Kaylea Smith
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ontents
Page 4: Executive Summary Page 5: Introduction Page 6: Methodology Page 7: Brand Identity Page 8: Brand Consumers Page 9: Brand Positioning Pages 10 and 11: Images of Shoes Pages 12 and 13: Images of Shoes/ Boots Page 14: Advertising Page 15: Public Relations Page 16: Sales Promotions Page 17: Direct Marketing Page 18: Social Media Page 19: Personal Selling Page 20: Bibliography
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E
xecutive
Summary
This Jimmy Choo brand report covers all the main information surrounding the business, using first and secondary data. In the brand identity the information includes the logo and the way that people know the brand just from noticing a small part of their image. The report then goes onto include the sort of customers you would find buying from their shops, including a customer profile and then continues to the brand positioning, knowing that it is a luxury brand. Afterwards the communications mix covers: their methods of advertisement, public relations including their involvement with charities, personal selling, sales promotion and deciding if they have any offers, direct marketing and social media. As social media has increased such a dramatic amount over the past few years, it looks into the ways the brand uses this for advertisement.
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I
ntroduction
The name of the brand Jimmy Choo comes from the founder who established the company in
1996 with his niece, Sandra Choi. Choi is the current creative director. The brand has grown from its original store in London to a multinational success, with shops in high profile areas all over the world. Jimmy Choo started off selling women’s shoes. The shoes remain the reason for the beginning of the company, therefore will always be the main focus of Jimmy Choo (www.jimmychooplc.com). The products have attracted a wide audience, particularly style icons including: royalty, celebrities and musicians, currently being seen on the red carpet. The company has now expanded to making handbags, sunglasses, belts, scarves and fragrances due to popular demand and aiming to attract a variety of customers. Jimmy Choo has since created a website, meaning purchases can happen at any current time and anywhere and have also released Choo 24:7, which “invites users to upload pictures of themselves wearing Jimmy Choo footwear to a microsite” (Stocker 2012). This allows fellow customers to gain assurance of what others are wearing. With the product wanting to remain luxury, due to the Italian craftsmanship it means that prices are high and cannot be purchased by everyone.
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M
ethodology
For the research about Jimmy Choo, it was gathered from a mixture of websites that knew a large proportion of background information on the brand. The other data came from going around the actual shops in Selfridges and on Sloane Street in London and from some books in the university library.
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rand
Identity
The logo for Jimmy Choo is just the name, in capitals and in either black or white. By modifying the letters to be in capitals it appears much more demanding and making sure that you read it. The colours black and white, are classed as bold colours, being simple yet classic. If you are a personal fan of shoes in particular, the Jimmy Choo logo signifies elegance yet sophistication (www.jimmychoo.com). Jimmy Choo formed a partnership with Tamara Mellon, which then influenced the ready-towear lines. However Choo and Mellon then went onto sell their shares in the company (businessoffashion.com). Prices can vary into the hundreds for different products. The new ‘Cinderella’ shoe range can be priced up to nearly £3,000. When entering the shops, high security is everywhere, allowing you to feel how expensive the products are, with them not wanting a single thing stolen. However, the security are dressed up in a suit and tie and end up opening the door for you, reflecting the luxury of the shoes and the experience that they want you to have.
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rand
Consumers With the public eye knowing the high celebrity popularity that surrounds the brand, Jimmy Choo has to remain at its high status. This means that the shops are located in high end areas. Walking into the shops, like the one on Sloane Street, there are not many people located in the store at one time, compared to high street shops. The first celebrity spotted out in Jimmy Choo was Princess Diana, with her remaining a popular style icon of that time. The amount of customers grows and grows each year. With the brand becoming much more recognisable, the company could allow itself to expand into other accessories. This would suit a wider range of the population, with not everyone wanting their shoes. Having celebrities wear the products on the red carpet, it is a good source of advertisement.
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rand
Positioning
Jimmy Choo has always been a high-end brand.
They have largely expanded from their one store in London to their current 167 stores in 35 countries (Jimmychoo.com). They plan to open 10-15 new stores per year. Countries that they want to focus on relatively a lot include, China, Singapore, Middle East and South Korea (Jimmychooplc.com). “The
4p’s is centred around the target consumer and helps articulate the whole marketing strategy cycle” (Hines and Bruce 2007), which means that to suit each customer they have to analyse all the individual areas. With them adding other accessories to their company it diverts them away from just being a shoe brand. Their main competitors are Louis Vuitton and Gucci, whom also don’t just produce shoes. They also have shops in similar locations due to them all being luxury brands. Their shoes come in all different kinds, being simple, covered in glitter and vibrant in a range of col-
ours. They offer something to suit every occasion and for a variety of ages. Their AW 16 collection is quoted to say “cosy up to incredible pieces that deliver on style all season long. Discover buckles, studs, suedes and velvets to add to your collection (www.jimmychoo.com). On the off chance, if there wasn’t anything that you would like to purchase, they offer a made to order range. A simple change you could do, is to just want to change the fabric or colour. You can also do this from the convenience of your own home, from their website. They have recently allowed you to customise bags too. They want to keep customers satisfied to ensure their recommendation to other people and to make sure they become returning customers themselves. With celebrities wearing their products, it allows customers to know of the shoes high quality. Women look up to celebrities as style icons, therefore can copy what they are wearing. Sandra Choi takes her designers around the world for inspiration, to gather different ideas to incorporate into their shoes. Getting information from many countries allows them to use other cultures patterns, colours and textures to create a different design.
