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Burberry’s Digital Strategy

By donald sull , stefano turconi , sanam zanjani.

The case analyses how Burberry developed and executed a strategy centered on millennial consumers, British appeal and distinctive digital capabilities, transforming the sesquicentennial brand into an international luxury powerhouse. Burberry’s digital transformation was spearheaded by CEO Angela Ahrendts and Chief Creative Officer (CCO) Christopher Bailey. Between 2006 and 2014, the duo launched a multitude of initiatives, such as innovative social media campaigns, livestream fashion shows, and a new e-commerce platform, enabled by a state-of-the-art technological infrastructure and a closely connected organisational culture. When Ahrendts left to join Apple, Bailey assumed the position of CEO and CCO at Burberry. In May 2015, 10 months into his new dual role, Bailey prepared to report mixed results for the last financial year and reveal his plans to address the challenges presented by the changing competitive landscape.

Learning objectives

• Developing an actionable strategy.
• Quantifying and tracking strategy execution.
• Assessing whether a resource or a capability is strategically valuable.
• Integrating resources and capabilities to sustain performance.

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Burberry transforms customer experiences through digital innovation

January 19, 2021

By Nora Howe

Burberry is driving growth through inspired customer journeys, bridging the gap between digital channels and stores by leveraging digital technology.

During the National Retail Federation's Big Show digital conference on Jan. 14, vice president of digital technology at Burberry Rajeev Aikkara shared insight into the brand’s efforts to redefine customer experiences and enable cloud-based business agility. In conversation with global retail lead at Amazon Web Services Tom Litchford, they discussed different ways brands can leverage digital foundations for successful businesses.

“One thing is for sure and that is you cannot predict the future,” said Mr. Aikkara. “There is absolutely no way of knowing where things will go, so the number one priority is to build a digital structure and culture that is agile and nimble in nature.

“This is done by maintaining a drive for consistently creating elevated experiences for your customers, as well as by providing your colleagues with the right tools.”

Pioneering the digital space In partnership with the National Chamber of Italian Fashion , Altagamma recognized Burberry for exceptional digital offerings throughout 2020.

The brand was awarded for standing out for the most widespread presence on ecommerce platforms, both directly and by online retailers and luxury online department stores. Additionally, it expanded its online range and social media presence, and offered the most extensive content localization online and through email marketing ( see story ).

“When Instagram launched its commerce feature, they chose us as a launch partner because we were one of the few retailers who were able to switch over so quickly,” Mr. Aikkara said. “We had already built these APIs to allow for effortless integration in a matter of weeks, rather than months or years.

“When we look at the services we’ve launched and how our customers engage with them—whether they are through our website or ecommerce partnerships—engagement rates have been extremely encouraging,”

Especially with the onset of the global health crisis, brands have had to quickly strategize creative ways to maintain engagement from customers through the use of technology and digital innovation.

“The industry is going through profound changes,” Mr. Aikkara said. “We’re living in this era of consumer technology innovation moving at such a pace that is unprecedented in many ways.”

During the summer of 2020, Burberry promoted its Summer Monogram collection with several digital efforts from video games to collaborations with artists, reflecting an edgy way to connect with young audiences ( see story ).

“There are a number of patterns emerging from evolving innovation, all of which are bringing new opportunities and challenges,” Mr. Aikkara said. “First, expectations of customers are changing all the time and the bar is getting higher and higher for personalized experiences.

“Second, as technology changes, it also enables almost every aspect of business processes to be optimized,” he said. “And third, regulatory policies around the world are catching up with technological advancements.”

In February 2020, Burberry debuted an augmented reality shopping tool through Google Search technology to allow consumers to imagine the British fashion label’s products around them.

“Burberry has been a pioneer in the digital space, so even before the pandemic, we were already positioned to further accelerate that journey for customers using digital channels,” Mr. Aikkara said.

The AR tool allowed shoppers to experience Burberry products embedded in the environment around them, aiding their product discovery and shopping process online and through mobile devices ( see story ).

Towards the end of his conversation with Mr. Litchford, Mr. Aikkara touched on what the future of technology may hold for Burberry.

“One thing we are looking towards, in particular, is storytelling,” he said. “I think technologies like VR, AR, gaming are all going to open up new possibilities for storytelling.

“Additionally, we are aiming to transform the customer experience by focusing on connecting our physical and digital channels—this will be a big change in terms of how we utilize technology.”

Innovation and responsibility pay off Despite the challenges brought on by the pandemic, Burberry made good strategic progress in 2020.

In its HY 2020/2021 interim report, Burberry had a strong response to product   with marked increase in the weight of full-price channels year-over-year, showed growth in leather goods, attracted new and younger consumers and proved growth on digital ( see story ).

In November, the brand teamed up with English professional soccer player Marcus Rashford MBE for this initiative to nurture the next generation. Together, they pledged to support youth organizations and connect the community to those who are working to create a better future ( see story ).

“Digital transformation is not an easy thing, so in order to do it successfully, you must view it as a collective mission,” Burberry's Mr. Aikkara said. “It is a puzzle for the whole organization.

“Companies must also change their mindsets to accept that transformation is a continuous evolution—there is no concrete beginning and end."

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Rebranding Done Right: How Burberry Told a New Brand Story

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Much ink has been spilled, in print and otherwise, on Burberry’s comeback from what many branding experts thought was a mortal wound. In the 2000s, the brand became inextricably linked with “chav culture”, a pejorative stereotype of the British working class that sent sales plummeting . Burberry had been a brand for the country aristocrat; inextricably tied with genteel pursuits. When Burberry decided to turn things around, they didn’t try to go back to the country house. They capitalized on their history to rebrand—and tell a new brand story—as a fashion-forward, upscale and glamorous brand that epitomized contemporary Britain.

Burberry always had a sharp eye for marketing. Its’ founder, Thomas Burberry, worked hard to ensure that Victorian luminaries like Robert Baden-Powell wore Burberry gabardine weatherproofs. Burberry outfitted several explorers and daredevils, outfitting Ernest Shackleton’s Antarctic expedition. With the arrival of the First World War, Burberry outfitted British troops in a garment that was christened the “trench coat”.

Now firmly associated with the well-heeled outdoorsy set, the brand was assured of a posh, albeit staid, clientele. Burberry adopted a logo of a knight with the Latin motto “Prorsum”, meaning “forwards”.

As in many branding missteps, it had begun innocently enough. In 2001, they had hired the gifted Christopher Bailey away from Gucci’s womenswear division. Bailey had been key to injecting sex appeal into a conservative brand, making Kate Moss the face of Burberry. Burberry was suddenly, and unexpectedly, cool.

Looking to capitalize on their success, Burberry extensively licensed their products. It provided a cash injection, but opened the door to downmarket imitation. When Angela Ahrendts took over in 2008, the brand was in trouble.

Ahrendts said that one of her first jobs was to take back control of Burberry’s intellectual property . However, simply removing the chequer patterned fabric from dog beds wasn’t sufficient; Burberry needed a new story, and like all great storytellers, they started by understanding their audience. Burberry’s customers were now increasingly based overseas, with exploding demand in China. In order to take back their brand, they simply couldn’t turn back the clock. They needed to tell their story how they were moving forward, but in an authentic way that took the best aspects of the existing brand identity with them.

So, how did Burberry turn things around?

They embraced innovation.

Bailey cites Apple as the brand that inspires his conception of Burberry. Bailey, with Ahrendts’ support, moved Burberry aggressively into the digital space at a time when many design houses saw elaborate websites as liabilities. This sparked innovation. As the Telegraph reported:

‘Burberry in 2005 meant British and plaid,’ says Maureen Mullen, the director of research and advisory for L2, a think tank for digital innovation, which recently named Burberry the top-ranked brand in its Digital IQ Index for the second consecutive year. ‘That brand now, in the minds of consumers, means British, plaid – and innovation.’

Burberry embraced social media, livestreaming of fashion shows and digital engagement with consumers. The content that was generated energized rebranding efforts by showing Burberry in an aspirational context. Burberry even redesigned its Regent street store to reflect the burberry.com website, providing a seamless experience from digital to retail.

Their digital prowess became so admired that Ahrendts was eventually lured away from Burberry by Apple itself.

Brand content stuck close to key brand principles.

At Burberry’s website , history was lovingly curated with images in a mobile-friendly setup. To move confidently into the digital sphere, you need content. Kept scrupulously up-to-date, the timeline connected Burberry’s current campaigns with the highlights of the company’s past. Although the house chequer was limited to less than 10% of products, it still peeked out under shirt collars in advertising. Burberry’s contemporary marketing efforts were decidedly upmarket, using aristocratic models in the English countryside shot by Mario Testino. It was a fresh and irreverent throwback to their original fusty image that still emphasized Burberry’s sophisticated side.

Carefully curating their corporate history allowed Burberry to draw a clean line from their past exploits to their forward-thinking approach today. It brought the brand respectability and a sense of adventure. They also embraced their “Britishness”, employing young British actors, musicians and models and bringing their runway shows to London from Italy. Exploiting their history reinforced their brand alignment, but also underlined that they understood what they did well.

They were confident in their creative vision.

Burberry had reached an impasse with their brand not only because of their downmarket associations, but because they had not evolved their brand for some time prior to Bailey’s hiring. For all brands, creativity and evolution will continually refresh their brand. Ahrendts and Bailey agreed on a creative vision that leveraged the best of Burberry’s history, but was resolutely contemporary.

Their Latin motto, Prorsum (forward), seems ever more appropriate as Burberry, the brand, moves with audacity.

When even the Daily Mail is busy writing your obituary, it’s hard to feel confident. Burberry was successful in rebranding itself because it was determined to start fresh. That’s not to say that they jettisoned everything of their history. Instead, they leveraged it, moving to become a fashion powerhouse that finally began to be spoken of in terms of innovation and style.  Their Latin motto, Prorsum (forward), seems ever more appropriate as Burberry, the brand, moves with audacity.

Even if you’re not passionate about high fashion, there is much to learn by following Burberry’s brand story refresh. A high level of comfort with innovation allowed rebranding to stretch beyond shaking off uncomfortable perceptions to become truly forward-facing.

Want more? Read about how fashion brands leverage their archives on social media , or read ECHO Storytelling Agency founder Samantha Reynolds’ take on why authenticity is the Holy Grail for your brand . 

Got a case of fuzzy brand story? Get started with these 7 Storytelling Resources You Need to Clarify Your Brand Story,  learn more about our Brand Story Consulting services , or get in touch by email at [email protected] or by phone at 1-877-777-3246, and we’ll be more than happy to help. 

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How Burberry’s Digital Transformation is Driven By Consumer Experience

Burberry can’t predict the future, but it can build an agile, nimble architecture and culture to be ready for it. So, how is this iconic brand leveraging digital transformation to accomplish this and drive growth? According to its VP of digital technology Rajeev Aikkara, Burberry has remained focused on redefining and elevating the consumer experience.

According to Aikkara during NRF 2021, “The industry has been going through profound changes, even before 2020.” We live in this era of consumer technology that already was moving at an unprecedented pace (through the internet, mobile and social media platforms, for example).

