Technische Universität München

TUM School of Management

Luxury Marketing
Audit Project

Seminar paper

Professor: Prof. Dr. Christoph Fuchs

Chair of Marketing
Arcisstraße 21, 80333 Munich

Submitted by: Andrea Celi

ge34veh@mytum.de
Matriculation No.:
Thomas Li
ga27boh@mytum.de
Matriculation No.:
Valerie-Sophie Pittmann
valerie.pittmann@tum.de
Matriculation No.: 03652681
Hannah Schneider
hannah.k.schneider@tum.de
Matriculation No.: 03699138

Advisor: Sara Caprioli

Date of submission: 14.06.2018

Table of contents

List of figures........................................................................................................... 1

1. Status Quo ........................................................................................................ 1

1.1 Brand .................................................................................................................... 1
1.1.1 Brand history ............................................................................................................... 1
1.1.2 Brand Positioning ........................................................................................................ 1
1.1.3 Brand Identity.............................................................................................................. 2
1.2 Product.................................................................................................................. 4
1.3 Price ...................................................................................................................... 4
1.4 Promotion ............................................................................................................. 6

2. Audit ................................................................................................................ 8
2.1 Strengths & Weaknesses ........................................................................................ 8
2.2 Opportunities & Threats ..................................................................................... 10

3. Recommendations .......................................................................................... 12
3.1 Recommendation 1: A new way to strengthen customer relationship and brand
loyalty – The Mystery of Solomeo .................................................................................. 12
3.1.1 Introduction ............................................................................................................... 12
3.1.2 Literature Review ...................................................................................................... 13
3.1.3 Implementation.......................................................................................................... 15
3.1.4 Conclusion................................................................................................................. 18
3.2 Recommendation 2: Increasing brand awareness through social media marketing
on Instagram................................................................................................................ 19
3.2.1 Importance of Instagram for luxury brands and Brunello Cucinelli ......................... 19
3.2.2 Status Quo Instagram page “brunellocucinelli” ........................................................ 20
3.2.3 Improved Instagram strategy for Brunello Cucinelli................................................. 22
3.2.4 Benefits from the improved Instagram strategy ........................................................ 25
3.3 Recommendation 3: ............................................................................................. 26
3.4 Recommendation 4: ............................................................................................. 30

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List of figures
Figure 1: Segments of Luxury (Corbellini and Saviolo, 2009) applied to Brunello Cucinelli.…2
Figure 2: The Brand Identity Prism (Kapferer) applied to Brunello Cucinelli…………….……3
Figure 3:
Figure 4:
Figure 5:
Figure 6:
Figure 7:
Figure 8:
Figure 9:
Figure 10:
Figure 11:
Figure 12:
Figure 13: Competitors Comparison …………………………………...………………...…..XX
Figure 14: SWOT Analysis of Brunello Cucinelli……………………………………...…….XX
Figure 15: Impressions of Solomeo, the origin of Brunello Cucinelli…………..……………XX
Figure 16: The Outline of the Official Invitation of “The Mystery of Solomeo”…....………..XX
Figure 17: Impressions of Cruise Collections of different fashion brands………………..….XX
Figure 18: Status quo Instagram page “brunellocucinelli”……..………………………….…XX
Figure 19: Brunello Cucinelli´s improved Instagram strategy and exemplary posts ……..….XX

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1. Status Quo
1.1 Brand
Brunello Cucinelli is an Italian luxury fashion brand, headquartered in Solomeo, Italy. Its
founder Brunello Cucinelli is the heart of the same-named brand. Therefore, in the following
his background and beliefs are presented first before introducing and analyzing his company.

