consumers to connect worldwide with all its aspects, like heritage, music, video, products. The presence of audiovisual content in the site attracts, amuse and interact with the customers. A special personalized customer service application allows consumers to connect with sales staff in real time and in 14 languages.
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Extended luxury leadership position in social media
Burberry understands the importance of interactive and engaging social media which keeps consumers informed and up-to-date with the latest news connected to the brand. The brand is establishing its leadership amongst other quality brands on Facebook, Twitter and Youtube. The success of their market strategy is visible with 14, 241, 285 likes on Facebook and 1,403, 981 followers on Twitter(27 March, 2013). The brand’s successful channel on Youtube reveals behind the scenes films, marketing campaigns, music videos, video adverts, interview and catwalk shows.
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