Even before the global health pandemic hit, you could see patterns emerge from the speed of tech:

• It is consumer-led. The bar is being set higher and higher through personalized, elevated experiences .
• The technology changes have enabled any aspect of business processes to be optimized, more efficient, more agile, and nimble.
• The regulatory policies all over the world are still catching up with these technologies, bringing challenges along the way.

Most businesses (unless they are a brand-new startup) also have a legacy suite of some sort within their tech, process, etc. Considering all this, Aikkara poses the question: How do we make sure we’re adapting, making use of technology, making use of the power of brand (digital story of the brand) – consistently, in order to get to a place to provide consumers with an elevated and personalized experience?

Fortunately for Burberry, the brand has always been a pioneer in the space of digital according to Aikkara. He notes that the company was in a good place to further accelerate that journey for consumers who are using digital channels, and it was already moving to get all its physical channels connected with those digital ones.

Regardless of the channel, Burberry has turned to the cloud in order to remain agile. And, while it is driven by its consumers to elevate their experiences, Aikkara explains that this drive also has to provide colleagues with the best tools to serve those consumers as well.

Quite often companies make the mistake of having a good website, but the marketer has an inferior solution for example – so you want to make sure that you can adapt, and part of that is making sure all your team members have all the right tools, he adds. “Have a good stack of data and analytics that you can use to serve the consumer and serve your colleagues.”

Some other advice offered includes:

-- Time and money are limited, so you must figure out how to balance your best on what you get from your legacy system, and where to go for a new piece of tech, where to focus your engineers, and where to buy off-the-shelf solutions (Saas). Burberry believes in owning the full consumer experience, so its engineers focus on building a great website as well as the integration from out of the box, cloud tools from various vendors for example. That way, they make sure everything is integrated well to provide a unique experience for consumers that also can be localized.

-- IT used to be a big expense that oftentimes would cause great repercussions if it failed. Now, IT is talked about as a shorter conversation … meaning you can fail smaller and try new things faster. “It’s a collaborative, cross-functional, consumer-obsessed, data-driven approach,” Aikkara says. This will succeed more than operating in silos.

-- When approaching the creation of your foundation, figure out where the most friction is being caused, and go attack that with the technology. You don’t want to have too many failures in your checkout funnel. That’s the place where customer is ready to give you money, so you can’t have the credit card function failing. Whereas, when it comes to the user experience for example, you need to experiment a lot so you can learn.

“Be clear on this distinction – make sure the operational functions are robust and working well. Whereas when it comes to the experimental place, make sure you’re allowed to do that with technology as well as culture (where you can ideate),” says Aikkara, but he warns, “Be careful about not overcomplicating things.”

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Burberry's blurred lines: the integrated customer experience.

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During a keynote talk I delivered in London last week, I was asked the question: “What brands really ‘get it’ when it comes to customer experience today?” This wasn’t a naïve question. It came from one of the 100 senior marketers from the strongest global brands in the world. The question extends beyond great digital customer journeys—Zappos, Peapod, Travelocity or AirBnB— and great physical customer spaces— Nordstrom , BMW, Southwest or Virgin.

What company has so seamlessly integrated its online and offline experience that it never feels like two different companies? I’m looking right at Burberry.

Sure, Nike has combined its products and digital applications into a singular holistic experience, allowing you to track your athletic endeavors big and small, and Dove and Tide drive as many consumers to the website as they do to the shelves they live on. The Cosmopolitan Hotel in Las Vegas helps you feel like you’re there even when you are shivering in Chicago, while AMC’s The Walking Dead allows you to participate in the zombie apocalypse online while your heroes take care of “live” walkers on Sunday nights.

But the brand that is truly doing the best right now at blurring the physical and digital worlds is Burberry.

The historic transformation of Burberry is well documented in many interviews, case studies and the like, including HBR’s “Burberry’s CEO on Turning an Aging British Icon into a Global Luxury Brand.” In a nutshell, Burberry underwent a seven- year transformation from an underperforming, marginalized, over-licensed, decentralized brand, to becoming one of the most beloved and valuable luxury brands in the world, tripling sales in five years. It transformed from a stodgy, beige trench coat company to one of the leading voices on trends, fashion, music and beauty, all while redefining what a world class customer experience should be, digitally and physically.

Angela Ahrendts , CEO of Burberry and soon-to-be head of Apple Retail , articulated this best when describing Burberry’s London flagship store. "Burberry Regent Street brings our digital world to life in a physical space for the first time, where customers can experience every facet of the brand through immersive multimedia content exactly as they do online. Walking through the doors is just like walking into our website. It is Burberry World [ their website ] Live." Chief Creative Officer/Brand Czar (and incoming CEO) Christopher Bailey also recently declared that Burberry is as much a content-driven company as it is a leading fashion icon.

I will leave the rest of the storytelling to others, but what Burberry has done with its customer experience is definitely worth teasing out. Where do great brand-driven customer experiences start? Here are five steps to consider, using Burberry to illustrate each:

Declare what your brand will stand for . This one was easy for Burberry’s new leadership team, led by Ahrendts back in 2006. It all tied to getting back to the glamorous fashion roots that had movie stars and the rich and famous in the 50s and 60s proudly showing off their Burberry trench coat and, in effect, selling the coat for the company—what we call “earned media” today. Trench coats represented less than 20% of their sales in 2006 and the “coat as fashion” trend exploded in the mid-2000s. Harking back to the romance of Burberry in a modern world became the brand’s mantra, and “being the leading, globally relevant, luxury British brand” became the brand’s aspiration. When you choose very purposeful words like leading, globally, relevant, luxury and British, you have, in effect, chosen the hallmarks of what your experience has to deliver upon.

Choose a target wisely . When Burberry began to relaunch their brand and truly own their new positioning, it would have been easy to choose the middle-aged man who probably already owned an old trench coat as a target. If they had gone that route, though, 2% annual growth would have continued to be the norm.

However, Ahrendts and Bailey broke free of tradition and declared they would build a brand, product and experience aimed at Millennials. Bailey stated, "Most of us are very digital in our daily lives now. Burberry is a young team, and this is instinctive to us. To the younger generation who are coming into adulthood now, this is all they know." While it can be unfair to group them all together, more often than not Millennials are the influencers, tastemakers, official critics and reviewers in society today. They also happen to be incredibly brand loyal as a collective whole, with an increasingly attractive level of disposable income. If delivered well, this target would pay dividends to Burberry for years to come.

Design an experience that delivers your brand promise to the target audience . Once the first two objectives were in order, developing an experience became directionally straightforward. It’s not a simply a matter of fixing broken links in the customer journey, it is about understanding the customers’ needs and motivations and designing an experience that best meets that need. For the most part, high-end fashion had been about the fashion house telling you what the latest fashions were and ordering you to like it/buy it.

Burberry looked at the target customer and realized that Millennials are more influenced by peers than by anything that a fashion house might have to say. And discovery, advocacy and sharing among communities do a lot of the heavy lifting of brand-building. While a company can make a potential customer aware of its brand, current consumers and advocates help sell it.

One customer journey innovation is Burberry’s The Art of The Trench , described as “a living celebration of the Burberry trench coat and the people who wear it.” This platform successfully positions the customer as a hero, and provides a forum for him or her to proudly show off their trench coats and individual styling via selfies posted on Instagram or Pinterest. Thousands of selfies have been posted, with comments, likes and dislikes and the opportunity to shift any one of those pictures into a purchase.

Burberry also recognized that music is so interwoven into customers’ lives that it created Burberry Acoustic , a platform for new British bands looking to get a break. A few years ago, you might have seen Jake Bugg before he made it big or The Daydream Club posting videos on the Burberry Acoustic website that streamed to Burberry stores around the world. Burberry’s authentic dedication to giving young British bands an opportunity to break through, using all of its multi-media platforms, is not only on-brand but plays right into the Millennial sweet spot of getting access to music in unique and innovative ways.

Create a branded experience, branded signature touchpoints and the organizational alignment to empower employees to bring the brand to life in unique and surprising ways.

Online, Burberry created Burberry Bespoke , which allows you to design your own customized coat by choosing from hundreds of different options, from the buttons on the outside to the lining in the inside. In the store, many products are lined with an RFID tag that, when triggered, will launch a video about its craftsmanship. A dress taken into the changing room may trigger a runway video showing this jacket/dress combination on a model.

Can’t afford a Burberry jacket yet? How about throwing a Burberry Kiss to a loved one? Burberry Kisses is a collaboration with Google that allows users to kiss their touch screens and send their lip prints to loved ones—no purchase necessary. It’s a valuable entry point that whets consumer appetites that will be satisfied immediately or down the road with a Burberry purchase. Music and kisses are free of charge and build good will for a loyal customer down the road.

Internally, Burberry invests in organizational alignment and brand engagement, sending out monthly webcasts, weekly videos and previews of ad campaigns before they launch. According to Ahrendts, "Knowledge is power. So the more the associates know about the strategy, about what's coming, the better. Everyone talks about building a relationship with your customer. I think you build one with your employees first."

Continue to innovate the experience and the brand

Last Fall Burberry launched its first ever men’s cologne called Burberry Brit Rhythm in a totally non-traditional way—through global music events and digital media. “Inspired by the energy of live music” helped propel Rhythm to become one of Burberry’s most successful new product launches.

And in January, Burberry launched The Burberry Beauty Box in Covent Garden, a new concept space where shoppers can enjoy an exclusive collection of beauty products and accessories. Inside, you can go to the Digital Nail Bar to help virtually select the right nail shade for your skin tone while Burberry Acoustic music is playing in the background and a Millennial sales person helps you put together your perfect Burberry Gift Box .

I wonder if, for just one day, we can rename Burberry to Blurberry, to teach others how to get it right?

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Burberry’s CEO on Turning an Aging British Icon into a Global Luxury Brand

• Angela Ahrendts

Photography: Getty Images The Idea: Before Angela Ahrendts became Burberry’s CEO, licensing threatened to destroy the brand’s unique strengths. The answer? Centralize design and focus on innovating core heritage products. When I became the CEO of Burberry, in July 2006, luxury was one of the fastest-growing sectors in the world. With its rich history, centered […]

Reprint: R1301A

As her top 60 executives arrived in London for the first strategic planning meeting after Ahrendts took the helm, she noticed that not one of them was wearing a Burberry trench coat, despite the damp, gray weather. It was a sign of the challenges the company faced. Even in a burgeoning global market, Burberry was growing at only 2% a year. It had lost focus in the process of global expansion: Each of the 23 licensees around the world was doing something different. Ubiquity was robbing the brand of its luster.

Ahrendts realized that if Burberry was going to be a great, pure, global luxury brand, it needed to have one design director—a “brand czar”—and it needed to capitalize on its historical core: the trench coat. The company decided to innovate at the core to attract the luxury customers of the future: millennials.

• Angela Ahrendts is the CEO of Burberry.