1.1.1 Brand history

Brunello Cucinelli was born in 1953 in Castel Rigone, a small hamlet in Italy. As a farmer´s son
Cucinelli grew up in poor conditions. He was bullied for his family´s background and bad style
of clothing at school. Cucinelli often remembers his father´s frustration from work, being
humiliated by his boss. Growing up under the described circumstances, this brought him to his
attitude expressed in Cucinelli´s most known quote: “I don´t know what I will do with my life,
but whatever it is, I will do it for the dignity of humankind”. This dream set the foundation for
Cucinelli´s life. Cucinelli further studied to become a building surveyor and found his passion
for philosophers, including Rosseau, Kant and Marcus Aurelius. (Nalley, 2013)
Following his philosophy of “being moral and economic dignity”, he found the fashion
company “Brunello Cucinelli” in 1978 (Cucinelli, 2018).
Based on Benetton´s success with colored wool sweaters upon that time, Cucinelli wanted to
produce sweaters with even better quality and started his production of cashmere sweaters with
no starting capital (Nalley, 2013). The brand nowadays “includes a completing collection of
clothing, accessories and lifestyle, which has evolved constantly over the years from its origins
in the world of cashmere” (Cucinelli, 2018). Cucinelli employs 1605 people and makes 503
million euros in revenues, while he retains to put emphasis on “fair growth and fair profit”
(Cucinelli, 2017).
Following his philosophy, Cucinelli and his wife established the Brunello and Federica
Cucinelli Foundation in 2010 to protect the land, support knowledge and tradition. Successful
projects of the foundation are the restoration of the hamlet Solomeo, building of the Theatre, in
which people gather for cultural and social events, and the School of Craftmanship to maintain
high-quality products and foster creativity. (Cucinelli, 2018)
The company´s philosophy, activities and background lead to the positioning of the fashion
brand in the luxury segments.

1.1.2 Brand Positioning

The brand Brunello Cucinelli positions in between Lifestyle and Supreme Luxury as indicated
in figure 1, which illustrates the Segments of Luxury (Corbellini and Saviolo, 2009). In the
following it will be evaluated, which attributes position the brand Brunello Cucinelli in the
Supreme and Lifestyle Luxury segment.

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 Figure 1: Segments of Luxury (Corbellini and Saviolo, 2009) applied to Brunello Cucinelli

On the one hand, the brand Brunello Cucinelli belongs to the segment of Supreme Luxury.
The clothes are handcrafted and made it Italy. A high quality is ensured by the School of
Craftsmanship, where workshops are located, and craftsmen are trained. To further obtain the
high-quality standards, precious raw materials such as cashmere are chosen. Exclusivity of the
brand is expressed through their few mono-brand stores in selected leading cities and spaces in
luxury department stores as well as the discrete branding as e.g. the brand´s logo is only
portrayed unremarkably on the buttons of the clothes. (Cucinelli, 2018)

On the other hand, the brand Brunello Cucinelli also identifies with the characteristics of
Lifestyle Luxury. The heritage of the ancient hamlet Solomeo and the brand identity, which will
be further discussed in chapter 1.13 Brand Identity are in the center of the brand Brunello
Cucinelli. Another indication for the segment of Lifestyle Luxury is the availability for
customers to shop the clothes online (shop.brunellocucinelli.com), whereby the prices of the
clothes are indicated underneath the products and are apparent to the customer at the first sight.

We come to the conclusion that the brand Brunello Cucinelli is positioned in between Supreme
and Lifestyle luxury and therefore follows a mixed strategy.

1.1.3 Brand Identity

The Brand Identity is the core of a luxury brand and strongly related to its heritage and values.
As stated by Kapferer and Bastien (2009), “identity expresses the tangible and intangible
specificities of the brand, those that make the brand what it is, without which it would be
something other.”. This does not only differentiate the luxury brand from another but also builds
up the identity of its customer and thus creating a world on its own. (Kapferer and Bastien,
2009)

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In order to define the brand identity of Brunello Cucinelli, six factors of the Brand Identity
Prism are analyzed as shown in figure 1: Physique, relationship, reflection, personality, culture
and self-image.

Figure 2: The Brand Identity Prism (Kapferer) applied to Brunello Cucinelli

Physique: The brand physiques of Brunello Cucinelli, which are the tangible characteristics of
the brand, are expressed through its brand logo design. The writing “Brunello Cucinelli” is
ancient and either brown or grey plain-colored. The brand logo shows the coat of the arm of
Solomeo with an Etruscan symbol, the writing “Solomei, 1316” and a drawing of the castle of
the ancient hamlet of Solomeo, in which the company is headquartered. Choosing this brand
logo puts emphasis on the importance of the Italian heritage and origin of Brunello Cucinelli in
Solomeo that evokes in the people´s mind being confronted with the brand Brunello Cucinelli.

Relationship: The relationship of Brunello Cucinelli to its customers is exclusive as e.g. no

customer events are publicly known but can be presumed as further discussed in the chapter 1.4
Promotion. Another aspect of the relationship is that people of the same mindset meet on an
intellectual level. Brunello Cucinelli is also talking to his workers about philosophers and his
thoughts on the contemporary world as seen in his speech “Address to My Worthy Masters of
Labor” (Cucinelli, 2018).

