Marketing Mix - The little black jacket

As I have mentioned before - when I was talking about Saatchi Gallery - art is an interesting field for luxury brands and can be a great marketing tool as well. Furthermore according to Tina Mermiri  „large art organisations are sometimes seen as very successful brands“ themselves (Mermiri, 2010).

Karl Lagerfeld for example has shown his great sense of creativity and business last week by placing an exhibition at Saatchi Gallery London.

The exhibition was called „the little black jacket“ and consisted of „over 100 black and white photographs of Karl Lagerfeld‘s favourite muses wearing the label's iconic jacket - both men and women - fill four expansive rooms, all taken by the Chanel helmer himself“ (Alexander, 2012). The pictures showed international actors, models, celebrities as well as rappers and classical music artists (Chanel, 2012) .

Source: All pictures were taken by myself, Katinka von Flotow.


As this exhibition, in my opinion, was a great marketing strategy, I would like to discuss this in more detail with the help of the marketing mix (product, place, promotion and price) (Schiffman&Kanuk, 2010, p.569), which was discussed in class. -->

1. Product
Althought the photographs show international stars the focus of the exhibition lies on „the little black jacket“. The jacket itself has been designed by Coco Chanel in the 1950s and ever since has been a part of every collection with small changes (Chanel, 2012). To understand how difficult it is to make this jacket and to demonstrate its high quality a video has been created which can be viewed here:

Source: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UIYSW9_CCCI

The little black jacket is one of Chanel‘s signature products so therefore it makes sense to create an exhibition around it.


2. Place
As I have mentioned before Saatchi Gallery in London is a luxury brand itself. Furthermore it lies in a sophisticated shopping area near Sloane Square (Kings Road), and the next Chanel shop can be reached within 3 minutes walking distance. Saatchi Gallery is popular for showing modern art and the works of young artists while having very sophisticated visitors, so therefore the image of the place reflects well the core values of the brand and the venue attracts the right target customers of Chanel.

„The little black jacket“ is a touring exhibition that also takes place in metropolises like Berlin, Paris, Sydney, Moskau, Hong Kong, Taipei, New York and Tokyo (Chanel, 2012). It is therefore guaranteed that a wide, international target market will be reached.


3. Promotion
The exhibition has been announced through www.chanel.com as well as an own website (http://thelittleblackjacket.chanel.com/). There has also been an enormous online press coverage - so fashion magazines such as Vogue announced the dates online, too. Moreover, city magazines such as Time Out London also reported about the event. Although I have not been to a Chanel shop recently I am pretty sure that there has been some kind of promotion in the shops as well - maybe in form of a postcard or personal invitations to VIP clients.

As part of the exhibition there was a great promotion going on in the last room. Every visitor could choose a poster for free from a range of three different photographs that were part of the exhibition (Chanel, 2012). This was not only clever in relation to surprising the visitors and letting them take home a free piece and a tangiable memory of the exhibition but also because those posters were so big and given away in transparent plastic bags that people around Sloane Square had to become aware of the exhibition and therefore higher traffic was guaranteed. The fact that people were queing for more than 15 minutes to get a free pictures showed how effecitve this promotion was.


Furthermore a book with all the images as well as the history of the little black jacket has been produced and can be bought in different venues, in Chanel boutiques as well as online.

 

Source: http://www.lady-blog.de/wp-content/uploads/2012/08/the-little-black-jacket.jpg

Finally it has to be mentioned that Chanel also decided to design some typical London Black cabs to promote the exhibition. 

Source: http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8472/8130313803_0f027c82a3_n.jpg

4. Price
When it comes to dicussing the price one has to take a look at both - the price of the product and the price (admission fee) for seeing the exhibition. The price of the little black jacket is more than 1000 GBP (Chanel, 2012). But as I said before the little black jacket is one of Chanel‘s iconic products and therefore it makes sense to create a big story around it and make people dream by showing amazing pictures of celebrities wearing the jacket. Even if people cannot afford the jacket now this exhibition makes the little black jacket an aspirational product, increases brand awareness and brand visibility and therefore might lead to increasing sales in the future.
Besides the price of the jacket it has to be mentioned that visiting the exhibition was free so people did not have to pay any entrance fees. Therefore there was no barrier to visit the exhibition and as I said before this was a great way of increasing brand awareness.

So all in all after having discussed the exhibition in great detail, the marketing mix shows, that Karl Lagerfeld has done a great marketing coup, which will hopefully result in incresed sales in the future and in an even better perception of the brand than there has been before.

