Design 1 Assignment 2 The history and promotional strategy recommendations for Burberry |

Name: Shih Fen Tsao
Student ID: 26317419
Module Title: Design 1
Module Code: ARTD 6075
Introduction
Currently, promotion became a significant part of marketing as a result of its raising the consumer awareness of a brand and products, creating brand royalty and increasing sales. In this paper the author will focus on the case of Burberry. Burberry is one of the most important British luxury fashion brands. In the past few decades, the image of Burberry was from luxury brand to “Chav” and reborn in the early 21th. Burberry selected several marketing strategies to re-position it as a distinctive and unique luxury brand. The author will base on these promotional strategies and go further to give in depth recommendations.

The aim of this paper is going to demonstrate the promotional strategy recommendations for Burberry. The structure of this essay is as follows. Next part will introduce the brief history and marketing strategy of Burberry. The subsequent parts will discuss and present the recommendations on promotional strategies then conclude with the concise conclusion.

A brief chronology of Burberry
Burberry was established by Thomas Burberry in 1856 when he started running a small shop selling men’s outerwear in Basingstoke, Hampshire, England. In 1880, a new fabric called “gabardine” was introduced by Burberry and soon enhanced the reputation of brand. “Gabardine” is known for the feathers of hardwearing, waterproof, weatherproof but also breathable (Burberry, 2002).

In the early 20th, this fabric was particularly satisfied to military needs also made Burberry to design raincoat for the standard uniform of British army officers. More functional dimensions was added on raincoat by Burberry and named it as “Trench coat” on account of the strong connect with military (Tynan, 2011). Furthermore, due to its military connections, the outerwear of Burberry was especially suited for explores, such as Roald Amundsen (the first person reached the South Pole in 1911), Sir Earnest Shackleton (cross Antarctica in 1914) and George Mallory (attempt to climbed Mount Everest in 1924).
Based on these associations and developments, Burberry opened a store in London in 1891 and the first overseas store in Paris was opened in 1910 at the Boulevard Malesherbes. Meanwhile, Thomas Burberry stared the international retail in Buenos Aires, Montevideo and New York and released the wholesale agreements with Japanese retail stockists. The business relationship between Burberry and Asian market was further expanded when Mitsui and Sanyo Company were got license and appointed wholesalers of Burberry’ outerwear goods in Japan respectively in 1964 and 1980 (Adams, 1995; Sherwood, 1998).

In 1955, GUS (Great Universal Stores) took over ownership from Burberry and provided more funding to develop the retail network of Burberry in the USA and in the UK. Moreover, quite a large amount of licenses were released to third parties in Asia and Europe to extend the product ranges of Burberry and to occupy the international market (Cowe, 1997). This decision means the products were inconsistencies in quality, pricing and design in the variety of markets due to the action of extension. In the mid-1990s, this strategy in Asia was soon become to hurt Burberry as a result of the speedy downturn in the Japanese economy and the annual profits decreased from £62 million to £25 million in1997. In addition, Great Universal Stores was advised to sell Burberry with the price less than £200 million (Finch & May, 1998; Roberts, 1998).

In the late 20th, the image of Burberry was influenced by British casual cults and football firm members, then turn to “Chav” in the following decades. Burberry started to reposition brand image as a truly luxury brand by the new design, clear marketing, merchandising and distribution strategy. All the new policy would like to be attractive for the new, young and fashionable generation when Burberry still holding the traditional clients base (Burberry IPO Prospectus, 2002).

In 2001, Burberry invited Christopher Bailey as a CEO and Chief Creative Officer, then started a new era of Burberry. By 2002, Burberry group was go to public in the London Stock Exchange. In 2005, the retail value of Sanyo (the Burberry license holder) was reached £340 million in Japan. Until 2013, the whole sales of Burberry raised to over £2 billion and the stock price gained more than three times to £7 billion (Roberts, 2013).

