I've said before that Burberry is one of the great examples of brand building in the past ten years. And luckily for me, this assertion happens to be backed up by facts. As of just the other day, Burberry is the most valuable British brand in the world – and well within the overall world top 100, at 73.
With credit to the Scotsman. We Scots can always be trusted to follow fashion brand news. |
They’ve
fought their way back up. Not by thoughtless expansionism. Not by forcing their
presence upon everyone in media blitzes. But by being single-minded in the
pursuit of one trait.
Desirability.
It’s
that relentless focus on remaining premium, on establishing a premium quality
in everything that they do, which builds and maintains their position. They
adapt with the times to be sure. But they never lose sight of the core brand.
And they don’t let themselves be lost in a plethora of new lines and new
products as they did in the 1990s.
When
they do add new products or expand on old ones, it’s carefully planned. The
brand comes first, before words like “market diversification” or “upscaling”.
A great recent example of this was seen in the launch of the new personalisation
service for their famous scarves.
Watch here.
As
AdFreak noted, personalisation can have a certain way of undermining the
premium value of a product. After all, if anyone can have it personalised, what
makes it special and valuable?
(Even spam emails seem to
manage it these days. No I don’t want to email you my account details Halifox.
Nor you, Clivesdale Bank.)
How
do you combat that cheap perception? By highlighting the work that goes into
the product. By showing exactly why it commands a high price tag. And most of
all, by demonstrating that the personalisation isn’t a cheap tag-on – it’s a
part of the construction of the product, an intrinsic step to its creation.
So
in their launch, personalisation plays an important role – but only as part of
the Burberry brand equity of quality and character. It’s treated less as a new
feature so much as a deepening of the existing brand value. And it’s one of
many qualities highlighted in the launch film.
(Including, apparently,
teasels. Which I like to imagine are just weasels who make mean jokes.)
This is an actual teasel. Disappointing. |
And
thanks to the brand mentality and focus I spoke about earlier, the film isn’t
just on-message about this new offering. It’s also a beautiful, watchable,
absorbing wee film. The new product isn’t what resonates. It’s the brand value
that informs the product and the film that is what is so engaging.
For
Burberry that means premium quality in everything they create, care and
attention, their definition of English style and English values. When Burberry
sells, it never just sells the product. It sells the Burberry brand, and just
as importantly, the Burberry values.
And in showing the careful, caring process of creating a personalised Burberry scarf, Burberry implicitly gives a reason to buy into them – because Burberry stands for careful, caring, focused fashion.
People don’t buy what you do; they buy why you do it. Burberry shows that "why" in everything that they do.
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And in showing the careful, caring process of creating a personalised Burberry scarf, Burberry implicitly gives a reason to buy into them – because Burberry stands for careful, caring, focused fashion.
People don’t buy what you do; they buy why you do it. Burberry shows that "why" in everything that they do.
If you've enjoyed this article, why not share it on Facebook, Twitter or LinkedIn? It helps me grow, and you get to look like an informed, thoughtful and stylish professional. Nice one reader.