References:

Alexander, E. (2012). Chanel opens little black jacket exhibition. Available from: http://www.vogue.co.uk/news/2012/10/12/chanel-opens-little-black-jacket-exhibition (Accessed: 31.10.2012).

Chanel (2012). The little black jacket. London: Saatchi Gallery.

Mermiri, T. (2010). Arts Sponsorship: The facts, trends and potentail. Journal of Sponsorship, Volume 3, Number 4, p.304-320.

Schiffman, L.G. and Kanuk, L.L. (2010). Consumer Behaviour, 10^th edition.

New Jersey: Prentice Hall.

The little black jacket (2012). Exhibition Website. Available from: (http://thelittleblackjacket.chanel.com/) (Accessed: 31.10.2012)

von Flotow, Katinka (2012). Images Chanel Exhibition 28.10.2012. London: Saatchi Gallery.

The anti-laws of marketing - how to market a luxury brand

Today I would like to talk about the “anti-laws of marketing”, which have been established by Kapferer and Bastien in 2009 and are listed below.

1. Forget about “positioning“, luxury is not comparative

2. Does your product have enough flaws?

3. Don’t pander to your customers’ wishes 
4. Keep non-enthusiasts out

5. Don’t respond the rising demand

6. Dominate the client

7. Make it difficult for clients to buy

8. Protect clients from non-clients, the big from the small

9. The role of advertising is not to sell

10. Communicate to those whom you are not targeting

11. The presumed price should always seem higher than the actual price

12. Luxury sets the price, price does not set luxury

13. Raise your prices as time goes on in order to increase demand

14. Keep raising the average price of the product range

15. Do not sell

16. Keep stars out of your advertising

17. Cultivate closeness to the arts for initiates

18. Don’t relocate your factories

In my opinion every brand manager working for a luxury brand should know about them and keep them in mind, but some of them cannot always be converted to a brand but rather develop themselves over time.

As we have already spoken about the anti-laws in class and some of them are pretty obvious today, I would like to concentrate on the ones I find are the most interesting.

First of all I would like to talk about law number 9 and 10 because I think these are crucial for marketing luxury goods. Although nearly every advertisement assumes the customer knows about the brand and it’s identity it is crucial to further educate consumers and tell your story. So existing customers can get engaged even more by further experiencing it and new customers get the opportunity to get to know the brand and through the creation of a dream they are more likely to aspire purchasing a product from the brand in the future. Cartier for example has recently created an amazing video, which can be watched below.
The video....

• Reflects their brand identity perfectly
• Creates a dream 
• Engages new customers by showing their star products as well as existing customers by showing new products 
• and creates a emotions.

Source: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9RZPmKC2c2o&feature=youtu.be&hd=1

Although Cartier for example definitely is not very accessible in terms of their pricing the brand has a great reputation and is well-known even by people who cannot afford to buy their products. This is also very important because most people who buy branded products want others to recognize them. So there would be no point in buying expensive, branded jewellery when no one knows about the brand or recognizes the product.

Furthermore I would like to be responsive to the law “don’t relocate your factories” (Kapferer & Bastien, 2009). The location of a luxury brand’s factories and its head office is very important because people buy into the culture of your brand. So as a luxury watch brand for example you should stay in Switzerland, as a luxury car manufacturer do not plan to leave Germany and as a luxury fashion brand make sure you get the best textiles from Italy. A brand that has recently done a big mistake in terms of location for example is Yves Saint Laurent, which decided to move its head office from France to America and rename the brand to “Saint Laurent Paris” (Amed, 2012). This decision has created an huge public outcry in the world of fashion because by taking this decision, they seemed to have forgotten about their heritage and identity. To make it worst after realizing the consequences of this decision they rowed back and announced that the name “Saint Laurent Paris” will only be used in the logo (Amed, 2012). But the decision to move the head office to America is made – and according to press has already damaged the brand enormously.  

 Source: http://www.businessoffashion.com/2012/10/a-wake-up-call-for-ysls-pr-team.html

So as I said earlier on, in my opinion, knowing about Kapferer's anti-laws is very important but brand managers should not blindly try to apply them but think about the fir with their brand, the consequences and the feasibility.

References: 

Kapferer, J.N. and Bastien, V. (2009). The luxury strategy. Break the rules of marketing to build luxury brands.

London and Philadelphia: Kogan Page.

Amed, I. (2012). A wake-up call for YSL’s PR team.