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Case study: When science meets luxury: How Burberry is reinventing leadership, powered by their past

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The past few years have been filled with unprecedented challenges. The pandemic and global recovery fundamentally changed the way we work, and many companies are still struggling to navigate the new normal.

Burberry is meeting these challenges head-on, by doing what it does best: innovate. 

As well as pioneering new experiences for their customers, the luxury brand is also using a trailblazing approach to nurturing leaders through science-based learning and development. 

A close-knit industry stretched to its limits  

Leadership has always been critical to a company’s success, but it is getting harder as the pace of change accelerates. That’s why 70 percent of managers across different industries say they feel overworked and overstressed.

For leaders in fashion, the shift to remote working posed a unique and profound challenge. 

Behind every fashion show, launch or event, there is a global team of event managers, marketers, logistics experts, legal specialists, designers, stylists and other creatives who work, hand-in-hand for weeks at a time, to transform ideas into masterpieces. 

As lockdowns swept across the world, closing offices, shops and studios, once close-knit teams were now far apart, and luxury retailers were forced to accelerate the growth of their ecommerce channels. 

With hard deadlines still to hit, managers were tasked with sparking the same magical energy of face-to-face teamwork through Zoom chats and Slack messages — during a growing public health crisis. 

Give leaders the freedom to flourish  

Amid the uncertainty sparked by the pandemic and the fluid changes to the business landscape, Burberry launched its purpose and values inspired by its illustrious history and pioneering founder Thomas Burberry. 

Thomas founded Burberry at just 21 years old in 1856, designing clothes to protect people from the British weather. For over 160 years, the brand has empowered pioneers and explorers to discover new spaces.

Whether designing trench coats or building L&D programs, Burberry aims to empower others through abundant creativity to grow beyond their boundaries and expectations. 

Empowering leaders’ growth and development 

The onset of COVID and the launch of Burberry’s new purpose and values presented an opportunity for the company to provide a more consistent leadership development experience.

To equip their senior leaders with the critical skills to help them thrive, Burberry joined forces with behavioral science specialists MindGym to enhance their Executive Development Program this year. 

Together, the global cohort of emerging executives discover science-backed ideas, tools and concepts through a series of live, digital and personalized learning experiences — to provide a consistent, impactful experience that could slip smoothly into the hectic schedules of the modern leader. 

Catherine Finley, vice president of talent and learning at Burberry, says the flexible, bite-size nature of the sessions allows leaders to learn within the flow of their working day. 

“Our product is our lifeblood, so we have to be flexible around our show calendar. We also want to ensure learning grounds us in our values to achieve our strategic ambition while being practical and accessible to our leadership community,” Finley says. “I think the learning experience for us is well-balanced. It gets into the depth of the science behind leadership and learning with dynamic facilitators — with practical, impactful actions that participants could do in between.” 

Beyond just teaching the core competencies of leadership, the program goes a step further by helping leaders to unlock the power of “attunement” — the critical meta-skill the world’s most successful leaders use to consistently get the big decisions right in difficult, ever-evolving circumstances. 

Kristin Bagnetto, director of global learning and development at Burberry, says it has offered a valuable opportunity for executives to reflect together on how they can grow.  To date, 90 percent of participants rated the EDP workshops from “Very good” to ‘Excellent.”

“It’s been beneficial for the leaders to have this unique, productive space to openly discuss their leadership challenges. I have heard from several in the cohort that it’s been an enlightening and validating experience, as they’ve learned that many share the same goals and challenges,” Bagnetto says.

“It also encourages leaders to think, ‘OK, given the circumstances, what do we do about these challenges? How do we move past them?’ They feel empowered as a group, and then they turn collective ideas into individual action through coaching — which has been extremely exciting to see.”    

Science-backed coaching turns learning into action 

Dedicated one-to-one coaching is a crucial part of EDP that makes the learning truly stick. 

Using MindGym’s Performa platform, each person works with their own “precision” coach to address specific leadership challenges they are experiencing — from improving communication to making more inclusive decisions — and master the art of attunement to steer their teams to success. 

The Performa platform is based on a science-based precision coaching methodology that combines solution-focused coaching, mastery-oriented learning and behavior enablement to set up leaders to hit their goals quickly and unblock the pathway to sustainable behavior change. 

Through precision coaching, Burberry’s participants report a 70 percent increase in their ability to attain their goals.

“The formula for this new approach to EDP is working successfully because it follows up the live virtual learning with one-to-one coaching, where you can practically apply what you’ve learned with an added layer of guidance and accountability,” Bagnetto says. “We have heard delightful stories from the cohort, who have made great strides in just three or four sessions. They’ve quickly identified their leadership challenge, made and executed a game plan with their coach and are seeing real-time results.” 

EDP is the first of a growing pipeline of new, science-backed L&D initiatives at Burberry, with more programs in the works. 

Combining creativity and science, Burberry is leading the way for developing world class leaders equipped for today’s volatile business world.

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How Burberry reclaimed its brand by selling luxury, content and a piece of history

As a silent activist of simple design, I always thought of the beige Burberry trench as the perfect apparel piece. Luxury brand Burberry’s Weekend fragrance also happened to be my first bottle of ‘grown-up’ perfume as a teenager, which I loved and used sparingly, for special occasions. Passing the Burberry HQ on my way to work often lifts up my spirits. Maybe it’s just about being in proximity to an icon.

The first time I was convinced of Burberry as an innovator was after noticing its video ads. Take a look at this one, wouldn’t you want this to be a full length movie?

Burberry’s charm was a result of the most intensive business, brand, product, and marketing strategy overhaul in luxury. 

Burberry was on the brink of being forgotten in 2005, with a growth rate of just 2% per year in a booming luxury market. The genericness of its products put off the cult following. They were even designed in different studios worldwide for each market due to a wide licensing model. The trademark Nova check was being used on everything from hats to dog accessories(!) and became associated with ‘low culture’ in Europe. Knocking off the check was not too difficult either.

In 2006, newly appointed CEO, American executive Angela Ahrendts oversaw a complete transformation of Burberry using the right set of business and marketing strategies. Within six years, Burberry doubled its revenue (despite a financial crisis).

Hint? Some inspiration from technology companies like Apple and Google. Let’s dig deeper.

A recap – why should you read on?

Founded by 21-year-old Thomas Burberry in 1856, the iconic British luxury brand came from humble beginnings in making outdoor attire from Basingstoke in England.

Burberry is credited with inventing gabardine in 1879, a water-resistant yet sturdy fabric, which has since been immortalized in ‘the trench coat’ . 

According to Wikipedia, “the trench coat was born during the First World War due to it being worn by British officers in the trenches.” 

From the 1920s to the sixties, Burberry dressed explorers on expeditions, the well off and movie stars in its outdoor attire.

From the 70s to the 90s, the brand grew fast, with expanding lines to suits, trousers, shirts, sportswear, accessories, for men, ladies, and children. 

Today, the Burberry trench coat is a timeless must-have; from New York to New Delhi. 

How did Burberry turn its fate around in the mid-2000s? Lessons learnt :

Making the burberry experience consistent.

Ahrendts made the first change by centralizing the design process. In a Harvard Business Review article, she recalls going around the US, UK, and Hong Kong to see what the design teams created and what the stores looked like. 

As part of its rejuvenated business strategy, Burberry’s each store had a completely different layout, price bracket, style, and range of products. The American market was getting classic British trench coats with a ‘Made in the U.S.A.” label, sold at half price compared to Europe. In Hong Kong, the collection was shirts with checks, no trench coat in sight.

From Apple to Starbucks, I love the consistency—knowing that anywhere in the world you can depend on having the same experience in the store or being served a latte with the same taste and in the same cup. That’s great branding. Angela Ahrendts, CEO of Burberry (2006-2014)

To gain back its stature, Christopher Bailey was appointed as the Creative Director in 2004. Later in 2006, anything that the customer saw would have to pass through his office in the London headquarters. All weaving of the gabardine fabric and manufacturing of heritage trench coats was moved to the U.K. 

From then on, Bailey went on to oversee products that represented Burberry’s new, fresh face with colors and patterns to match.

Kill your darlings 

Burberry’s overseen, overused check was the brand’s trademark but it needed to go. Since it was on almost everything and was cheaply available , it came to be associated with lower class Brits. You could see it on kilts, dog leashes, ties, scarves, and many products that don’t warrant a triple dollar price.

It’s no surprise. The ultimate nightmare for any luxury brand is to become ‘mass’ and widely available. Would you dream of owning a Rolex if the bracelet band was separately available to buy for $30? Probably not. Do Check out “ What brand strategy of Rolex ensured its success? “

In the mid-2000s, the brand removed the use of the trademark check from all its products except just 10% and regained its exclusivity.

Take risks, target millennials and embrace digital 

Even though the commission would be much better than selling shirts, the sales teams were clueless on how to sell a $1000 luxury coat.

With videos to demonstrate Burberry craftsmanship, the sales team became equipped with iPads and were educated on the brand. To show this content the stores were given audiovisual technology.

Burberry understood what made millennials tick and went after them while their competitors dismissed the generation altogether.

Online, Burberry was one of the first luxury players to create a single website that showcased the brand’s offerings with movies, music, and storytelling. The brand also partnered with Google for an interactive campaign. It used digital shows and virtual experiences to capture the visitors’ attention.

The content strategy connected to its new customers. More people visit the Burberry platform in a week than all of its global stores combined.

Tell a story 

When you buy a luxury product, you don’t just buy it for its intended use. You buy it for its history, heritage, and quality. 

The Chanel 2.55 bag is the perfect example of this. 

Career women all over the world want to own the 2.55 quilted Chanel shoulder bag. Why’s that? Coco Chanel was the first to create a luxury bag that rested on the shoulder rather than carried in the hand. The bag isn’t just practical, it represents the freedom of women as they entered the workplace. That’s why the bag costs upwards of $4000 today. You pay a premium for the story. Building a legacy: Chanel’s Luxury Marketing Strategy

By reinforcing its place in the luxury world as a true British heritage brand, Burberry regained its prominence. It represented brave officers going to the frontiers in World War I. It was the brand that dressed explorer Roald Amundsen on his journey to becoming the first man to reach the South Pole. When A. E. Clouston and Betty Kirby-Green broke the world record for the fastest return flight from London to Cape Town, it was in a sponsored airplane named ‘The Burberry’.

With time, the trench coat became the core product again. It currently exists in over 300 styles in a plethora of colors, materials, and silhouettes. Burberry routinely hosts grand fashion shows often with live music by British musicians and a full-blown orchestra.

Fun fact: Burberry is known for only using British models in its campaigns. 

The brand went on to attain 60% of its revenue from apparel where outerwear contributed to half of that by 2012. 

Let’s wrap this around

Burberry is a luxury brand, b ut the lessons in marketing & business strategy its overhaul brought could be applied to any brand looking to innovate in its space. The brand opened 132 stores in a short time span by identifying markets with this question: is this a city where two competitors exist already? If yes, it was a good incentive to set up shop. In 2016, 77% of sales came from its own stores. 