Reflection: Reflecting on the stereotypical consumers of Brunello Cucinelli, they are wealthy,
educated, profound, tradition-conscious and humanitarian. The customers are young to old
professionals, both men and women, whereas the typical customers are men of older age buying
the core product suits.

Personality: Personality describes the brands character. For the brand Brunello Cucinelli the
personality is defined by the character of the founder Brunello Cucinelli himself. He can be
described as traditional, local, elegant, classy and aristrocratic. This impression is underlined in

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the style of the brands clothes.

Culture: Culture is the basis for the style of clothes of Brunello Cucinelli and its
communication. Its culture is closely linked to the origin in Solomeo, Italy and therefore based
upon Italian values. In addition to that the brand´s culture implicates luxury, timelessness as
portrayed in the style of the clothes and its quality, dignity to mankind and nature, and
sustainability in the process of manufacturing.

Self-Image: Self-Image is the image a customer wearing Brunello Cucinelli clothes has of
himself/herself. Brunello Cucinelli customers see themselves as a preserver of tradition,
independent, educated and they identify with Italian heritage.

Creating an own world out of the brand identity, “strong brands are capable of weaving all
aspects into an effective whole in order to create a concise, clear and appealing brand identity”
(Kapferer, 2014). It is shown for the brand Brunello Cucinelli that all internal and external
aspects complement to its strong brand identity. The brand identity is also expressed through the
products of the brand Brunello Cucinelli.

1.2 Product

1.3 Price

Price Positioning

Pricing is a fundamental area of analysis in luxury goods. Luxury products prices need to be
high in comparison to other products in order to reflect quality, heritage, and exclusivity.
According to the “Online Offer Dive & Pricing Landscape Soft Luxury FW17/18” report
developed by Contactlab, Brunello Cucinelli stands out for the higher overall price positioning.
For entry prices, the average price of bottom quintile items, Brunello Cucinelli has the highest
overall price of the soft luxury market at about 636 US$, while, for instance, Louis Vuitton
reaches 312 US$ and Hermes, 157 US$. For median prices, Brunello Cucinelli has the highest
overall price as well at about 1760 US$. While Louis Vuitton reaches 730 US$ and Burberry,
425 US$. For top prices, the average price of top quintile items, Brunello Cucinelli has the
second highest overall price at about 6104 US$, only exceeded by Hermes at about 11806 US$,
while Louis Vuitton reaches only 3337 US$. Besides its High-End Brand nature, Brunello
Cucinelli’s higher overall price positioning is due to its limited product categories and the
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number of shoppable models within. Moreover, it is important to mention that this analysis has
not considered Loro Piana, another top brand in the cashmere clothing market. After looking
over the prices of Piana’s online boutique, the brand would be positioned next or, perhaps even
higher than Brunello Cucinelli.

Price Analysis

Brunello Cucinelli has increased its prices considerably during the last three years. This
evolution, the largest increase in the soft luxury market, corresponds to the strategy of becoming
even more “exclusive”.

Figure 8. Overall increase in e-commerce prices: entry, median and top. From “Online Offer
Dive & Pricing Landscape Soft Luxury Fw17/18” by Contactlab, 2018, p. 18

Regarding price depth, Brunello Cucinelli has a Top Price/Bottom Price Ratio of 10, low in
comparison to brands like Hermes that has a price depth ratio of 75. In terms of product
categories, the highest median price belongs to “Coats & Jackets” and the lowest, to
“Accessories” for both, womenswear and menswear collection.

Price Reduction

There are few instances for a luxury brand to lower the price of its products. One example
would be to incentive loyal customers purchases. Thus, it is surprising to find a picture of a
Brunello Cashmere Sweater with a reduced price tag written in chinese. The first reason is, that
China is a developing market for the brand, as it just generates 9.2% of the company revenues.
Second, in asian countries, prestige is strictly correlated with price. Although no details were
found about the reduced prices of Brunello Cucinelli’s products in China, we believe that these
strategies must be analyzed with great care, especially if Brunello Cucinelli wants to strengthen
its supreme luxury image.

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Figure 9. Brunello Cucinelli Price Tag

Sales Price

While price reduction might be possible, sales are not an option for luxury brands. On the
contrary, Brunello Cucinelli has shown sale prices in its online boutique. Added to the fact that
prices should not be directly displayed, the company should be aware, that prices reflect the
image of luxury products.