Promotional strategy recommendations
The significance of promotion is to build the atmosphere, internal felling of a brand also enrich it. Led a luxury brand own a complete image to exist on consumers’ mind rather than just a name.

New advertising style
Currently, Burberry attempted to re-position itself with several kinds of advertising strategy such as in print media and digital media. According to the Christopher Bailey, the CEO and Creative Director of Burberry, said that “ We wanted a truly British cast, which is typical of the Burberry world.” (Clark, 2009). Burberry tend to present its British image and heritage by using British celebrities and leading models, such as Emma Watson, Romeo Beckham, George Craig, Lily Donaldson, Kate Moss, and Agyness Deyn. Yet to be a luxury brand it is better to keep stars and celebrities out of advertising. If stars are used to promote luxury brands is quite dangerous, cause luxury brands need to enhance reputation with stars is tantamount to expressing that the brands need some of the status of stars to attract consumers, and admitting that the luxury brands have nothing on its own (Kapferer & Bastien, 2012).

FIGURE 1: Burberry 2015 Ad
Compare with Burberry advertisement style, Hermès prefers to use nature scenery, few models or just animals with colorful color to emphasis their products as a result of Hermès is known for the rich colors of products, so when consumers see the advertisement they can focus on the Hermès products and elegant atmosphere. Burberry usually tends to use many models wear Trench coat in one picture without strong British associations background, Dolce & Gabbana also prefer to use many models in one scene but with quite obviously Italian style, even some people are not professional models on account of they want to express whoever wear Dolce & Gabbana, the clothes suits every one.

FIGURE 2: Hermès 2008 Ad FIGURE 3: Dolce & Gabbana 2013 Ad
To created whole new advertisement style and adjust Brand image, Burberry can choose some famous landmarks and locations to present truly British atmosphere, also consider the feathers of British culture and images, such as afternoon tea, red guard, red telephone booth, red double bus, the weather of London and so on. The advertisement might be located in a British court style building and models wear Burberry products then enjoy afternoon tea in a luxury and elegant environment; or models stand in front of the Buckingham Palace next to the red guards with luxury dress; or, just let models hold Burberry umbrella walking in the rainy London. All of these ideas present not only lively, fascinating, young but also elegant and classic image of Burberry. Meanwhile, the design and quality of products should be emphasis in the advertisement. Then these images led consumers think about Burberry its own and products rather than celebrities when they recall Burberry, also can rebuild young image to attract next generation consumers.

Social Media
“It’s Burberry, many believe, which is setting the agenda for luxury brands as they turn to digital to supplement offline sales, develop revenue streams, broaden their reach and appeal to a new generation of younger, affluent consumers.” (Phan, et al. 2011). Burberry is known for the leading number of followers on social media and quiet successful in transition its image from non-mainstream to trend-setting. In 2011, over 60% budget was spent on social media marketing and this number was threefold than other brands. Basically, most of the luxury fashion brands do not believe that social media can arrest corn consumers and might have the reputation risk of a brand. As figure 4 point out, Burberry was mentioned over 20 thousand times in 2012 London fashion week, yet compare with Burberry other brands are quite young and not belong to luxury brands.

FIGURE 4: A MailOnline graphic showing who topped on Twtter.
But do clients need a public luxury brand? Luxury should be possessed by few individuals and too popularization will hurt the value of the brand.
Burberry has to find the balance between appealing new consumers and holding luxury brand image. In this situation, Burberry should distribute the social media resources to different territories, not only focus on how to propagate products and selling. First, Burberry set up Burberry charity foundation in 2008 but not everyone knew it, and usually foundation can improve a brand image, such as Mont Blanc finances UNICEF. In this case, Burberry can present who and which area are its foundation working with and supported then express Burberry care about not only just luxury and fashion but also public and the world. Second, Burberry can design secret events and shoot the reaction from public, for instance, people running in a heavy rainy day with damp clothes then suddenly someone help them to hold Burberry umbrella together, this video can warm the relationship between modern people than express a little happiness to individuals. Final, Burberry can link the brand with art and delicate craftsmanship, just like Hermès hold exhibitions to present itself, Burberry can created online exhibition and make a film about the craftsmanship cause it is a kind of art and public will realize the value of the brand.
Modern Art foundation
Luxury brand and its products are unique and distinct subjects in both time and space, art as well. Art is a kind of source to inspire designers of luxury brands and luxury products. In some points, these two concepts are rather close and interlink each other. In fact, luxury is a driving power and a great patron behind art especially in the economic world. Art is the guarantor of aesthetic for luxury; contemporary art helps luxury brand and its timeless products to maintain relevant and topical (Kapferer & Bastien, 2012).