When luxury giants were shying away from becoming ‘too accessible’ via tech, Burberry grew by rethinking its branding and taking strides in digital. The once cliché brand is now commonly referred to as “the innovator” . And it’s arguably the only British heritage brand known worldwide.

Burberry is now as much a media-content company as we are a design company. Christopher Bailey, Chief Creative Officer (2009 – 2014), CEO (2014 – 2017), Burberry

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Vona Roberta is a digital marketer and fashion journalist with global experience across fashion, sustainability, and content. She has formerly contributed to Elle and Conde Nast in India and Europe. She was also the youngest executive team member at two of India's biggest fashion retail events. On lighter days, she likes to visit the latest art exhibit, read books on business and practice yoga or boxing (depending on the caffeine level!).

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Burberry: Digitizing Luxury Retail with Machine Learning

Advances in machine learning (ML) are tilting the playing field in consumer retail. On the one hand, tech-savvy pioneers like Amazon and Glossier are leveraging ML to captivate Millennials and Gen Z consumers with ever more engaging and personalized online shopping experiences. On the other, traditional retail brands, especially luxury labels, hesitate to embrace ecommerce for fear of losing their exclusive, white-glove service experiences delivered through the brick-and-mortar channel. Using Burberry as a case study, this article discusses why luxury retail brands must develop a robust ecommerce strategy to stay relevant, and how leveraging ML can help them win over online shoppers without diluting brand equity.

Positioning Luxury Retail for a Digital Future

The world is becoming increasingly digital. Luxury retail is no exception. By 2025, nearly 20% of luxury sales will occur online, and 80% of the purchase decisions will be influenced digitally 1 (Exhibit 1). Tech-savvy Millennial and Gen Z consumers will account for 45% of the global luxury market then 2 . Research on purchasing behavior of this group suggests that their key purchase criteria include: personalization, resonance with brand value, and experience over possession 3 . These trends hold two important implications for the future of luxury retail. First, having a robust ecommerce presence will not be optional, but a must-have. Second, to win, brands must not only know a great deal about their consumers, but they must also translate that consumer knowledge into products and services that are personalized, responsive and relatable . This is where ML comes into play.

Machine Learning in Retail

In its simplest form, ML algorithms identify patterns in large datasets and use them to generate predictions. In the world of retail, the most common applications are personalized product recommendations and marketing campaigns. Amazon generates 35% of total sales from personalized recommendations 4 , which are created based on browsing and purchase histories of both the individual shoppers and those with similar shopping patterns. Similarly, digitally-native beauty brand Glossier mines fan comments on its beauty blog to inform new product development and launch decisions 5 . Tumi, a high-end luggage brand, uses ML to customize its outbound marketing campaigns (e.g., emails and 1-on-1 chats) based on a connected database of emails, social media activities and browsing across the web 6 . Across these businesses, ML creates a competitive advantage in how they acquire, retain and increase lifetime value of consumers.

Burberry: A Case Study

Pathways to Just Digital Future

Whereas most luxury brands hesitate to fully embrace digital, Burberry has made deliberate decisions to invest in and integrate ML into its digital strategy.

Since 2006, the British fashion label has been offering data-driven personalized product recommendations, both online and in-store 7 . These programs had allegedly led to 50% increase in repeat purchases by 2015. Burberry launched Facebook chatbots during the 2016 London Fashion Week. Like Amazon’s Alexa, these “smart assistants” offered dynamic 1-on-1 interactions with patrons, with key functionalities including selling products from the latest collection and showing behind-the-scene inspirations 8 . Though rudimentary, the chatbot exhibited abilities to respond to user-generated phrases beyond pre-set buttons, indicating integration of natural language processing capabilities (See Screenshot in Exhibit 2).

Looking ahead, continuous improvements to the ML algorithms require large amounts of high quality training data. To elicit voluntary data sharing from its online community, Burberry has developed an advanced data platform integrated with Facebook and Twitter, to which consumers are encouraged to upload photos of themselves in Burberry products 9 . These data will enable the brand to further customize the products and experiences they offer. For the longer term, Burberry has announced plans to continue investing in ML across front- and back-end functions. The company’s SVP of IT discussed plans to use ML to automate supporting functions (e.g., development and operations, testing), improve scenario modeling for planning and logistics, and improve security and fraud prevention through ML applications 10 .

Beyond these planned initiatives, I would argue there is space for Burberry to think outside the box even more with regards to potential ML applications. Some considerations below:

• Ideation: Similar to Glossier, use user-generated data to guide and inform new product development pipeline.
• Immersive ecommerce: Combine chatbot technology with VR/AR applications to create a 100% personalized, immersive digital store, where virtual shopping assistants can replicate the in-store service experience for consumers at home.
• Full product personalization: Based on personal dimensional data and expressed historical preferences, create demos of unique, individually-designed products. Offer exclusively to high-spenders. Produce on a made-to-order basis.
• Supply chain management: Forecast demand at the SKU level to limit inventory pressure and better manage vendor relationships. Wayfair has demonstrated success in this regard 11 .
• Pricing: Pricing is another obvious area of ML application. However, since luxury brands generally adopt a no-discount strategy, I would deprioritize this lever.

In light of the trends and ideas suggested so far, the following questions merit more thought:

• How should luxury retail brands decide whether to develop ML capabilities in-house or outsource to a 3 rd party? If outsourced, how to mitigate concerns about data privacy (both to protect consumers and to preserve brands’ competitive advantage)?
• How to accelerate the process of data collection for training and improving algorithms without compromising data quality (e.g., personal, interconnected, comprehensive, accurate)?

Word count: 741

References:

1. Achille, A., Marchessou, S. and Remy, N. (2018).  Luxury in the age of digital Darwinism . [online] McKinsey & Company. Available at: https://www.mckinsey.com/industries/retail/our-insights/luxury-in-the-age-of-digital-darwinism [Accessed 10 Nov. 2018].

2. D’Arpizio, C. (2018).  Spring Luxury Update . [online] Bain. Available at: https://www.bain.com/about/media-center/press-releases/2017/global-personal-luxury-goods-market-expected-to-grow-by-2-4-percent/ [Accessed 10 Nov. 2018].

10. AI Business. (2018).  Where are Burberry with AI? Exclusive Interview with David Harris, SVP of IT . [online] Available at: https://aibusiness.com/where-are-burberry-with-ai-exclusive-interview-with-david-harris-svp-of-it/ [Accessed 10 Nov. 2018].

3. Woo, A. (2018).  Understanding The Research On Millennial Shopping Behaviors . [online] Forbes. Available at: https://www.forbes.com/sites/forbesagencycouncil/2018/06/04/understanding-the-research-on-millennial-shopping-behaviors/ [Accessed 10 Nov. 2018].

4. MacKenzie, I., Meyer, C. and Noble, S. (2018).  How retailers can keep up with consumers . [online] McKinsey & Company. Available at: https://www.mckinsey.com/industries/retail/our-insights/how-retailers-can-keep-up-with-consumers [Accessed 10 Nov. 2018].

5. Milnes, H. (2018).  How Glossier uses data to make content and commerce work . [online] Digiday. Available at: https://digiday.com/marketing/glossier-uses-data-make-content-commerce-work/ [Accessed 10 Nov. 2018].

6. Milnes, H. (2018).  How Tumi is using AI in marketing campaigns, online and in stores . [online] Digiday. Available at: https://digiday.com/marketing/tumi-using-ai-marketing-campaigns-online-stores/ [Accessed 10 Nov. 2018].

7. Marr, B. (2018).  The Amazing Ways Burberry Is Using Artificial Intelligence And Big Data To Drive Success . [online] Forbes. Available at: https://www.forbes.com/sites/bernardmarr/2017/09/25/the-amazing-ways-burberry-is-using-artificial-intelligence-and-big-data-to-drive-success/ [Accessed 10 Nov. 2018].

8. Maruti Techlabs. (2018).  Chatbots as your Fashion Adviser . [online] Available at: https://www.marutitech.com/chatbots-as-your-fashion-adviser/ [Accessed 10 Nov. 2018].

9. Mittal, S. (2018).  How To Leverage Digital Tech To Drive Revenue Growth . [online] Forbes. Available at: https://www.forbes.com/sites/forbescommunicationscouncil/2018/10/02/how-to-leverage-digital-tech-to-drive-revenue-growth/ [Accessed 10 Nov. 2018].

11. Supply Chain 247. (2018).  Machine Learning Steps Up Retail Performance . [online] Available at: https://www.supplychain247.com/paper/machine_learning_steps_up_retail_performance [Accessed 10 Nov. 2018].

Student comments on Burberry: Digitizing Luxury Retail with Machine Learning

I believe that Burberry should develop ML capabilities in-house. The retail landscape is drastically changing and digitization and personalization are necessary to compete in the market. Since this skill set is something that will be imperative to Burberry’s success in the future, I think they need to invest in bringing talent in-house that can help give them a competitive advantage. This reminds me a lot of Walmart’s decision to buy digitally native companies such as Bonobos and Jet.com. Walmart realized they needed to embrace e-commerce in order to succeed and so they acquired digitally native e-commerce companies—they then can learn from these companies about their e-commerce strategies and apply them to Walmart. Outsourcing the ML job may help in the short term, but for long term success I would advocate for in-house ML at Burberry.

Great article Charlotte – and the question you posed regarding whether to develop ML in house is really interesting. I would argue that Burberry should invest now in developing capabilities to develop ML in-house as opposed to outsourcing. Two reasons – first, the Company would be able to react real time to data as it flows in, and developing the ML muscle will allow the company to utilize the algorithm and data collected more effectively. Second, more than ever, competitors are trying to gain an edge on collecting the right data to improve their customer segmentation and increase revenues; the possibility of outsourced ML data falling into the wrong hands is not worth the risk.

Regarding your second question, I do think quality is incredibly important, especially to a luxury retail brand. Accuracy of the data is also key, as these luxury retail houses don’t subscribe to constant change in styles and collections that are created in a Fall or Spring collection have much slower turnovers. Burberry’s margin of error that it can afford is much smaller than those of fast fashion houses as well. I would encourage Burberry to focus on increasing accuracy and quality over speed instead of finding ways to accelerate ML data collection.

Charlotte – I really enjoyed reading this article. It is clear that is has been very beneficial for Burberry to integrate ML into its digital strategy, and you laid out a clear and convincing argument. In response to your second question regarding accelerating the process of data collection vs. maintaining high data quality, I would argue that the Company should prioritize quality at the cost of speed. Given that Burberry is a luxury brand, any perceived deterioration in quality could have a significant negative consequence on its brand image. For this reason, I would encourage the Company to continue to expand its ML applications, but in a slow and controlled manner.

One additional question I had for you is in response to your proposal for the Company to include immersive e-commerce. Do you think creating a digital store where virtual shopping assistants replace the in-store service could have a negative impact on its perceived luxury brand? Do you think the virtual assistants would truly be able to replicate the in-store service currently offered?