1.4 Promotion

1.5 Point of Sale

Distribution Channel

Distribution Channels allow luxury brands to reach and engage new customers. Brunello
Cucinelli is present all over the world and has divided its operations into five areas: Italy,
Europe, North America, Greater China and the rest of the world. Being Italy its most important
geographical segment. Regarding distribution channels, its network is divided in Monobrand,
Multi brand and Online. The Monobrand Channel, which represents 59% of the company
revenues, is subdivided in Directly Operated Stores (DOS) and wholesales, stores managed
through franchising. The Company manages 94 DOS and 30 wholesale stores, its most
important flagship stores are located in New York, Tokyo and Milan.

Figure 10.

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Brunello Cucinelli stores interior design is clean and modern with Umbrian-wood displays that
give a nod to the company’s headquarters in Solomeo. Most boutiques feature menswear and
womenswear collections, with exception of the ones located in Beijing, Capri, Portofino,
Fukuoka, Osaka and Tokyo, where independent stores can be found.

Figure 11.

The Multibrand Channel includes multibrands and luxury department stores, in which the
company itself manages how the products are shown in a way to truly represent the brand and
the style of Brunello Cucinelli. It is remarkable that the new multibrands in China are assuming
an important role to engage top-end customers.
Regarding the Online Channel, Brunello Cucinelli runs two different websites: Philosophy and
Boutique. Brunello Cucinelli’s “Philosophy” aims to communicate the company’s main values
and ideas. As Carolina Cucinelli, the web image director of the brand and daughter of Brunello,
says “We want to give our customers a piece of Solomeo through the screen”. Brunello
Cucinelli’s “Boutique”, provides a sophisticated browsing experience to buy items and
appreciate the collections. As indicated, a point to improve is, that prices should not be directly
displayed, due to its exclusive positioning strategy.

Figure 12.

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2. Audit
The second part of the seminar project consists of an audit of the brand Brunello Cucinelli. The
matrix in figure 13 shows the positioning of the brand as compared to several competitors.
Important here is, that what counts at the end is being unique and not a comparison with any
competitor. So this figure should just give an overview of the brand positioning which is here
based on pricing and exclusivity of the fashion brands.

Figure 13: Competitors comparison, following Louis Vuitton

This chapter discusses the previous’ chapter information through the use of a SWOT analysis.
This model aids in the assessment of the internal (strengths and weaknesses) and external
(opportunities and threats) factors of a company to better understand what the brand stands for
and how the brand can be characterized. Figure 14 gives an overview of all the important
internal and external factors of the brand Brunello Cucinelli.

Figure 14: SWOT Analysis of Brunello Cucinelli

2.1 Strengths & Weaknesses

To start with the strengths of the brand Brunello Cucinelli, the first and arguably most important
could be considered as the founder Cucinelli himself. He is the name as well as the face of the

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whole company and his personality not only defines the brand identity, but also augments the
company with know-how and emotionality. However, the strength of Cucinelli who focuses on
having a strong relationship between himself, his employees and his whole company, results in
weak corporate governance. The brand might be over dependent on him as a person making him
an irreplaceable asset should he become unable to continue his work. Cucinelli relies on a
humanistic type of management that focuses on social engagement. He enjoys a good reputation
among his employees and stakeholders because of his special leadership in the company. These
strengths can be proven by the fact that he donates 20 percent of the brand’s profit to social
projects and a charitable foundation owned by himself. Furthermore he pays employees 20
percent more than the Italian industry average (Malik 2015).
Another strength is the location Solomeo in the region of Umbria. This unique strategic point in
Italy is where 80 percent of the production takes place, the remaining 20 percent come from
other parts of Italy. This means that the entire production is Made in Italy, which allows for
severe quality control checks and enables the unique and authentic craftsman work of the
employees. Thus Made in Italy not only stands for a label of origin but also for a brand, a
signature itself. This kind of production supports the exclusivity and high quality of the
products. Values like tradition, creativity, authenticity and uniqueness express and obtain an
exceptional atmosphere when thinking about the brand and their origin (Hoffmann and Lecamp
2015: p. 106 et seq.). Unfortunately the unique location Solomeo hides also a weakness in itself.
The rural place makes it difficult to hire top managers and attract new young talents. Milan for
example is usually a more attractive city because of its size as well as the reputation of being the
real Italian fashion city.
The manufactured clothes of Brunello Cucinelli are sold via multi-channel distribution, which
on one side can be counted as another strength of the brand. The brand positions monobrand
boutiques on the luxury high streets of leading cities and is also present in the most exclusive
sales spaces in multibrand stores. Those few sales points and precise locations prove the
exclusivity and rarity of the brand. Another way how Cucinelli sells his products is through the
online boutique. This distribution channel now on the other side hides a little weakness. The
reason for that is that as a supreme luxury brand it could be better to just communicate via the
internet and not sell the products. The digital distribution here gives too easy access to the
products, especially because the customer can see the prices at first glance. Nowadays social
media accounts are also a very important way to promote the brand. This can be as well applied
to luxury brands as long as they count partly as lifestyle brands. Brunello Cucinelli can be
settled between a lifestyle and a supreme luxury brand. For that reason it could be a profit for
the brand if the online presence on social media platforms like Facebook or Instagram is livelier
to enhance the brand awareness. In the press release of November 2017 Cucinelli indicates the
future approach to the digital world as followed: “The digital world, ever so fascinating and
partly still unexplored, keeps providing food for thought on how we can possible “humanize”

