The Rebranding of Burberry
Burberry Regains Focus
In 2006, the company changes its product line to reposition itself as a luxury label. Angela Ahrendts becomes CEO of Burberry. The best thing that could of happened for the company! She looks at the current situation. She notices none of the employees are wearing the trench coats. Why is this? How can you expect your customers to wear your brand if you don’t? Burberry has lost its external focus. It fails to focus on their luxurious clothing and leather goods. They neglect the company’s core strength- its iconic outerwear.
Burberry lacks focus. They are very vulnerable to its competitors. Ahrendts begins a campaign to change this. She aligns the company around the iconic Burberry trench coat. The re branding of Burberry takes six years. She makes changes to roles in management, and re evaluates the brand. Burberry put huge amounts of effort into perfecting the brand. Rebranding a company isn’t easy. It takes time and if theres a will, theres a way!
Why Standing By Your Vision Works
Ahrendts stays true to the companies values. She focuses on a vision that she has and aligns her team and business around it. Ahrendts shares a clear picture of the goals for the company and ensures everyone understands them. She engages with the business to help them to achieve it. She retrains her sales people and shares the story behind the trench coat. This is needed! She shows how the trench coat is unique to Burberry’s core brand. Ahrendts empowers her sales people to become advocates for Burberry.
Retail is no longer just about the clothes. The whole customer experience matters. The experience needs to be memorable for the customer. Take note of this!
Brands can successfully transform themselves. A company must adapt to current styles and celebrate the history of the brand. “Burberry is about heritage and making heritage relevant for today, “ says Christopher Bailey in 2009. Burberry uses a mix of its own heritage with some modern looks to snap up celebrities. Emma Watson and Kate Moss are first to support the look. These celebrities help propel the success of the “Art of the Trench” campaign. Target the right people to wear the Burberry designs at the right events . We don’t want the brand to become misused.
How successful was it, you ask? Pretty damn successful!
Whats the return? In 2011, Interbrand names Burberry as the fourth- fastest growing brand behind Apple, Google and Amazon. Burberry’s sales are proof of how successful the rebranding was. Burberry announces that figures have doubled for the brand. Kate Middleton and other celebrities now wear the famous trench coat with pride. Everyone wants to have one! Today, Burberry trench coats are a must have for ones wardrobe. The future of Burberry is very bright and is one to watch.
A Lesson To Learn From Burberry
Always look at ways to adjust your brand to become more modern and unique for the moment you live in. Make it relevant! Don’t give up the reputation you’ve built! Luxury brands are mainly about tradition and heritage. Today, it is about how you balance those with technology and new trends. This lesson has never been more relevant to the marketing world. Never forget what you or your brand stand for. Know your roots and stick to them!
If you ask me, Burberry is an example of rebranding done right. What other brands have done a good job at rebranding themselves? Feel free to reach out and share your thoughts, I’d love to hear from you!
