http://frontrowpr.wordpress.com/2013/03/27/how-burberry-reclaimed-its-brand/
The Burberry fashion house was founded in 1856, and it owes everything it is today to Thomas Burberry and one original design intended to keep the rain out.
Flashback to 1879: young former draper's assistant Thomas Burberry invented a special type of fabric for a comfortable and rain-resistant coat. The fruit of his labours was gabardine, a tough, tightly-woven and water-resistant fabric.
The success of Burberry's water-resistant fabric was phenonemal. Orders flooded in, the first major client being the British Army. Using his own designs for officers' coats made 13 years beforehand for the War Office, Burberry added shoulder straps and metal rings to his gabardine coat, and the trench coat was born.
Between 1970 and 2000, Burberry became increasingly popular with the British casual cult and as such, became synonymous with football hooliganism and the ‘chav’ culture. Over exposure had caused the brand’s identity to be hijacked and, with its profits and reputation suffering, Burberry needed to reposition itself within the exclusive, luxury market.
So, how has Burberry used its PR and Marketing strategies to try and reclaim and reposition its brand?
Events and Sponsorship.
The Burberry Foundation.
Established in 2008, this charitable organisation aims to help young people achieve their dreams and potential through the power of creativity. The foundation supports selected charities focused on supporting young people in cities where the company’s employees live and work. As well as supporting charities and organisations financially, the Foundation also encourages Burberry’s employees to volunteer their time and skills. Through its foundation, Burberry positions itself as part of the community rather than just a faceless, profit hungry brand. The link to creativity keeps the Foundation relevant to the brand’s image.
Tweetwalk.
In 2011, Burberry became the first brand to reveal its designs on Twitter before they hit the runway during LFW.The event created a feeling of exclusivity among consumers. As well as engaging Burberry’s existing Twitter follows, the event attracted many more consumers to follow the brand.
Followers could also watch the shows live in HD via a link made available to them on Facebook. The LFW catwalk was also streamed live in 3D to Burberry’s 25 flagship stores worldwide and broadcast in highly targeted locations such as Piccadilly Circus and Heathrow Airport. This created a large amount of buzz around the brand whilst reinforcing Burberry’s technically advanced image.
Burberry Acoustic.
Last year, Burberry launched its first non-fashion project. Burberry acoustic supports emerging British artists and produces tracks and videos to accompany their fashion collections.
The project initially worked with The Feeling to produce and release their first track, an acoustic version of Rose. The single was premiered at Burberry’s Spring/Summer 2011 LFW show and became the soundtrack to the TV advertisement for Burberry Body.
Burberry Acoustic adds a new dimension to the brand, integrating with their online and in-store activities.
Celebrity endorsement.
In addition to editorial, brands such as Burberry can secure press coverage for their products by having them photographed on celebrities. By ensuring that products are endorsed by celebrities to whom their target audience can relate, Burberry increases credible exposure at minimal cost. To avoid negative publicity, however, the brand must be careful that only the right people are seen wearing their designs at the right events.
When One Direction’s Harry Stiles was pictured on the front row at Burberry’s London Fashion Week show this summer, the show received over 21, 000 mentions on social media. This was considerably higher than other brands; Topshop’s show earned 10,000 mentions whilst Vivienne Westwood received only 3,000 mentions.
Electronic
Developing customer participation and engagement is becoming an increasingly important aspect of brands’ marketing strategies. Art of the Trench is an innovative micro-site that makes use of user-generated content. Users are encouraged to upload photos of themselves in their trench coats and can browse and comment on photos from all around the world.The site also features photographs from fashion photographer and blogger Scott Schuman who has traveled the globe taking street style trench coat photos.
The interactive campaign has had over 17.7 million page views and has generated a large amount of brand awareness and a high level of customer engagement.
Social Media.
Burberry clearly understands that interactive and engaging social media is vital to enable them to appear relevant to their target audience. The success of their social media marketing strategy is evident in the number of fans and followers they have accumulated, they currently have 14, 241, 285 likes on Facebook and 1,403, 981 followers on Twitter.
The content on their social networking pages is undoubtedly creating brand awareness. Social media does, however pose problems for the control of messages. Burberry has attempted to increase their control to some degree by preventing fans from posting photos or content on their Facebook wall.
You Tube Channel.
Burberry has its own, successful channel on You Tube. The channel brings together all aspects of their marketing campaigns hosting Video adverts, Burberry Acoustic music videos, behind the scenes films, interviews and catwalk shows. Burberry’s offerings are clearly engaging; to date, the channel has 47, 061 subscribers and 17, 769, 628 video views.
Advertising.