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our relationship with the web so that it does not steal the soul that the Creation has given to
us.” (Press Release 14/11/2017: p. 1). If the brand would follow this thought a higher online
presence could be a valuable asset.
Finally the weakness should be listed that there exists a bad relation of the brand Brunello
Cucinelli with animal associations. Due to the use of real leather and furs and not using
imitations, several animal associations criticize Cucinelli.

2.2 Opportunities & Threats

In the following part the external appraisal, which discusses the main opportunities and threats
of Brunello Cucinelli, is presented. Starting with the opportunities mentioning that there are
many possible ways for the company to follow, so that the brand can continue to grow further
on.
This century is characterized by the increasing appreciation of high quality and fair produced
products. The adherence of unique, sustainable and craftsmanship-based brands like Brunello
Cucinelli is, hides enormous future selling potential. At this point perhaps Cucinelli should start
to intensify the promotion of his brand to reach higher brand awareness because his brand holds
all those features.
Furthermore the economic growth of emerging markets and the increasing importance of online
retailing can be used to extend the market presence. The opportunity should be taken to open
new monobrand boutiques in emerging markets, where people desire and can afford luxury
products. The only requirement for this is that the brand keeps his exclusive appearance and
doesn’t lose the unique identity. If this would happen the actual opportunity of the brand would
transform into a threat.
Cucinelli could also see the small weakness of not having a diversified product range as a new
challenge and opportunity to use his strong and established brand for other businesses in order
to balance risks, which are related to the constantly changing trends in the fashion industry.
However here it would be important to specifically analyse this opportunity and to see if such a
diversification of the brand would really fit to the brand identity.
Another opportunity, which the firm should follow, is the further development and
establishment of Cucinelli’s “School of Arts and Crafts” in Solomeo, Italy. Continuing along
this direction it could be possible to make the rural location in Italy more attractive to young,
talented potential employees and to give the craftsmanship a better breeding ground to (re)gain
attention and recognition. This development could also raise awareness of the brand Brunello
Cucinelli for future target groups. This is important because at the present there is only a weak
concentration on those potential customers. So the realization of this opportunity could go along
with the prevention of a possible threat.
The last potential threat, which should be mentioned here, is again Brunello Cucinelli himself.
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He is the founder, current CEO and chairman of the company and so for the whole face of the
company. This on one side defines the brand and gives the brand the actual character, but on the
other side no matter what happen in the future it would be disastrous if it would prevent
Cucinelli from his participation in the company. This strong focus on Brunello Cucinelli can be
seen as a risk for the persistence of the brand.
In conclusion, it can be said that the brand Brunello Cucinelli focuses on continuity and
permanent values. Latter can be uniqueness, tradition, high quality or similar values. The brand
is definitely well positioned but has some opportunities, which can be implemented in the future
to maybe also replace weaknesses and therefore suppress threats. Nevertheless the most
important aspect is the fit to the brand identity. So regardless of which specific new strategies
are recommended, it is necessary to make a precise analysis of the fit to the brand and his
identity and values.

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3. Recommendations
This Chapter presents four different recommendations for a successful marketing
strategy, to enhance the market positioning of the brand Brunello Cucinelli.