Thanks for the interesting article Charlotte! Regarding your question, I agree with some of the comments above that Burberry should continue to develop its machine learning capabilities in-house. Given the data and knowledge they have of their customers, they are in the best position to tailor to their specific needs, and in the competitive industry they are at, they need unique sources of comparative advantage. One of my concerns if Burberry continues to move to machine-learning for customer interaction is whether it will start losing its luxury appeal? In a more and more digitilized world, personal interactions can become more valuable. People who buy luxury brands are also buying into the experience, and receiving impersonal messages might deter from this.

This is a great piece on a retailer successfully integrating machine learning techniques into their business. Burberry is in the special spot of being digitally forward, while many others do not have this choice. This article talks about how digital is built into their culture and is not just projects they pursue for short term change: https://digiday.com/marketing/burberry-became-top-digital-luxury-brand/ .

Your question about the security of third parties holding data also merits a lot more thought. Retailers have traditionally faced the challenge of having many digital initiatives they want to take on while not being able to hire enough technical talent in house. Thus, in order for most retailers to succeed at truly personalizing the purchase experience, they need to really invest in understanding security requirements and bringing on the right external expertise to help them accomplish their goals. Thanks for sharing!

Thanks for the great read Charlotte! Your first question is particularly thought provoking as every company that is considering utilizing machine learning must be wrestling with the tradeoffs between developing internally and outsourcing to a 3rd party. Personally, I would outsource the development of the machine learning algorithm to a 3rd party for a few reasons: (1) Burberry’s core business is product design and it would be difficult to structurally change the organization to become a technology company, (2) 3rd party vendors have likely completed multiple machine learning algorithm implementations and can leverage prior experience, and (3) the war for talent (particularly for data scientists and engineers) is fierce and I struggle to believe that Burberry would win this battle.

One additional question that came to mind for me was – how can machine learning be used to drive traffic to physical stores? With approximately 240 retail locations[1], Burberry is still highly levered to physical retail and I wonder what applications could be developed to make the in-store experience more interactive and personalized. Do you know of any competitors focused on machine learning applications in stores (as opposed to online)?

[1] https://www.burberryplc.com/en/investors/annual-report.html

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Complete Marketing Strategy of Burberry with Company Overview

By Aditya Shastri

This luxury British fashion house makes, designs, and distributes ready wears, accessories, perfumes and is very famous for its trench coats. It is none other than Burberry. 

It has been associated with numerous contributions that have made it a leading name in luxury ready-to-wear clothes. Today, the name Burberry is synonymous with excellence and quality in the fashion world. 

In this case study, we would go through learning about the marketing strategy of Burberry in greater detail by going through its 4Ps of the marketing mix, its marketing and campaign strategies, along with digital marketing strategies. So, let us start by understanding about Burberry as a company in the coming section.

About Burberry

Burberry is a luxury fashion brand that offers personal accessories, footwear, clothing, etc. It was established in 1856 by an Englishman Thomas Burberry. The company has come a long way from its manufacturing of waterproof fabrics to designing a luxurious, high fashion clothing line.

The luxury fashion house sells accessories, apparel, shoes, jewellery, small leather goods, handbags and also has other beauty businesses. 

It caters to the luxury market and manufactures, designs, and distributes its products all around the world. Its products satisfy almost all age and gender demographics. 

Headquartered in London, the company is listed on the London Stock Exchange and is a member of the FTSE100 index.

Now that we know about the company, let us go through Burrbery’s business activities further by going through its 4Ps of the marketing mix in the coming section.

Marketing Mix of Burberry

A marketing mix is the set of four different components that a company uses to promote its products to its target market in order to generate sales. The marketing mix is often referred to as the 4Ps, because of the four parameters: Product, Price, Place, and Promotion.

Let us see how Burberry has formulated its marketing mix strategy in the coming sections.

Product Strategy of Burberry

Burberry’s product strategy includes many business segments that cater to all age groups. Broadly, it sells apparel, handbags and small leather goods, shoes, and jewellery.

They have an extensive product line in different categories like women’s, men’s and outerwear, handbags, fragrances, sunglasses, etc.

All their products are manufactured by them at their Burberry factory keeping in mind the company’s aesthetic and fashion style. Each product the brand produces has its own story behind it.

The company is known in the international market because of its quality, durability & intricate designs and so it develops its products accordingly.

Price Strategy of Burberry

Burberry prides itself on its product-development culture. It invests heavily in research, development, prototyping, and production in order to make the best apparel for its customers.

It follows a premium pricing policy because they cater to a high-class elite zone as all the products are luxurious, based on excellent craftsmanship and innovative designs. The company is among the most expensive retailers in the world and they certainly know how to price its matters. This is how Burberry plays around its price strategy. 

Place and Distribution Strategy of Burberry

Talking about the place and distribution strategy of Burberry, being a multinational company, it operates on almost all continents except Antarctica. With 421 stores across the world, the luxury fashion brand has a strong presence in Europe and Asia. Its stores operate on the lines of providing the luxury store experience and elevate customer service. 

The company has also shifted its focus on selling through e-commerce mediums. The Covid – 19 pandemic has clearly shifted the focus of consumers towards digital channels and forced Burberry to rethink its physical distribution touchpoints.

Promotion Strategy of Burberry

Burberry’s promotion strategy revolves around conducting consistent promotional activities. It uses both traditional and modern methods to market its products and its name. Talking about its traditional marketing approach, it uses advertisement commercials, print, and outdoor advertising. 

However, over the years, Burberry has been focusing primarily on promoting itself via digital channels. The company regularly comes up with new campaigns and events. 

It has also signed country-wise brand ambassadors to promote its products and increasingly focuses on extensive digital campaigns.

Now that we understood how Burberry presents its offerings to the target audience, let us now go through the marketing strategies of Burberry that it has undertaken over the years to market itself.

Want to make your luxury brand as successful as Burberry? Watch this video on the top digital marketing strategies for luxury brands –

Marketing Strategy of Burberry

Marketing Strategy is a set of approaches to communicate with the target market, develop a strategy, and determine the company’s goals.

Burberry, being a global brand, has incorporated many different marketing strategies in order to reach its goal of getting customers to purchase its products. So, let us go through the marketing strategies it has implemented to promote its luxury products.

Brand Ambassadors of Burberry

Brand Ambassadors are the stars of any successful brand. We live in a faster, more mobile world. Communication is instant and very personalized. Brand Ambassadors act as a bridge between a company and the customers. They also help drive traffic, create buzz, and build trust in their niche communities.

In Burberry’s brand ambassadors strategy, the company has signed young artists and sports celebrities at the country level. These influencers promote their products to the masses, and it has proven to be a successful move.  

The celebrity team consists of Manchester United’s star forward Marcus Rashford, Korea’s Lucas Wong, and popular Chinese actress Zhou Dongyu.

Video Games – Digital Marketing Strategy of Burberry

Burberry’s growth strategy has always been rooted in the core of its culture, which is to continuously challenge itself and others. A key element of this strategy has been the ability to innovate – both on-premise innovations and on digital campaigns like the launch of mobile games. This concept was a part of Burberry’s digital marketing plan.

These games, B Bounce and RatBerry have accelerated the consumers’ engagement with the brand both, at retail outlets as well as interacting online with friends, family and fellow consumers throughout the world through this game.

Pop Up Store Strategy of Burberry

When a brand opens pop-up stores, it serves two purposes. Firstly, the popups offer brands the chance to engage with customers and inform them about their products and services. Secondly, it provides a way for brands to show off new products without requiring physical store space. 

Burberry’s trendsetting pop-up stores are using a unique kiosk-like rollout to introduce their products to consumers in select locations. As usual, they strive to be the best in class when it comes to delivering the perfect customer experience.

Marketing Campaigns of Burberry

There is nothing more powerful than a brand that is marketing to increase its brand awareness and brand preference. In a very short period of time, any company can see its market popularity and reap benefits from getting involved with various campaigns and events. 

In Burberry’s case, the company takes an active part in creating new campaigns, both digital and offline, for its audience at the country level. 

Voices of Tomorrow – Burberry x Marcus Rashford Campaign

Burberry has introduced a unique campaign called “Voices of the future” to encourage young people to speak their minds. Through this campaign, the brand hopes to create a change in the youth culture and bring communities closer. 

It has collaborated with Marcus Rashford to promote this campaign. With this campaign, Burberry represents the longstanding importance of supporting the community as the luxury fashion house pledges to support the voices of tomorrow to build a better future. 

Burberry has recently undergone a logo redesign, and here’s a glimpse of the same –

With this we have come to an of this case study, let us summarise everything in the final section of this case study.

Burberry is one of the most influential fashion brands in the world. Since the company’s creation, it has been a prominent name among fashion critics and buyers, setting its niche really into the high-end customer.  

However, in this rapidly digitizing world, the company has been doing its best to adapt to newer and newer changes with the passing. From recently being in the news for setting up digital stores to incorporating creativity with artificial intelligence, Burberry has all bases set in the right places.

Liked our work? Interested in learning further? Do check our website for more. Also, if you’re interested in Digital Marketing, you can check out our Free Digital Marketing Masterclass by Karan Shah.

Let us know your thoughts on this case study in the comment section down below. Thank you for reading, and if you liked our then do share this in your circle. 

Until then, see you next time!

Author's Note: My name is Aditya Shastri and I have written this case study with the help of my students from IIDE's online digital marketing courses in India . Practical assignments, case studies & simulations helped the students from this course present this analysis. Building on this practical approach, we are now introducing a new dimension for our online digital marketing course learners - the Campus Immersion Experience. If you found this case study helpful, please feel free to leave a comment below.

Aditya Shastri

Lead Trainer & Head of Learning & Development at IIDE

Leads the Learning & Development segment at IIDE. He is a Content Marketing Expert and has trained 6000+ students and working professionals on various topics of Digital Marketing. He has been a guest speaker at prominent colleges in India including IIMs...... [Read full bio]

The blog was really insightful and I found it interesting knowing they blended the traditional and digital approach towards marketing. I’m curious about the reason they rebranded and redesigned their logo though.

I have learnt a lot of things from this blog that enhance my knowledge and skills, and it is so informative.

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Burberry Marketing Strategy 2024: A Case Study

Burberry, a prominent luxury fashion brand, has established itself as a global leader in the industry through its strategic marketing initiatives. With a comprehensive marketing mix that focuses on product, price, place, and promotion, Burberry has successfully positioned itself as an exclusive luxury brand.

One key aspect of Burberry’s marketing strategy is its product strategy. The brand offers a diverse range of high-quality products that reflect its unique aesthetic. From apparel to accessories, perfumes, and cosmetics, Burberry caters to fashion-forward individuals seeking luxury and sophistication.

In terms of pricing, Burberry adopts a premium strategy, with an average price range of $500 to $2,500 for its luxury products. This pricing comparison with competitors like Gucci, Prada, and Louis Vuitton positions Burberry as a top-tier luxury brand.

Burberry’s distribution strategy is another crucial element of its marketing approach. The brand operates through a global network of stores strategically located in high-end shopping destinations. This ensures that customers can enjoy a luxurious shopping experience and access Burberry products easily.