Available from: http://www.businessoffashion.com/2012/10/a-wake-up-call-for-ysls-pr-team.html (Accessed: 19.10.2012)

Brand Identity - the characteristics that make a brand what it is

Today we were talking about brand identity, hence "the tangible and itangible specificities of the brand, those that make the brand what it is, without which it would be something other" (Kapferer & Bastien, 2009, p.122) and about ways to identify and illustrate them. The two frameworks that have been explained in particular were the brand driver as well as the brand identity prism.

First of all I would like to talk about the "brand identity prism" (shown in Figure 1), which has been created by Kapferer "to break down the symbolic dimension of brands in facets, while linking them together" (Kapferer & Bastien, 2009, p.122).

 Figure 1: Brand Identity Prism

Source: http://img99.imageshack.us/img99/364/fig3g.jpg

As the brand identity prism is a very good tool for comprehensively showing a brand's identity I have created a brand identity prism for Four Seasons Hotels and Resorts (shown in Figure 2), as this is the brand I have chosen to write about in the assignment for this course.

Figure 2: Brand Identity Prism Four Seasons

By examining the brand identity prism one can see that brand identity is characterized by internal as well as external factors that make a brand unique.

Another very creative way to illustrate a brand’s identity is to create a so called “brand driver”, consisting of nine pictures forming the brand’s identity. The brand driver shows images of an animal, a car, an icon, a symbol, a colour, a feeling, a piece of art, a celebrity and a material, all embodying the identity and the values of a chosen brand.

To get a better understanding of the use of a brand driver Figure 3 shows the brand driver that has been created for Four Seasons Hotels and Resorts. 

 Figure 3: Brand Driver Four Seasons

To illustrate Four Seasons's brand identity nine images have been chosen and will be expained below:

If Four Seasons would be…

·      An animal it would be a cheetah, because it is the most elegant animal amongst its fellows

·      A car it would be a Rolls Royce, because it is absolutely classy

·      An icon it would be a hotel concierge bell because it is all about service

·      A symbol it would be the tree shown in their logo

·      A colour it would be gold, the colour of luxury

·      A feeling it would be trust and reliability because this is what makes them stand out

·    A piece of art it would be “For Seasons” by Giuseppe Arcimboldo because it matches the brands name and explains the variety of Four Seasons Hotels

·      A celebrity it would be Brad Pitt because he is a great Businessmen with right values

·      A material it would be silk because it is of the highest quality. 
Source: von Flotow (2012). 

So in summary I would say that both frameworks, especially when they are used together, are a great way of illustrating brand identity, which, particularly in luxury, is very important because brand identity is the foundation of every brand and therefore decides about its success. 

References: 

Kapferer, J.N. and Bastien, V. (2009). The luxury strategy. Break the rules of marketing to build luxury brands.

London and Philadelphia: Kogan Page.

von Flotow, K. (2012). Four Seasons Air - a brand extension. London: European Business School.

Luxury & the Arts

Today I have visited an amazing event in London called „the frieze art fair“ and „the frieze masters“. The Frieze art fair is a fair in Regent‘s Park in London which has been going on for four days in October and presented 175 of the world‘s leading contemporary art galleries (Frieze London, 2012). The Frieze Masters, which was located within walking distance of the frieze art fair presented over 90 of the world‘s leading galleries, displaying art from ancient to modern times (Frieze Masters, 2012).

The reason I chose to write about this event is, that I have realized how important art is for the world of luxury brands as well as for the target customer of many luxury brands. Furthermore in my opinion art itself as well as buying and possessing arts has become a luxury.

When you look at the prices for modern as well as ancient art it becomes obvious that people buying art are people that have a high spending power. Furthermore most of them also buy art not only because it is nice and they are interested in arts but also as an investment.
Therefore by taking into consideration their spending power and their affectation for beautiful products one could assume that many of those people are also interested in buying other luxury products such as luxury fashion, cars, jewellery or services.

My research today has shown that a lot of the people visiting both art fairs do wear many status symbols and famous brands. Interestingly enough there was a distinction between the frieze art fair and the frieze masters exhibition as people at the frieze master seemed to be more concerned about understatement and class than people at the London frieze. This also proofs what I have mentioned earlier about different groups of luxury customers. Whereas many people at Frieze art were wearing Louis Vuitton bags, Alexander McQueens pieces and other very eye-catching and fashionable fashion items, people at frieze masters were wearing less in-your-face brands but remarkable good quality clothes such as cashmere coats, silk scarves and items from brands like Hermes and Louboutin (von Flotow, 2012).

What is thought was interesting as well, was the list of sponsors which included Deutsche Bank, COS, BMW, ArtFund, Pommery, Hyatt Regency London, Simmons&Simmons, The Royal Parks and James Cooper Speciality Papers. 