3.1 Recommendation 1: A new way to strengthen customer relationship and brand

loyalty – The Mystery of Solomeo
3.1.1 Introduction
Before it is possible to develop and implement a new marketing strategy it is important to
analyse the market at the status quo. A successful marketing strategy fits to the brand image and
is a forward-looking approach, which solves current or future potential problems.
Thinking about the brand Brunello Cucinelli does not always evolve much information. This
impression can be on one hand justified with the more reserved, but still clear and successful
brand identity, and on the other hand with the positioning of the brand as a partly supreme
luxury brand. A person wearing Brunello Cucinelli clothes sees luxury more as an access to
pleasure, rather than as a symbolic desire of belonging to another class and seeking for status.
As stated by Han et al. (2010) this kind of luxury client can be classified as patrician. Those
customers have a lot of money, but not a need for status and that is why they concentrate on
discrete branding (Han et al. 2010). Accordingly these customers buy Brunello Cucinelli
products for themselves, which means that the product has a value-expressive function and not a
social-adjusted one.
All this is also why Brunello Cucinelli is not the brand for big marketing and market presence.
According to a principal investigator of fashion journalism and media communication who was
interviewed for this marketing recommendation, Brunello Cucinelli is a brand that has the aim
of remaining exclusive in a fast changing environment and focuses on uniqueness, tradition and
a healthy relationship with their customers. For this reason when thinking about the future it
might be recommendable to focus enhanced on this valuable relationship to the target group and
specifically to the already existing customers of the brand. The importance of customer care
management was also proven during a conversation with the store manager of the monobrand
boutique in Munich.
While studying the brand it is obvious that Brunello Cucinelli, the face of the whole company,
has a strong connection to culture, especially to arts and music. In his so-called territory
Solomeo, a village in Umbria, the core of his family, business as well as spiritual life can be
found. It is the place where Cucinelli carefully built up “The Forum of the Arts” with “The
School of Arts and Crafts” and the Theatre Cucinelli and Amphitheatre. Both latter buildings are
used to host plays and (ballet) shows, concerts and music festivals. A few years ago Cucinelli
expanded his territory and moved the company headquarters permanently to the valley of

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Solomeo. Figure 15 gives some impressions of Solomeo, including the craftsmanship (t.l.),
Theatre Cucinelli and Amphitheatre (t.r.), Solomeo old town (b.l.) and the new company
headquarters (b.r.).

Figure 15: Impressions of Solomeo, the Origin of Brunello Cucinelli (Brunello Cucinelli Website)
The strong connection between the unique and special origin of the brand offers the foundation
to pursue a new marketing strategy with the aim to strengthen the relationship to the target
group. In order to do so the idea would be to invite selected customers from all over the world
to Solomeo, to give them an impression of the roots and the uniqueness of the whole brand. In
addition such an event can be used to (re)gain attention and recognition to this location and to
make Solomeo a more attractive location for potential employees. A growing reputation of the
area could be possible through word of mouth marketing of the selected customers or the media.
Cucinelli once did something similar, in an exceptional case, when he invited his American
clients to participate in the annual medieval festival in Solomeo (Mead 2010: p. 76). He talked
about that during an interview with the American magazine The New Yorker, which shows that
he is not averse to the idea of inviting people to his holy place. During this new event the
customers would now have the opportunity to visit the craftsmanship facilities and to see and
experience its storied production process in person. The essential requirement is that brand
values like tradition, creativity, exclusivity, authenticity and uniqueness will not be infringed,
rather than being integrated in and seen during the event. This new marketing event could bear
the title “The Mystery of Solomeo”. While pursuing this strategy the brand Brunello Cucinelli
goes beyond traditional ways to finally create a memorable experience for the customer.

3.1.2 Literature Review

Starting with the literature review Kapferer and Bastien (2012: p. 257) make the following
statement: “You communicate, you don’t advertise”. This slogan fits perfectly to the luxury
brand Brunello Cucinelli, as well as to the new marketing strategy. There are no direct