Furthermore, Burberry embraces an omnichannel distribution strategy to cater to the evolving needs of its customers. This includes flagship stores, department stores, authorized retailer outlets, and a strong online presence through e-commerce platforms. By embracing digital innovation, Burberry has expanded its reach and engaged with a wider audience.

Burberry’s commitment to sustainability is evident in its implementation of sustainable practices throughout its supply chain. The brand utilizes eco-friendly materials and responsible manufacturing processes, aiming to reduce its environmental impact. Burberry’s dedication to sustainability aligns with the values of socially conscious consumers.

Key Takeaways:

• Burberry follows a comprehensive marketing mix , focusing on product, price, place, and promotion.
• The brand’s product strategy offers a diverse range of high-quality products that reflect its unique aesthetic.
• Burberry positions itself as an exclusive luxury brand with a premium pricing strategy.
• The brand operates through a global network of stores and embraces an omnichannel distribution strategy.
• Burberry’s commitment to sustainability is evident in its eco-friendly materials and responsible manufacturing processes.

About Burberry and its Brand Heritage

Burberry, founded in 1856, is a British luxury fashion brand renowned for its exceptional craftsmanship and innovative designs. This iconic brand has cemented its place in the fashion industry, embodying elegance and style. At the heart of Burberry’s identity are its iconic trench coats, which epitomize the brand’s rich heritage and enduring legacy.

In 1880, Thomas Burberry revolutionized the industry by inventing gabardine, a durable and weather-resistant fabric used to create the renowned Burberry trench coats. This invention marked a significant milestone in the brand’s history, establishing it as a pioneer in luxury outerwear.

Burberry has always strived to push boundaries and set new trends. The brand combines traditional craftsmanship with modern aesthetics, creating products that resonate with fashion-forward individuals around the world. Attention to detail and an unwavering commitment to excellence have earned Burberry a loyal global customer base that appreciates the brand’s artistry and quality.

Over the years, Burberry has continued to evolve and stay ahead of the curve. In 2010, the brand made history by becoming the first luxury fashion brand to live stream its runway show. This move exemplified Burberry’s willingness to embrace digital innovation, further enhancing its allure and expanding its reach.

Burberry’s brand heritage is also intertwined with its commitment to sustainability. In 2019, the brand announced its decision to stop burning unsold stock, highlighting its dedication to reducing waste and environmental impact. The company’s sustainability program, “ReBurberry,” focuses on recycling and repairing products, reflecting its drive to create a more sustainable fashion industry.

With a global footprint spanning over 34 countries and more than 418 stores, Burberry continues to captivate audiences with its unmistakable style and signature check pattern introduced in 1924. The brand’s iconic runway shows attract celebrities and fashion icons like Kate Moss, Cara Delevingne, and Rihanna, solidifying Burberry’s status as a leading luxury fashion brand.

Burberry’s Global Presence

Burberry, a renowned luxury fashion brand, has established a strong global presence through its network of flagship stores and e-commerce platform. These strategic initiatives have allowed Burberry to connect with customers worldwide and provide them with a seamless brand experience.

At the heart of Burberry’s global presence are its meticulously designed flagship stores, which serve as physical manifestations of the brand’s identity and values. These stores are carefully crafted to immerse visitors in the world of Burberry, showcasing the brand’s iconic products and creating an atmosphere of luxury and sophistication. Customers can explore the carefully curated collections, try on the latest fashion pieces, and enjoy personalized assistance from knowledgeable staff.

In addition to its physical stores, Burberry has embraced e-commerce to cater to the growing demand for online shopping. The brand’s robust online platform allows customers to discover and purchase their favorite Burberry products from the comfort of their homes. The e-commerce experience is carefully designed to replicate the luxury and exclusivity of the flagship stores, offering a seamless online shopping journey with personalized recommendations and convenient delivery options.

By combining the physical presence of flagship stores with the accessibility and convenience of e-commerce, Burberry has successfully created a global retail ecosystem that caters to the diverse needs and preferences of customers worldwide.

Overall, Burberry’s global presence through flagship stores and e-commerce allows the brand to reach a broad audience while maintaining its commitment to luxury, exclusivity, and customer satisfaction. With its strong retail presence and digital capabilities, Burberry continues to solidify its position as one of the leading luxury fashion brands in the world.

Innovation in the Fashion Industry

In an ever-evolving fashion landscape, Burberry has consistently demonstrated its commitment to innovation and staying ahead of the curve. The brand has embraced technology and digital advancements to connect with its audience in new and exciting ways.

Burberry’s digital marketing strategies have played a crucial role in its success. The brand has leveraged social media platforms, collaborating with influencers and engaging in captivating social media campaigns to reach a wider audience. By creating engaging content, Burberry has been able to captivate the attention of fashion enthusiasts around the world. The result is a powerful digital presence that enhances the brand’s visibility and resonance.

However, innovation for Burberry goes beyond digital marketing. The brand has also committed to sustainability initiatives, implementing sustainable practices throughout its supply chain. Burberry’s “ReBurberry” program, which aims to recycle and repair old products, showcases its dedication to reducing waste and promoting circular fashion.

By blending its rich heritage and core brand values with modern digital initiatives and sustainable practices, Burberry continues to position itself as a leader in the luxury fashion industry. The brand’s ability to innovate and adapt to the digital age while maintaining its commitment to quality and craftsmanship sets it apart.

To illustrate its digital transformation and innovative mindset, take a look at the immersive image below:

Through the integration of digital and physical retail experiences, Burberry has created a seamless and immersive shopping journey for its customers. Augmented reality technology is utilized in stores, allowing customers to experience the brand in a whole new way. This approach not only enhances customer engagement but also showcases Burberry’s willingness to explore new technologies to provide a unique and unforgettable shopping experience.

Collaborations and Partnerships

Burberry has always been at the forefront of the fashion industry, constantly pushing boundaries and embracing new perspectives. To bring fresh ideas and creative flair to their collections, Burberry has engaged in collaborations and partnerships with various artists, musicians, and designers.

These collaborations have resulted in limited-edition pieces and unique capsule collections that showcase the fusion of Burberry’s classic elegance with contemporary artistry. By partnering with renowned individuals, Burberry keeps pace with the ever-evolving fashion landscape and ensures their designs remain relevant to their diverse customer base.

Diverse and Inspiring Collaborations

One notable collaboration was Burberry’s partnership with Geoffrey Williams, the Head of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion at Burberry. Together, they co-produced “Untold Stories: Hair on Set,” a groundbreaking documentary that premiered on Sky in October. The film aimed to celebrate and highlight the diverse hairstyles of models on Burberry’s sets, promoting inclusivity and empowering individuals to embrace their unique beauty.

Burberry showed their commitment to inclusivity and acceptance by featuring Sahib Singh, a 4-year old Sikh boy, as the first Sikh model in their Children’s Autumn-Winter 2022 campaign. This move not only showcased the brand’s dedication to representation but also garnered widespread praise for breaking barriers and challenging traditional beauty norms.

Through these collaborations and partnerships, Burberry continues to innovate and offer its customers a range of fashion options inspired by diverse perspectives. This approach allows the brand to maintain its relevance and connect with a wide audience who appreciates their combination of classic heritage and modern creativity.

Collaborations like these have become integral to Burberry’s marketing strategy , as they generate excitement, enhance brand reputation, and expand the brand’s reach. By partnering with artists and designers known for their unique style and innovative approach, Burberry is able to create collections that captivate and inspire fashion enthusiasts around the world.

Overall, Burberry’s collaborations and partnerships exemplify their commitment to celebrating diversity, fostering creativity, and pushing boundaries in the world of fashion. These partnerships not only strengthen Burberry’s brand image but also contribute to the brand’s continued success in the highly competitive luxury fashion market.

Burberry’s Contribution to Social Causes

Burberry, as a globally recognized luxury fashion brand, understands the importance of corporate social responsibility and actively supports various social causes and philanthropic efforts. Through its initiatives, Burberry aims to make a positive impact on society and promote a more sustainable and inclusive future.

One of Burberry’s key commitments is to sustainability. In FY 2020/21, Burberry was included in the Dow Jones Sustainability Index for the sixth consecutive year, validating its dedication to environmental and social sustainability. Sustainalytics ranked Burberry first in the textiles and apparel sub-industry for negligible risk, highlighting the brand’s strong risk management practices. Burberry has also made significant strides in environmental sustainability, with renewables powering 93% of its electricity needs worldwide. The brand has committed to being Net Zero by 2040, further reinforcing its dedication to combatting climate change.

In addition to environmental initiatives, Burberry actively engages in social progress. The brand partners with organizations such as Oxfam, Teach First, and various global youth programs, demonstrating its commitment to reducing inequalities and empowering communities. Burberry’s efforts in promoting gender equality have been recognized through inclusion in the Bloomberg Gender-Equality Index 2021 and maintaining a leading position in the FTSE 100 for women in leadership.

Burberry’s contribution to the Sustainable Development Goals in FY 2020/21 was extensive. The brand partnered with the Living Wage Foundation, ensuring fair wages for its employees and supply chain. Burberry also supported food charities for hunger relief and implemented a Global Parental Leave Policy to promote good health and wellbeing.

Burberry’s dedication to sustainability and social causes is further exemplified by its membership in RE100 for renewable energy and active participation in initiatives like the Ellen MacArthur Foundation’s Make Fashion Circular and New Plastics Economy Global Commitment. These initiatives showcase Burberry’s responsible consumption and production practices.

Overall, Burberry’s commitment to social causes and philanthropic efforts goes beyond its role as a luxury fashion brand. By actively engaging in sustainable practices, promoting gender equality, and supporting various social initiatives, Burberry demonstrates its commitment to being a responsible corporate citizen and making a positive impact on society.

Marketing Mix of Burberry

Burberry, a globally recognized luxury fashion brand, implements a comprehensive marketing mix strategy that encompasses product, price, place, and promotion. By strategically managing these elements, Burberry maintains its position as a leader in the fashion industry and caters to its target audience of fashion-forward individuals seeking luxury and sophistication.

Product Strategy

Burberry offers a diverse range of high-quality products that showcase exceptional craftsmanship and innovative designs. Its product lineup includes apparel for men, women, and children, accessories such as scarves, handbags, belts, and eyewear, as well as fragrances and cosmetics. One of Burberry’s standout products is its iconic trench coat, designed by the brand’s founder and still one of its bestselling items. By continuously introducing new and timeless products, Burberry fulfills the evolving fashion needs of its customers.

Price Strategy

Burberry adopts a premium pricing strategy, setting its prices higher than average market rates to reflect its luxury positioning. This approach creates an aura of exclusivity around the brand and attracts an affluent customer base seeking high-end fashion and lifestyle products. Burberry’s pricing strategy aligns with its commitment to delivering exceptional quality and craftsmanship.

Place Strategy

Burberry’s products are sold in at least 500 locations across 50 countries worldwide, showcasing the brand’s extensive global presence. The company operates flagship stores in major cities like London, New York, and Paris, providing customers with a strategic store experience characterized by sophisticated designs and personalized customer service. In addition to physical stores, Burberry has a strong online presence through its e-commerce platform, established in 2014, enabling direct purchases and data collection.