Source: von Flotow (2012)

Deutsche Bank, as the main sponsor, for example invited a selection of their customers to the event and also offered food and drinks for them in an extra tent. Furthermore there were certain VIP services, which were sponsored and carried out by companies such as BMW, who offered a VIP Shuttle, Quintessentialy, Illy and many more as you can see in the picture below (von Flotow, 2012). The Financial Times, as their media partner, offered free issues of their weekend newspaper, accompanied with a copy of their magazine "how to spend it", which targets high network individuals, hence people with “investable assets of more than $1m excluding primary residence” (Thomas, 2008).

 

Source for all images: von Flotow (2012)


Moreover both locations were equipped with different cafes and restaurants, all of them very posh and trendy. There was for example a champagne bar, a British artisan bakery, a Japanese sushi restaurant and a pizza bar (von Flotow, 2012). So even here instead of having cafeterias offering sandwiches and fast food as in many museums the target customer's desires were perfectly fulfilled by offering high standard and quality food and drinks in a nice atmosphere. 

But although today I have clearly realized that this exhibition targeted a very similar audience to many luxury brands, I also realized again that some artists or galleries are luxury brands themselves.

If you look at Damien Hirst for example, whose art pieces have been displayed in an amazing exhibition at Tate Modern earlier this year, one can say that he has managed to be recognised as a brand himself. Although he is seen controversial, his name is famous in the world of arts and through his name alone his art pieces sell for enormous sums.

But also if you look at art galleries such as Saatchi Gallery, London or auction houses such as Sotheby‘s or Christie‘s in the world of arts their names are equivalent to luxury brands.

http://rhinoreach.files.wordpress.com/2010/04/saatchigallery0011.jpg

References:

Frieze London (2012). Frieze Art Fair.
Available at: http://friezelondon.com/ (Accessed 12.10.2012).

Frieze Masters (2012). Frieze Masters.
Available at: http://friezemasters.com/ (Accessed 12.10.2012).

Thomas, D. (2008). World’s rich shrug off credit crunch.

Available at: http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/22d7b1aa-0eee-11dd-9646-0000779fd2ac.html#axzz2DixfJhOD (Accessed: 21.11.2012).

von Flotow, Katinka (2012). Images Frieze 14.10.2012. London: Regent's Park.

Service - a way to distinguish yourself from others

As this blog is not only about luxury and design - but about luxury in general - today I‘d like to talk about the importance of service for luxury brands as well as about my personal experience with service and luxury brands. When we talk about service the first thing that comes to our minds is a restaurant or a hotel, companies that belong to the so called „service industry“. But service is much more - service, in my opinion, can influence our perception of brands and can even make up for bad products or experiences.

One luxury brand that managed to impress me by its extraordinary service for example was the German caterer and delicatessen store Käfer, that is known worldwide. 

http://www.mediadesign.de/sites/default/files/Dateien/Karrierservice/logo_kaefer.png

When I went shopping there last week, first of all I was greeted with my name as soon as I entered the shop. Secondly the shop assistant at the bread counter remembered what I usually buy so he asked me whether I would like to buy „the usual“. And while I was walking round the shop with a heavy basket doing my shopping, a member of staff came to ask me whether he could collect my basket, bring it to the cash point and give me a new basket.
In today‘s world where most people are always in a rush and most food stores like Tesco do not even have cashiers anymore but machines for the checkout service elements like that in my opinion make the difference. Good service makes you feel welcome in a shop and gives your shopping experience a very personal and positive note. 

http://www.tfa.net/wp-content/uploads/2012/01/self-service-checkout.jpg

http://www.feinkost-kaefer.de/uploads/tx_templavoila/teaser_arbeitgeber.jpg

Another industry that is also very well influences by changes such as automation are airline companies. If you for example look at Easyjet or Ryanair you do get the service of the transport from one point to another but service wise that was it - you have to pay for your luggage as well as for your drinks, you do not get reserved seating and you are not even allowed to carry a handbag if you have another cabin luggage. More „luxurious“ airlines such as Lufthansa for example have very well understood, that service is crucial to maintain customer loyalty (Harrison, 2012). Although many steps such as the check in and the boarding are automated and carried out by machines rather than people - on board you get a great service longing from complimentary drinks and snacks on to the possibility of on-board shopping and watching movies. Furthermore their service for Business Class and First Class customers is outstanding - passengers can book flexible tickets so according to their meetings they can take a plane at the most convenient time for them, they can use the airport lounges which are for Business and First travellers only and are equipped with bars, lounges, free internet, newspapers and magazines. And to save them from queuing and waiting in a line for boarding they get picked up by luxury cars such as Porsche, so they can board the plane easily. On board they get great food, complimentary magazines and newspapers and when they arrive their luggage arrives in a fast line - so they do not have to wait for it.

http://reisebuch.de/uploads/pics/Ryanair_Boarding.jpg

http://a.abcnews.com/images/Travel/ht_lufthansa_car_070712_ssh.jpg

In my opinion providing good service and fulfilling the customers' needs is a way to distinguish yourself from other brands as well as other luxury brands (Harrison, 2012). Satisfied customers are very important because they are highly likely to stay loyal to your brand and can be expected to promote the brand through positive word of mouth.

