Burberry’s Reinventing Its Global equity.

The Spanish partner, for example, was

selling casual wear that bore no relationship to
Marketing
what was being designed in London. So long as
this state of affairs continued, Burberry would
Burberry, the icon British luxury apparel retailer
struggle to build a unified global brand.
founded in 1856 by Thomas Burberry and famed
Ahrendts’s solution was to start acquiring
for its trench coats and plaid-patterned
partners and/or buying back licensing rights in
accessories, has been on a roll in recent years. In
order to regain control over the brand. Hand in
the late 1990s, one critic described Burberry as
hand with this, she pushed for an aggressive
“an outdated business with a fashion cache of
expansion of the company’s retail store strategy.
almost zero.” But by 2016, Burberry was widely
The company’s core demographics under
recognized as one of the world’s premier luxury
Ahrendts remained the well-heeled, younger,
brands with a strong presence in many of the
fashion-conscious set. To reach this
world’s richest cities, some 500 retail stores,
demographic, Burberry has focused on 25 of the
about 10,800 employees, and revenues in excess
world’s wealthier cities. Key markets include
of $3.6 billion.
New York, London, and Beijing, which
Two successive American CEOs were behind
according to Burberry, account for more than half
Burberry’s transformation. The first, Rose Marie
the global luxury fashion trade. As a result of this
Bravo, joined the company in 1997 from Saks
strategy, the number of retail stores increased
Fifth Avenue. Bravo saw immense hidden value
from 211 in 2007 to 497 in 2015. Another aspect
in the Burberry brand. One of her first moves was
of Burberry’s strategy has been to embrace digital
to hire world-class designers to reenergize the
marketing tools to reach its tech-savvy customer
brand.
base. Indeed, there are few luxury brands
The company also shifted its orientation toward a
companies that have utilized digital technology as
younger, hipper demographic, perhaps best
aggressively as Burberry. Burberry has simulcast
exemplified by the ads featuring supermodel Kate
its runway shows in 3-D in New York, Los
Moss that helped to reposition the brand. By the
Angeles, Dubai, Paris, and Tokyo. Viewers at
time Bravo retired in 2006, she had transformed
home can stream the shows over the Internet and
Burberry into what one commentator called an
post comments in real time. Outerwear and bags
“achingly hip,” high-end fashion brand whose
are made available through “click and buy”
raincoats, clothes, handbags, and other
technology, with delivery several months before
accessories were must-have items for younger,
they reach the stores. Burberry had more than 17
well-heeled, fashion-conscious consumers
million Facebook fans as of 2016. At “The Art of
worldwide.
the Trench,” a company-run social media site,
Bravo was succeeded by Angela Ahrendts, whose
people can submit photos of themselves in the
career had taken her from a small town in Indiana
company’s icon rainwear. The global marketing
and a degree at Ball State University, through
strategy seems to be working. Between 2007 and
Warnaco and Liz Claiborne, to become the CEO
2016, revenues at Burberry increased from some
of Burberry at age 46. Ahrendts realized that for
$1.3 billion to $3.6 billion, and this increase also
all of Bravo’s success, Burberry still faced
happened against the background of a global
significant problems. The company had long
economic slowdown in the 2008-to-2010 period.
pursued a licensing strategy, allowing partners in
In April 2014, Angela Ahrendts was replaced as
other countries to design and sell their own
CEO by Christopher Bailey (Ahrendts took a
offerings under the Burberry label. This lack of
position as senior vice president of retail and
control over the offering was hurting its brand
online at Apple, Inc.). Bailey, with a heritage
from Halifax, United Kingdom, first started with
Burberry’s in May 2001 as a creative director.
One of the branding decisions that happened on
his creative director watch was to remove the
Burberry brand’s iconic check pattern from
virtually all Burberry products, leaving only 10
percent of the products with the famous check
pattern. He also masterminded the design of
Burberry’s largest store, 121 Regent Street in
London, United Kingdom, which opened in 2012
as a bricks-and-mortar incarnation of the brand’s
website.

Sources: S. Davis, “Burberry’s Blurred Lines:

The Integrated Customer Experience,” Forbes,
March 27, 2014; A. Ahrendts, “Burberry’s CEO
on Turning an Aging British Icon into a Global
Luxury Brand,” Harvard Business Review,
January-February 2013; Nancy Hass, “Earning
Her Stripes,” The Wall Street Journal, September
9, 2010; “Burberry Shines as Aquascutum
Fades,” The Wall Street Journal, April 17, 2010;
Peter Evans, “Burberry Sales Ease from
Blistering Pace,” The Wall Street Journal, April
17, 2010; “Burberry Case Study,” Market Line,
www.marketline.com.