Many luxury brands have their own Modern Art foundation, such as Cartier and Louis Vuitton. In 1984, Alain-Dominique Perrin set up a Contemporary Art foundation of Cartier at Jouy-en-Joasa, the outskirts of Paris. “Louis Vuitton Foundation for Creation” was set up in 2006 and opened in 2014 also at the outskirts of Paris. These art foundations want to present variety of creative art then popularize it to public and go further to introduce French culture. Art foundation can help a luxury brand to enhance its reputation and build the cultural image. Burberry is a leading luxury fashion brand in the UK, even though it already running a charity foundation in 2008, yet to establish an art foundation might be beneficial for different aspects, such as to maintain British image and cultural image, to show the link between luxury and art, to enhance the reputation of a brand, and offer an accessible location for public to enjoy the rich culture and art.

This idea can push a luxury brand to increase its sales figure, even though profit is not the main consideration in an art foundation, but public are willing to see a luxury brand to enrich itself then individuals will concern about its products, cause they can feeling diversity between different luxury brands.

Conclusion
To sum up, therefore, the author recommends three promotional strategies for Burberry. First, to created a new adverting styles. Second, keep focus on social media but adjust it target. Third, to established a Modern Art foundation. All of the recommendations want to improve the image of Burberry, increase sales and make Burberry unique then different from other luxury brands.
References

Adams, M. (1995) “Burberry coats: a king provided them with their most familiar alias.” Incentive, pp. 68. Boulder: Westview Press.

Burberry, (2002) Burberry PLC Annual Report and Accounts 2002-2003. London: Burberry.

Burberry IPO Prospectus, (2002) “Burberry group global offer of shares.” Burberry IPO Prospectus, Summer.

Clark, E. (2009) A Grown-up Emma Watson Models for Burberry. [Online] July 15th 2009. Available from: International Business Times. http://www.ibtimes.com/grown-emma-watson-models-burberry-181637 [Accessed 8 Jan. 2015].

Cowe, R. (1997) “Saks retailer fits Burberry’s ticket.” The Guardian, 6 September.

Finch, J. & May, T. (1998) “Reputations: putting a zip in a Burberry.” The Guardian, 27 June.

Kapferer, J. N. & Bastien, V. (2012) The luxury strategy. London: Kogan Page.
Phan, M., Thomas, R. & Heine, K. (2011) “Social Media and Luxury Brand Management: The Case of Burberry”. Journal of Global Fashion Marketing: Bridging Fashion and Marketing, 2(4), 213-222.

Roberts, A. (2013) Burberry Designer Bailey to Be CEO as Ahrendts Goes to Apple. [online]. October 15th 2013. Available from: Bloomberg.com. http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-10-15/burberry-says-bailey-to-become-ceo-as-ahrendts-leaves-for-apple.html [Accessed 9 Jan. 2015].

Roberts, D. (1998) “Burberry in not really tailor-made for Far-East.” Birmingham Post, 25 June.

Sherwood, J. (1998) “Born-again Burberry modeled by Stella Tennant.” The Independent, 3 October, p. 8.

Tynan, J. (2011) “Military Dress and Men's Outdoor Leisurewear: Burberry's Trench Coat in First World War Britain”. Journal Of Design History, 24(2): 139-156.

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