References:

Harrison, John (2012). Managing Luxury Brands. The Service Model. London: European Business School. 

Being consistent in your brand DNA - the premise for success

As we have spoken about brand identity and the way brands communicate effectively in class today I would like to explore this topic in a little bit more detail and find a few examples to visualize the theory we have learned.
What is most obvious when we talk about the brand DNA of a luxury brand are its visual codes such as logotypes, visual symbols, brand color and typical materials. And obviously what is important as well is a brands name, the stores, their advertising as well as the online performance (Gossain, 2012).

Source: Chevalier & Mazzalovo (2008).

But although every single brand automatically has a Brand DNA it is crucial to be very, very consistent about this DNA. An example of a brand which is very successful in maintaining their brand DNA in my opinion is - again - Hermès.

  

When I think about Hermès the first thing that comes to my mind is "leather, equestrian, orange, french and silk". This is congruent with their history and brand identity as Hermès when it started in France in 1837 was an expert for leather goods especially for saddlery and carriages (Hermès, 2012). This historical fact can also be found in their logo, which shows a horse carriage. Although Hermès today still produces saddlery and equestrian goods, nowadays they are one of the world's most famous luxury brands, selling leather goods, fashion, jewellery and perfumes (Hermès, 2012). What is important though is that all of their products are related to horses - whether it is the design of the famous silk scarves, the bracelets, the bags, the ties or the store design. One example would be the hangers for ties in the shop - which look like stirrups. 

http://www.feelbeauty.ch/images/hermes_logo.gif

https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh9K-_dz2aIAl735OhEKKxPCB9qw_lQBY9plNOTvoaLiuCZ-qrNzkmQznuW_dZ9Dxk1wn077a1sMgFrmyMgUw2BhmAn4hYIKOmj2Nsq-wMX1YqrQk3suT2sCvkh0EBrJUcD8BZLtTwZYCZg/s1600/hermes+boxes.jpg

https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjkyeQvF9-VxFvHwBXOLjtWhxY_Hf5zI7BExTTgvQghgwoCHlh53Ho6CojQhnH8hF60XBS6HfB5YNrGB_7r8ZUjDgU3D7VZSTrqq9GUuoRP5iBYVSI6o4IP-N510lq3wQf5L7LNDe9POfQL/s1600/hermes_store_gq_8dec11_rex_b.jpg

http://media.onsugar.com/files/2011/04/14/2/749/7492301/e3df87f5a2dd2f6b_hermes_scarf_grey_horse.preview.jpg

http://zeitgeistandstuff.files.wordpress.com/2010/10/carrez_sameashorsehermes.jpg

Another fact that shows their great use of history and brand DNA for example was the naming strategy for their exhibition in London, which I have mentioned earlier on in this blog. The name "Forever leather" represents their core business, as well as their values, what they want us to believe in and their history - and therefore perfectly embodies their brand DNA. 

https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgj_ZffUiCkMzKO91OU4sELEw7nlz2pGcQ2Ju7s3zrmhhvRtvBx4yfM-N-JL5KO748K-1uGBqQf0HY0lLGrfUV6apC2TREP-_50jpNnZ5xBZwc4OOcncwhF-yb1QAk-gBLyNhTG63W_7_J8/s1600/Hermes+LeatherForever+London_JMVELARDI.jpg

And even if you look at their online performance, Hermès has managed to keep their identity perfectly well.

http://lesailes.hermes.com/gb/en/

http://uk.hermes.com/leisure/horse-ridding/for-the-rider.html

So all in all one can say that keeping in mind your brand DNA is crucial for being successful as a luxury brand.

References:

Chevalier, M. and Mattalovo, G. (2008). Luxury Brand Management, a world of privilege. Singapore: John Wiley & Sons. 

Hermès (2012). The history of Hermès. Available from: http://www.hermes.com/index_uk.html (Accessed 03.10.2012)

Gossain, S. (2012). Identifying a Brand's DNA. London: European Business School.