Promotion Strategy

Burberry’s promotion strategy combines traditional and digital marketing initiatives to enhance its global brand presence. The brand actively utilizes social media platforms like Instagram and TikTok to engage with its audience and create interactive campaigns. Burberry’s global marketing team conducts thorough evaluations and market research to determine effective pricing strategies, ensuring that its promotional efforts resonate with its target market. Furthermore, Burberry leverages email marketing , boasting impressive average open and click-through rates, to effectively communicate with its audience, foster brand loyalty, and drive conversions.

Product Strategy of Burberry

Burberry’s product strategy is focused on delivering a diverse range of high-quality products that cater to the needs and preferences of its customers. The brand offers a wide selection of apparel, accessories, perfumes, and cosmetics, ensuring that there is something for everyone.

When it comes to apparel, Burberry’s product lineup includes collections like Burberry London, Burberry Prorsum, Burberry Golf, Timepieces, and children’s wear. These collections embody Burberry’s unique aesthetic and craftsmanship, showcasing a perfect blend of timeless elegance and contemporary style.

In addition to apparel, Burberry also offers an extensive range of accessories that complement its clothing lines. Leather goods, wallets, sunglasses, and fragrances are just a few examples of the accessories that Burberry provides. These accessories not only enhance the overall look but also reflect the brand’s commitment to quality and attention to detail.

Furthermore, Burberry has made a mark in the beauty industry with its line of perfumes and cosmetics. By combining signature scents with expertly formulated beauty products, Burberry has created a collection that embodies luxury and sophistication.

Each product from Burberry is meticulously crafted with utmost care and reflects the brand’s commitment to excellence. From the choice of materials to the intricate detailing, Burberry ensures that every product meets the highest standards of quality and design.

Burberry’s marketing strategy exemplifies the success of a luxury brand in the dynamic fashion industry. The brand’s relentless pursuit of excellence, commitment to quality, innovation, and sustainability have greatly contributed to its achievements. Through its digital transformation and effective use of social media, Burberry has successfully engaged with a younger, digitally-savvy audience while maintaining its aura of exclusivity. By leveraging collaborations, partnerships, and philanthropic efforts, Burberry has made a positive impact on society.

Burberry’s marketing strategy incorporates three main approaches: social media, understanding consumer preferences and behaviors, and effective public relations. By harnessing the power of social media, Burberry has garnered significant attention, with millions of views on their videos and daily website visits. The brand’s public relations efforts, including compelling advertising campaigns, fashion shows, and press coverage, have further enhanced their brand image and increased global awareness.

Moreover, Burberry’s commitment to sustainability and its ongoing efforts to make all its products contribute to sustainability by 2022 demonstrate the brand’s dedication to responsible practices. This resonates with the growing consumer demand for environmentally-conscious brands.

Overall, Burberry’s marketing strategy serves as a valuable blueprint for luxury brands seeking to establish and maintain a strong market presence. By embracing digital innovation, prioritizing customer engagement, and aligning with societal values, Burberry has successfully navigated the evolving landscape of luxury brand marketing , solidifying its position as a global leader in the fashion industry.

What is Burberry’s product strategy?

What is burberry’s pricing strategy, how does burberry distribute its products, how does burberry embrace digital innovation, what collaborations and partnerships has burberry engaged in, what social causes does burberry support, what is burberry’s marketing mix, what products does burberry offer, what is the aim of burberry’s marketing strategy, related posts:.

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Nina Sheridan is a seasoned author at Latterly.org, a blog renowned for its insightful exploration of the increasingly interconnected worlds of business, technology, and lifestyle. With a keen eye for the dynamic interplay between these sectors, Nina brings a wealth of knowledge and experience to her writing. Her expertise lies in dissecting complex topics and presenting them in an accessible, engaging manner that resonates with a diverse audience.

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Innovation Opportunities and Challenges for Burberry, Case Study Example

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Introduction

Burberry is regarded as one of the British Fashion houses that was established in 1856 to sell fragrance, clothing and other fashion accessories. The organization has it’s headquartered in London, England. Originally, the firm was mainly focusing on the development of outdoor attire; however, it has changed to focus on high fashion market. For a long time, the organization operated as a single family business until 1955 when it was reincorporated. Presently, it is one of the highly coveted forms of business with numerous franchises and branded stores across the globe (Zozulya et al., 2015). The organization is listed on the London Stock Exchange and constitutes the top 100 best performing organizations. Based on these facts and other essential business researchers, it is believed that the organization has numerous innovation opportunities to continue performing and overcome the possible threats that may engulf its progress.

Innovation Opportunities

In its simplest, innovation is the application of technological, institutional, and human resource to make discoveries that will result in new practices, products, and institutions that are improved and efficient enhancing. The innovation model recognizes the need, articulates demand and finally implements the innovative solution. In Burberry, innovation has been majorly accelerated by the formal application of scientific approaches to promote the production of the products in the organization. Moreover, the process was seen as a process that emerged from the multiple extensions of forces from historical, economic, and social contexts.  Further, the improvement in the technological change resulted in positive platforms that promoted effective and efficient ways of production.  These approaches provided numerous opportunities for the organization to progress to its current status. Presently, the organization has adopted important systems and cycles that promote the progress of the firm.

Acquisition Synergy

Historical records indicate that the Burberry started rising and experiencing much influence when the stars of the modern world started wearing the organization brands in the 1970s and 80s. During that period, Burberry signed numerous agreements with the global manufacturers to produce several complementary products such as suits, sportswear, and trousers for men, women, and children (Philips, 2010, 180). These products were majorly designed under a strict control of the production department at the headquarters. The products were produced and distributed to the independent retail shops through the companies to the global community. The approach enabled the organization to achieve the global reputation and understanding among the increased number of users who adopted the products. It was a moment of flourishing as the company continued to make profits through its constituent organizations that were allowed to produce the complementary products. This trend enabled the firm to make a create stride in achieving globalization (Choi et al. 2014, 3).

Davila, Epstein, and Shelton (2012) noted that one such organization that has acted as a pivot for the production of the Burberry products is the Sanyo Shokai that partnered with the Mitsu to design and sell parallel suits and other fashion products under the license of Burberry brand.  These products were made due to the increasing number of the Japanese, as well as global customers (Godin, 2014, 20). It was noted that most of the tourists that have been visiting the land are fond of these products. Apart from the merger and acquisition, the organization has continued to continue expanding the business through its new flagship store in Tokyo Omotesando. This store is primarily aimed at helping in storing the surplus production of the organization products. Finally, the organization has continued to build a strong online market that helps to facilitate the products to the global consumers.

Unique and Strong Brand Products

The organization through its strong brand and production technique has offered a great opportunity for the realization of high sales by the increasing number of customers across the globe. In fact, the organization trench coat has been regarded as one of the iconic products. Moreover, the coat has been linked to Authentic British Heritage and its unique democratic location in the luxury arena. The string brand has promoted the organization to achieve a global recognition and iconic portfolio thus improving the sales over the decades. It is believed that this opportunity will continue to help the firm to realize the dream of meeting the demands of the global market in Europe, Spain, America, as well as other nations across the globe. As noted by Philips, (2010, 189) in his work, the organization further aims to promote the production of other multi-category competency and innovative outwears that will take care of men, women, and children.

Innovative Culture

Historical records indicate that since its institutionalization, the organization has continued to trend on innovative culture. The organization through its innovation allows customers to use their products freely from any geographical locations across the globe. Such positive culture has transverse through years to promote the realization of the organization’s dreams. In the year 2009, it was noted that the organization launched media campaign engineering both the blogging advocates as well as grassroots word of mouth to allow customers to upload photos while wearing the Burberry trench coats. The organization has further continued through its CEO to fun the culture of its luxury tech fashion to the global markets. It is also important to note that the firm through its successive leaders has been capable of maintaining its prestigious profile. All of them have managed to maintain the organization fragrance thus improving the organization profits over the years. These innovative cultural trends are expected to continue opening new opportunities for the organization progress (Rogers, 1983, 29).

Globalization Marketing Trends

Govindarajan and Trimble (2010) confirm that the provision of the organization e-commerce platform has opened new opportunities to help the organization to operate in both the regional and international markets. According to the organization report, it is recognizable that the firm has been actively involved in streamlining their operations towards meeting the international demands. Therefore, it actively decided to expand its online operations through constant advertising and media appeal to the increasing number of the global population. The organization has further continued to use the new media platforms to promote their products and open the other market avenues. This trend will help to promote the overall realization of increased sales in the global market (Moore, and Birtwistle, 2004, 415).

Challenges                                                          

High Level of Competition from the Rival Organizations

Despite its eminent efforts, the organization has continued to face stiff competition from other firms that are producing the same line of products.  The organization major competitors include Coach, Armani, and Polo. In comparison, most of these competitors have positioned themselves strategically to the market demands thus driving the organization devoid of the customers. Coach majorly deals in the production of luxury handbags, carriers and other luxury accessories that are critical to attracting the customers demand. Presently, the organization is estimated to command over 10% of the global market share (Huizingh, 2011, 11). Polo, on the other hand, has centered its operations towards the production of luxury clothing. In fact, it is estimated to capture the greatest part of the market share due to their relatively low price as compared to Burberry. Moreover, the Polo has offered a high-quality brand that is well adored by the majority of the consumers. Finally, Armani has majorly focused on a strong brand that has continued to maintain the luxury position in the market. This high level of competition has continuously shaken Burberry constant need to meet the global demand for Luxury products (Straker and Wrigley, 2016, 278).

The organization through its strong management has noted with great concern the high number of counterfeit products that are produced by other firms. The trend is quite common in developing nations such as China and Nigeria. This move has made the organization products to lose their reputation in the global market as these counterfeit products penetrate through the markets. In most cases, these counterfeit products often fail to meet the Burberry standards of production thus limiting the progress and achievement of the organization goals and objectives. Christensen and Overdorf, (2000, 67); Mytelka, and Farinelli, (2000) in their work, confirmed that production of counterfeit products kills the morale and destroy the overall reputation of any firm in their quest to meet the global market standards. Therefore, this trend should be sealed to allow any substantial economic progress of the firm.

Political Instability

It has been noted that Burberry and other important luxury organizations have faced some political and economic instability in the some of the nations in which the organization operates. These countries include China, Russia, and the Middle East that have led to clampdown and other catastrophic effects on the marketing of the organization’s products. According to Van et al. (2009, 234), such continuous political and economic instability in these nations have further resulted in the reduction of sales of these vital luxury products.  Last year, the organization issued a stern warning on the slump on the retail sales of the products by 12%. Part of the reduction in sales was created majorly by the negative political and economic progress in these nations (Utterback, 1994).