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dvertising
This brand, like others of the same high status, never seems to be associated with TV adverts or any pop ups that appear whilst using your computers. Jimmy Choo opened up their website in 2006, which meant that the brand could be opened up to a wider audience, without having to go into the stores. “The editorial section, called Choo World, gives trend users information and advice as well as video content and interviews” (Stocker 2013), therefore attracting people to use this service in giving them confidence into what to wear. Also, on their website they post the latest news surrounding the business, including the new collections etc. “The use of the of SMS, email, viral campaigns and the Internet are being used increasingly to drive sales” (Barrand 2004). Other methods come in a wide variety; word of mouth, social media, blogs and billboards (mostly associated with USA).
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However the main approach is via magazines, especially when launching the collections and getting celebrities to model them. “The celebrity becomes the hero, rather than the product being advertised” (Summers, 1993). These photographs are published in the most reputable fashion magazines, with millions of them sold every day to fashion enthusiasts.
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ublic
Relations The Jimmy Choo Foundation partnered itself with the global charity CARE International with them particularly their Lendwithcare initiative. With the organisation founded in 1945, CARE focuses on fighting global poverty. With the charity working highly in 11 countries, it is highly successful. It allows women the confidence and education into creating a successful reputation for themselves. It perfectly links to Jimmy Choo, with Choi essentially running the brands empire by herself. Jimmy Choo is a multinational success meaning that a lot of their efforts would be highly appreciated by any charity. It also gains much more recognition is a brand works with them (Jimmychooplc. com).
Celebrities are constantly spotted in Jimmy Choo at the major events. Celebrities include Hollywood A-Listers: Emma Stone, Anne Hathaway, Margot Robbie and Emily Blunt. Their own stylists have to find the suitable outfit and have to pair up all the accessories perfectly. Many celebrities are spotted in the same style shoes including the ‘Molly’ and ‘Minny’ due to them matching any garments with their simplistic attributes.
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ales
Promotions The company themselves does offer discounts on their website occasionally but for a short period of time. By subscribing to their newsletter, you gain the advantage of knowing when the next sale will occur getting you first choice. However, they constantly offer free delivery to any customer bases in the UK, with no matter what you’ve chosen. One discount that tends to happen a bit more regularly is the discount on fragrances in department stores. It never seems to be a lot of money knocked off the price but with a sale on a brand like Jimmy Choo, every bit of money helps. A lot of websites attempt to sell knock off versions of the products for a dramatic drop in price compared to the original. These are the websites that people need to be aware of, believing that they are actual Jimmy Choo’s.
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D
irect
Marketing Jimmy Choo offers you to a free subscription to their website, allowing you to have an account to make any purchases and saving whatever you enter into your shopping basket. When signing up, you have to enter your email address, which means that they can have access to send you regular updates of offers or any news that’s occurring in the near future. Having an account it allows you to have a wish list, meaning that you can save anything and it will stay there until removed by you or when Jimmy Choo doesn’t wish to sell the product anymore. It also looks at any of your previous orders to recommend anything that they think you will like.
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S
ocial
Media Fashion blogs have become increasingly popular over the last few years, due to people wanting to know reviews of clothing brands, from the cheapest to the most expensive. They also allow customers to see the ideal partnership for the shoes to go with the outfit. Many bloggers also have an Instagram account, with some being followed by thousands of people, therefore the brand will get more and more recognised if shown off. Instagram is also used by celebrities, who commonly post photos of them wearing outfits to red carpet events, also featuring Jimmy Choo and they automatically end up with millions of people following them. Snapchat is an app that has been up and coming in the past few years. They have recently added certain papers/ companies to advertise through the app. One example is the newspaper, The Sun, which posts regular updates to outfits worn at high events such as The Oscars.
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ersonal
Selling Jimmy Choo sell from their own shops however, also sell to other businesses to sell on. Department stores are the main choice for Jimmy Choo to sell their products too. These include Selfridges, Debenhams, Harvey Nichols and House of Fraser. They either sell a selection of all their products or some just sell one, for example Debenhams only sell the fragrances. By expanding products to other shops, it allows products to be advertised much more and sold from a wider variety of places.
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ibliography
www.jimmychoo.com www.jimmychooplc.com www.debenhams.com www.selfridges.com www.harveynichols.com Simply Marketing Communications by Chris Fill Pg 146 Fashion Marketing contemporary issues 2nd edition (Tony Hines & Margaret Bruce) Pg 16 Jimmy Choo edits online world 2013 (Keely Stocker) Pg 24 Jimmy Choo’s Picture Show 2012 (Keely Stocker) www.businessoffashion.com www.bumpinghanger.com www.beautylicieuse.com www.bridesmagazine.co.uk (pg 97) www.shops.nordstrom.com www.fash-models.blogspot.co.uk www.trendhunter.com www.designershoessalesuk.com www.images.google.co.uk www.row.jimmychoo.com www.expensivetastexox.tumblr.com www.luxuryhighheel.com www.girlsbravo.tumblr.com www.blog.making-pictures.co.uk www.scontent.cdinstagram.com www.tw.buy.yahoo.com www.cpp-luxury.com www.brilliantluxury.blogspot.co.uk www.indiaweddingsite.com www.vivaluxury.blogspot.co.uk
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