luxury fashion branding luxury fashion branding trends, tactics, techniques Uche Okonkwo © Uche Okonkwo 2007 Foreword © James Ogilvy 2007 Softcover reprint of the hardcover 1st edition 2007 978-0-230-52167-4 All rights reserved. No reproduction, copy or transmission of this publication may be made without written permission. No paragraph of this publication may be reproduced, copied or transmitted save with written permission or in accordance with the provisions of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988, or under the terms of any licence permitting limited copying issued by the Copyright Licensing Agency, 90 Tottenham Court Road, London W1T 4LP. Any person who does any unauthorized act in relation to this publication may be liable to criminal prosecution and civil claims for damages. The author has asserted her right to be identified as the author of this work in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988. First published 2007 by PALGRAVE MACMILLAN Houndmills, Basingstoke, Hampshire RG21 6XS and 175 Fifth Avenue, New York, N.Y. 10010 Companies and representatives throughout the world PALGRAVE MACMILLAN is the global academic imprint of the Palgrave Macmillan division of St. Martin’s Press, LLC and of Palgrave Macmillan Ltd. Macmillan® is a registered trademark in the United States, United Kingdom and other countries. Palgrave is a registered trademark in the European Union and other countries. ISBN 978-1-349-35657-7 ISBN 978-0-230-59087-8 (eBook) DOI 10.1007/978-0-230-59087-8 This book is printed on paper suitable for recycling and made from fully managed and sustained forest sources. Logging, pulping and manufacturing processes are expected to conform to the environmental regulations of the country of origin. A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library. A catalog record for this book is available from the Library of Congress 13 12 11 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 17 16 15 14 13 12 11 10 09 08 This book is for my mother Rhoda Ada Okonkwo, from whom I learnt that quality and substance are always better than quantity and size vii Contents List of tables and figures x Foreword by James Ogilvy xv Author’s note xvii Acknowledgements xix Introduction: who said fashion is not serious business? 1 1 A question of luxury 7 2 What’s in a name? The history of luxury fashion branding 13 Branding evolution 13 Origins of luxury fashion 14 Early civilization fashion (3200 BC to 80 BC)15 From Egypt to Crete and Greece (700 BC to 1150 BC)16 The Etruscan and Roman fashion influence (800 BC to AD 476) 17 From Rome to the Byzantine Empire and the Middle-Ages (AD ~450 to ~1500) 18 The Renaissance, Italy and fashion (15th and 16th centuries) 20 Seventeenth-century baroque fashion 21 The eighteenth century, France and luxury fashion 23 The nineteenth century and modern luxury fashion 25 The rise of the yankees 26 The twentieth-century fashion explosion 28 The sixties 30 The seventies 31 The eighties 32 The nineties 34 The noughties 35 2007 and beyond 37 The dolce vita style blast 38 America, fashion and commerce 41 The luxury brand index 44 Charles Frederick Worth: Le Père de la haute couture 47 Modern business principles 56 Great moments in the history of fashion 57 3 A passion for fashion: the luxury fashion consumer 59 The consumer is king 59 The consumer purchase-decision process 62 Who is the luxury fashion consumer? 65 viii The twenty-first century fashion consumption environment 68 Luxury consumer market indicators 70 The future luxury fashion consumer 76 Strategic implications for luxury brands 77 contents 4 Luxury retail design and atmosphere 78 Luxury retail location 78 Store concept 81 Retail extension 88 Product merchandizing design 91 New selling techniques 95 The case of designer outlet shopping villages 97 5 The art of creating and managing luxury fashion brands 102 What is branding, really? 102 Branding benefits 103 Luxury fashion branding strategy development 105 The brand concept 107 The brand identity 110 Brand awareness 113 Brand positioning 116 Brand loyalty 118 Brand equity 120 Brand value 123 The luxury fashion marketing strategy 128 The product 129 Pricing 140 The place of distribution 142 Promotion 144 The celebrity connection 156 People 164 Positioning 167 The confusion and clarification of fashion co-branding 168 The menace of fake luxury goods 172 The luxury branding death-wish list 176 6 Digital luxury 178 The case for e-retail 178 E-retail indicators 180 E-retail attributes 182 The internet as a retail location 182 Online luxury fashion consumer behaviour 186 Luxury fashion e-retail strategy 191 Are luxury fashion products suitable for e-retailing? 