Burberry uses its advertisements to reinforce 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. These themes are consistent across all marketing tools and media.
Out of Home advertising is also heavily used and integrated with Burberry’s digital campaigns, for example Burberry Weather which was highlighted the typical British weather when all eyes were on London for the 2012 Olympics.
Do you think Burberry have successfully reclaimed their brand? What other tactics have they used?
Between 1970 and 2000, Burberry became increasingly popular with the British casual cult and as such, became synonymous with football hooliganism and the ‘chav’ culture. Over exposure had caused the brand’s identity to be hijacked and, with its profits and reputation suffering, Burberry needed to reposition itself within the exclusive, luxury market.
So, how has Burberry used its PR and Marketing strategies to try and reclaim and reposition its brand?
Events and Sponsorship.
The Burberry Foundation.
Established in 2008, this charitable organisation aims to help young people achieve their dreams and potential through the power of creativity. The foundation supports selected charities focused on supporting young people in cities where the company’s employees live and work. As well as supporting charities and organisations financially, the Foundation also encourages Burberry’s employees to volunteer their time and skills. Through its foundation, Burberry positions itself as part of the community rather than just a faceless, profit hungry brand. The link to creativity keeps the Foundation relevant to the brand’s image.
Tweetwalk.
In 2011, Burberry became the first brand to reveal its designs on Twitter before they hit the runway during LFW.The event created a feeling of exclusivity among consumers. As well as engaging Burberry’s existing Twitter follows, the event attracted many more consumers to follow the brand.
Followers could also watch the shows live in HD via a link made available to them on Facebook. The LFW catwalk was also streamed live in 3D to Burberry’s 25 flagship stores worldwide and broadcast in highly targeted locations such as Piccadilly Circus and Heathrow Airport. This created a large amount of buzz around the brand whilst reinforcing Burberry’s technically advanced image.
Burberry Acoustic.
Last year, Burberry launched its first non-fashion project. Burberry acoustic supports emerging British artists and produces tracks and videos to accompany their fashion collections.
The project initially worked with The Feeling to produce and release their first track, an acoustic version of Rose. The single was premiered at Burberry’s Spring/Summer 2011 LFW show and became the soundtrack to the TV advertisement for Burberry Body.
Burberry Acoustic adds a new dimension to the brand, integrating with their online and in-store activities.
Celebrity endorsement.
In addition to editorial, brands such as Burberry can secure press coverage for their products by having them photographed on celebrities. By ensuring that products are endorsed by celebrities to whom their target audience can relate, Burberry increases credible exposure at minimal cost. To avoid negative publicity, however, the brand must be careful that only the right people are seen wearing their designs at the right events.
When One Direction’s Harry Stiles was pictured on the front row at Burberry’s London Fashion Week show this summer, the show received over 21, 000 mentions on social media. This was considerably higher than other brands; Topshop’s show earned 10,000 mentions whilst Vivienne Westwood received only 3,000 mentions.
Electronic
Developing customer participation and engagement is becoming an increasingly important aspect of brands’ marketing strategies. Art of the Trench is an innovative micro-site that makes use of user-generated content. Users are encouraged to upload photos of themselves in their trench coats and can browse and comment on photos from all around the world.The site also features photographs from fashion photographer and blogger Scott Schuman who has traveled the globe taking street style trench coat photos.
The interactive campaign has had over 17.7 million page views and has generated a large amount of brand awareness and a high level of customer engagement.
Social Media.
Burberry clearly understands that interactive and engaging social media is vital to enable them to appear relevant to their target audience. The success of their social media marketing strategy is evident in the number of fans and followers they have accumulated, they currently have 14, 241, 285 likes on Facebook and 1,403, 981 followers on Twitter.
The content on their social networking pages is undoubtedly creating brand awareness. Social media does, however pose problems for the control of messages. Burberry has attempted to increase their control to some degree by preventing fans from posting photos or content on their Facebook wall.
You Tube Channel.
Burberry has its own, successful channel on You Tube. The channel brings together all aspects of their marketing campaigns hosting Video adverts, Burberry Acoustic music videos, behind the scenes films, interviews and catwalk shows. Burberry’s offerings are clearly engaging; to date, the channel has 47, 061 subscribers and 17, 769, 628 video views.
Advertising.
Burberry uses its advertisements to reinforce 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. These themes are consistent across all marketing tools and media.
Out of Home advertising is also heavily used and integrated with Burberry’s digital campaigns, for example Burberry Weather which was highlighted the typical British weather when all eyes were on London for the 2012 Olympics.
Do you think Burberry have successfully reclaimed their brand? What other tactics have they used?
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