Conclusion and Recommendations

It is notable that the organization has managed to provide numerous innovative measures to meet the increasing global demands for its products. Its strategies have provided to be some of the most excellent approaches to achieving its goals and objectives. However, it is notable that some of the challenges facing the organization are predominantly due to factors that are beyond the organization control and operations. These elements comprise of the political, stiff competition, and economic instability. Therefore, the organization should adopt other essential channels that will promote their product fabric in the more significant market and make them continue dominating the market. These approaches will majorly comprise of ways of dwelling in its innovative nature such as a merger, promoting the product image and luxury brand across all market segments. Nonetheless, against all the odds, the organization needs to continue in its quest of improving its reputation as the best luxury and durable brand in the market.

Choi, S., Chai, S., Nam, Y., Yang, S. and Protoppa, C., 2014. Success Factors for Luxury e-commerce: Burberry’s Digital Innovation Process.  International Journal of Information Systems Management Research and Development , pp.1-10.

Christensen, C.M., and Overdorf, M., 2000. Meeting the challenge of disruptive change. Harvard business review ,  78 (2), pp.66-77.

Davila, T., Epstein, M., and Shelton, R., 2012. Making innovation work: How to manage it, measure it, and profit from it . FT Press.

Godin, B., 2014. Invention, diffusion and linear models of innovation: the contribution of anthropology to a conceptual framework.  Journal of Innovation Economics & Management , (3), pp.11-37.

Govindarajan, V., Trimble, C. (2010). Making Innovation Happen. In  The Other Side of Innovation  (pp. 1-23). Boston: Harvard Business Review Press.

Moore, C.M., and Birtwistle, G., 2004. The Burberry business model: creating an international luxury fashion brand. International Journal of Retail & Distribution Management ,  32 (8), pp.412-422.

Mytelka, L. and Farinelli, F., 2000. Local clusters, innovation systems, and sustained competitiveness. UNU/INTECH Discussion Paper , (2005).

Phillips, J., 2010. Open innovation typology.  International Journal of Innovation Science ,  2 (4), pp.175-183.

Rogers E. M. (1983). Elements of Diffusion. In  Diffusion of Innovations  (pp. 1-37). London: Collier Macmillan.

Straker, K. and Wrigley, C., 2016. Emotionally engaging customers in the digital age: the case study of “Burberry love.” Journal of Fashion Marketing and Management ,  20 (3), pp.276-299.

Utterback, J.M. (1994). Mastering the Dynamics of Innovation: How Companies Can Seize Opportunities in the Face of Technological Change. Boston MA: Harvard Business School Press

Wondolleck, J.M., and Yaffee, S.L., 2000.  Making collaboration work: Lessons from innovation in natural resource management . Island Press.

Zozulya, D., Radomski, D., Boey, E., Lozanoski, H., Nathani, A. and Sheppard, J., 2015. Burberry Group PLC.

Huizingh, E.K., 2011. Open innovation: State of the art and future perspectives.  Technovation ,  31 (1), pp.2-9.

Van de Vrande, V., De Jong, J.P., Vanhaverbeke, W. and De Rochemont, M., 2009. Open innovation in SMEs: Trends, motives and management challenges.  Technovation ,  29 (6), pp.423-437.

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Burberry Rebranding: A Brilliant Case Study Of A Downfall’s Rise In High Fashion

By Sarah Kari

| Published on December 10, 2021

There are many brands which have fallen and haven’t been able to pick themselves up but the few iconic ones which rebranded themselves became such a huge hit, that they continue to reign hearts and minds of consumers globally. Such is the story of Burberry which re-invented itself after it faced an issue which almost every brand on the planet faces- down market imitation.

This started off when Burberry hired Christopher Bailey from Gucci’s womenswear division who had been key to bringing a sex appeal to the conservative brand. Burberry became extremely cool from being an aristocratic brand which resulted in high demand. The brand extensively licensed their products and provided cash injections which led to down market imitation.

This was curtailed when Angela Ahrendts took over the brand in 2008 and put emphasis on gaining control over the brand. Their famous chequered patterned fabric which had gotten heavily imitated at that point wouldn’t serve as a saving grace and hence, Burberry decided to roll out a new story which would essentially lead to rebranding itself.

Embracing Innovation

Just like Apple, Burberry went on to embrace innovation and aggressively moved to the digital space. At a time where design houses saw websites as an additional cost that they did not want to incur, Burberry went ahead and delved deeper into the realm of the internet with active social media accounts, digital engagement with consumers and livestreaming of fashion events. The brand even redesigned its Regent street store to reflect it’s website.

Staying True To The Roots

The brand however, incorporated as much history as they potentially could into their re-branding efforts. With clothes that did not entirely imbibe the vibe of the iconic chequered print, Burberry still kept a hint of the same under shirt collars. The brand also employed British actors, musicians and models to imitate the history that it had created over the years who represented the brand on a cultural level.

View this post on Instagram A post shared by Burberry (@burberry)

Determined to start afresh, the brand confidently rebranded itself after having obituaries printed out in magazines and newspapers. The brand which moves with audacity, as is its Latin motto continues to woo people with their majestic and royal appeal complimented with classy and modern fashion apparel. The Burberry rebranding story continues to be a brilliant case study in understanding how innovation, especially in the digital space can take a brand from having endured uncomfortable perceptions to becoming coveted once again.

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edX Enterprise

UTAR case study: Investing in self-directed learning to drive student employability

July 29, 2024

The leaders at Universiti Tunku Abdul Rahman (UTAR) are always thinking about what happens after students leave the classroom. 

Will graduates be able to keep pace with advancing technology ? Will they have the skills to stand out in competitive job markets? Will they face industry changes with resistance or resilience? 

Educators may not be able to teach students every skill they’ll need throughout their careers — but they can prepare those students to become self-sufficient, lifelong learners. That future-focused ethos is just one of the reasons UTAR partnered with edX.

Challenge: Strengthen student employability

As technology, skill needs, and industry conditions evolve, universities face mounting pressure to focus on more than traditional academic knowledge. Graduates don’t just need to know how to ace an exam or polish an essay; they need to translate their skills in professional contexts and scale steep, on-the-job learning curves. 

“Industries are increasingly concerned with soft skills and demonstrable willingness to learn,” said MK Khaw, who is deputy head of UTAR’s Centre for Curriculum Development and Innovation.

At UTAR, a highly rated private university in Malaysia, 1 educators recognized that students who knew how to learn quickly, effectively, and continuously were the ones who would be most attractive to employers. If they could help students approach education as a lifelong practice — rather than a temporary means of earning a degree — the entire UTAR community would flourish. 

With support from edX, UTAR established a clear objective: Increase self-directed study opportunities and cultivate lifelong learning skills for students. And students weren’t the only beneficiaries: The initiative would drive institution-wide innovation and help UTAR differentiate its offerings in a competitive educational environment.

Solution: Build a culture of self-directed learning

The edX partnership represented an important step forward for UTAR, in more ways than one. It would also be the first time the university offered students an online learning opportunity. 

“We wanted students to have experience with online programs,” says Khaw.

Program administrators started with a modest pilot program, through which some students were granted subscriptions to the edX self-paced course library. Within a week, the word was out — and student demand for subscriptions was through the roof. Administrators added 70 licenses.

Encouraged by the successful pilot, administrators used edX’s vast portfolio to offer credit-bearing elective modules across the university. Their program balanced individual and institutional goals: Once students had completed one required course — one of 40 faculty-selected options in areas such as technology, entrepreneurship, and soft skills — they’d be able to enroll in any courses they wanted. 

Faculty were active players at every stage of the progress, and key to the project’s success. They curated courses they knew would align with the university’s goals, and even participated in the courses alongside their students to foster a culture of continuous learning and collaboration.

Impact: Quality, relevance, innovation

Students, faculty, and administrators agree: The UTAR-edX partnership has yielded impressive results. 

Student engagement, by the numbers

Here are a few of the outcomes the team is most excited about: 

Putting students in the driver’s seat

Students are seeing firsthand how continuous learning can help them adapt, grow, and succeed in their future careers. With online education, they’re able to upskill on their own schedule and stay competitive as they enter the job market.

Prioritizing skills that improve employability

UTAR is equipping students with the right skills and the right mindset. Employers increasingly value candidates who demonstrate a willingness to learn and grow — a trait future UTAR grads will share. 

Driving institution-wide innovation

UTAR is strengthening its reputation as an institution that provides effective and innovative learning experiences. That practice is helping the university distinguish itself from competitors and attract the next generation of forward-thinking students.

Expanding faculty development opportunities

Faculty members now have access to professional development opportunities that sharpen their skills, too. Foo Pik Yin, a lecturer in the UTAR Department of Commerce and Accountancy, says edX programs help academic professionals stay “up to date with the latest course content development, assessments designs, and course delivery practices, therefore further improving the quality of teaching and research.”

Improving student satisfaction rates

High participation rates suggest that students are enthusiastic about additional learning opportunities. In turn, universities can learn more about the kinds of content that attracts and retains future students.

Looking ahead

UTAR is more committed than ever to its institutional vision: To foster lifelong learning and enhance student employability. And the university has plans — big ones — to turn that vision into a reality. In the short term, for instance, UTAR intends to expand its partnership with edX and explore new avenues of innovation in curriculum development. 

One thing is clear: UTAR’s proactive approach to education is one that will benefit students, faculty, and alumni for years to come.

• QS World University Rankings: South-Eastern Asia. (2024). QS Top Universities. Retrieved July 11, 2024.

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NLIHC Releases Case Study on Just Cause Eviction Laws!

NLIHC’s State and Local Innovation (SLI) project released on July 25 a case study on just cause eviction laws . The publication highlights two successful efforts to pass just cause protections – one in Oregon and the other in Washington State. The case study is part of NLIHC’s State and Local Tenant Protection Series: A Primer on Renters’ Rights , a collection of resources aiming to shape the conversation about state and local tenant protections. Read the new case study .

Just cause eviction laws, which define the permissible reasons for which a landlord can evict a tenant or refuse to renew a tenant’s lease, are intended to prevent arbitrary, retaliatory, and discriminatory evictions. In addition to defining the allowable grounds for eviction, just cause laws often include notice requirements to ensure that tenants have advanced warning of an impending eviction and enforcement mechanisms to ensure landlords and property managers comply with the law.

The new case study explores a multi-year campaign by Stable Homes for Oregon Families that culminated in passage of “S.B. 608” and an effort in Washington that resulted in passage of “H.B. 1236.” The publication gives an overview of the two pieces of legislation, details advocacy efforts by state-level organizations, and explains the impacts of the protections on the lowest-income and most marginalized households. Like other materials in the State and Local Tenant Protection Series , the new case study is meant to help state and local advocates identify successful tactics for advancing, enacting, and implementing just cause protections in their own jurisdictions, as well as to offer insights into the challenges that can occur during the advocacy and legislative processes.

NLIHC will publish three more case studies this year highlighting additional tenant protections that can work in tandem with just cause protections to ensure housing stability and prevent evictions. Explore NLIHC’s State and Local Tenant Protections Database  to learn about the more than 600 tenant protections that have been enacted in states and localities around the country.

Download the new case study here .

Find a list of existing state and local “just cause” laws here .

Lear more about NLIHC's SLI project here .

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