192 E-retail strategy options 194 Luxury fashion e-marketing and e-branding strategy 202 E-marketing strategy 203 The 10 Cs of luxury fashion e-marketing 203 E-branding strategy 209 Website and e-store design 212 E-merchandizing 221 ix Final notes 223 The luxury e-retail death wish list 224 7 Le new luxe 225 A different fashion landscape 225 contents The effects of the changing environment 226 The rise of the masses 227 From fast fashion to throwaway fashion 231 Trend watching, trend tracking and luxury services 233 The new luxury brands 236 Accessible luxury 237 Intangible luxury 238 A borderline identity 240 So who are the true luxury brands? 242 How the future looks 243 8 Customize me! 246 What is customization? 249 Who wants to be customized? 250 What are the benefits of customization? 252 How can luxury brands customize goods and services? 253 Customizing standardized products 255 Point of delivery customization 257 Customizing the retail shopping experience 259 Producing bespoke goods 260 Customizing the online experience 262 Allowing the consumer to customize the process 264 What are the challenges of customization? 265 9 The luxury fashion business strategy model 267 What is a business strategy model? 268 The business strategy modelling process 269 End notes 277 10 Case illustrations 278 The Armani brand extension success story 278 The boom and bust of boo.com 285 The effect of licensing on Pierre Cardin’s brand equity 296 Is André Ross the first twenty-first century luxury brand? 303 What does ‘Britishness’ mean in luxury fashion? 309 References 315 Index 321 x List of tables and figures Tables 2.1 Luxury fashion brands index 45 5.1 The Global Luxury Brand Value Scoreboard (2004–2006) 104 5.2 The major luxury fashion conglomerates 123 6.1 The effect of Internet features on consumers 191 6.2 The ES (electronic shopping) test 194 6.3 Dos and don’ts of website design 223 Figures 2.1 Charles Frederick Worth, the man who invented haute couture and later became the first fashion entrepreneur 48 2.2 A design of Worth showing his elaborate style and attention to detail 48 2.3 A current lingerie design from recently launched brand Courtworth, an attempt at reviving the Worth fashion house 48 3.1 Consumers have evolved from the previous tag of ‘Sheep’ to the current tag of ‘Smart’! 61 3.2 The three influential levels of the consumer decision- making process. 64 4.1 Avenue des Champs Elysées, Paris, a luxury retail heaven 79 4.2 Store layouts 83 4.3 Le Bon Marché departmental store, Paris 85 4.4 The André Ross store exterior, Hong Kong 85 4.5 Vanessa Beecroft exhibition poster at L’Espace Louis Vuitton, Paris, January to March 2006 90 4.6 Brazilian carnival in-store entertainment at Printemps luxury departmental store, Paris, April 2005 91 4.7 The store window display of luxury department store, Harrod’s Knightsbridge, London, April, 2006 93 4.8 The store window display of mass fashion brand H&M at Knightsbridge, London, April 2006 93 xi 4.9 Luxury department store, Galeries Lafayette, Paris, maintains consistency between its interior and exterior designs 94 4.10 Louis Vuitton’s creative giant monogram trunk façade covering the renovation work at its Paris Champs Elysées flagship store, 2004 94 4.11 Cartier’s giant replica of its packaging box, covering the reconstruction work at its Paris Rue de la Paix store, 2005 94 4.12 Discount shopping outlet, Bicester Village, near London, 2004 99 4.13 La Vallée Village discount outlet village, near Paris, list of tables and figures 2006 99 5.1 The Dior logo has evolved from Christian Dior to simply ‘Dior’, depicting a modern outlook 110 5.2 The Brand Personality Model of Jennifer Aaker 112 5.3 The luxury fashion brand positioning map 118 5.4 The luxury fashion branding process 128 5.5 The major luxury fashion product divisions 131 5.6 The luxury fashion product classification 133 5.7 The Luxury Fashion Product Classification using the BCG Matrix 135 5.8 The Chloé Paddington bag named after the Paddington area of London 137 5.9 The André Ross signature Champs Elysées bag, named after Paris’ Avenue des Champs Elysées 137 5.10 The Louis Vuitton classic Speedy bag in the brand’s signature monogram 138 5.11 The Mulberry signature Roxanne bag 138 5.12 The Hermès classic Birkin bag named after actress Jane Birkin 138 5.13 The Gucci Jackie bag named after US former first lady Jackie Kennedy 138 5.14 The extended strategic pricing model 141 5.15 The vertical chain distribution system adopted by luxury brands 143 5.16 Who do luxury brands target when they choose bus- stands, train stations and street billboards as advertising media, such as these found in different French and United Kingdom cities? 147 5.17 Burberry emphasising its English heritage through using a British actress to depict the quintessential English lifestyle (2006) 149 5.18 The Dior Crystal Watch advertisement (2005/2006), which focuses