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advertisements needed to create dreams or to recharge the brand’s value, rather than to tell a
story. An event is a perfect situation to give the customers a feeling of belonging to the brand
and to create brand awareness (Kapferer and Bastien 2012: p. 259 et seq.). For this strategy it is
all about experiencing the brands universe by delivering contextual information about the brand,
its personality, identity and history (Kapferer and Bastien 2012: p. 271). In Solomeo all those
elements can be presented in a real natural way and even words are not needed to understand the
philosophy and outstanding artisanal capabilities of the region in Umbria. Kapferer and Bastien
(2012: p. 143) emphasize the importance of the brands cultural and geographical roots, so that
the customers know where the visions are derived: “An old history gives you the obligation to
be daring in the future.”. All in all, the requirement for a successful event is the coherence with
the brand and its image. It is not always easy to detect which event fits to the brand’s core and
roots (Kapferer and Bastien 2012: p. 260). Although if this requirement is met then one of the
key consequences of the event will be word of mouth marketing (Kapferer and Bastien 2012: p.
264 et seq.). For (the brand) Brunello Cucinelli there is no better place to present the label and
its heritage than the actual place of birth. This specific territory communicates the genes of the
label perfectly.
In their research Kim et al. (2016: p. 5814) found out that when entering a luxury shop,
customer emotions differ in terms of brand familiarity and the shopping motive. Therefore
especially luxury brand marketers have to think ahead and customize the design and delivery of
their communication to influence target customer emotions. During the last years several
authors emphasize the importance of memorable experiences in the luxury sector by whatever
means. Hagtvedt and Patrick (2008) reinforce the fact of communicating value via storytelling.
They emphasize that this is about presenting the brands myth that should be continuously seen
in every product, boutique or event. A marketing event like the prospective “Mystery of
Solomeo” should shape the brand’s history and educate the consumer about the characteristics
of the brand. In addition Atwal and Williams (2009) entitled their last article in the Journal of
Brand Management as followed: “Luxury brand marketing – The experience is everything!”.
The authors strengthened the fact that it becomes increasingly difficult to find the right strategy
for a luxury brand because of the fast moving trends and consumers’ personal attitudes. They
also support the idea of the consumer making emotional experiences by going beyond
functionalities and needs during experimental marketing and giving access to intangible values
like pleasure (Atwal and Williams 2009: p. 341). Klein et al. (2016: p. 5762) on the other hand
emphasize that word of mouth communication is key to strengthen their brand image and also to
spread their message. Both effects result in the relevance of the brand within the (potential)
target groups and the people’s desire for the brand (Kim and Ko 2012: p. 1484).
The literature review shows that it is important to create a unique and lively marketing strategy
to gain the customers attention and to create emotionally charged experiences. Using a holistic
approach helps to obtain memorable moments, to enjoy a lasting customer relationship and to

14
increase the brand awareness. The aim to reinforce the sense of belonging for luxury customers
is also part of luxury promotion. This can be achieved with a marketing strategy like the one
developed during this seminar project.

3.1.3 Implementation
The perfect location Solomeo, as the origin of the whole brand Brunello Cucinelli, should be
used and simultaneously appreciated in a marketing strategy while allowing the customer to
discover the brands roots. The passion of Cucinelli himself and the way how he forms the brand
should be shown to their valuable customers, to give them a very close impression of the brand
identity. In Solomeo you have the unique possibility to see real artisanal production: from the
raw materials over the Italian craftsman work, all the way until the final collection is finished.
Thus feelings of harmony, inspiration, pleasure, experience and many more are evolved, which
can finally result in a strengthened customer relationship and positive word of mouth marketing.
In the following the new marketing strategy will be further defined and the possible
implementation described. The first step is presenting the key data: as a new strategy needs to
be properly developed, the new marketing project could have its debut during the summer of
2019 and could take place once a year in the future. Since it is a weekend journey, the selected
customers would arrive on Friday and depart again on Monday morning. It goes without
explanation that the company covers all costs during the complete journey. However, to
organize it in the spirit of the philosophy of Brunello Cucinelli, all customers would have the
opportunity to donate an amount of their choice to “The Brunello and Federica Cucinelli
Foundation” which follows for example the aim to protect the land and its monuments or to
reinforce humanity. A still remaining but nevertheless really important question is who will be
invited to this extraordinary event at the place of origin of the brand Brunello Cucinelli?
Unfortunately a decision has to be taken even though every single customer of the brand should
have the opportunity to experience the roots in Solomeo. When calculating with the net revenue
of 2017 of approximately 500 million EUR (Presentation FY 2017 Results 2017: p. 4) and the
number of existing stores worldwide of 773, including monobrand boutiques and multiband
stores (Press Release 02/10/2017: p. 1), it probably would be a good benchmark to invite those
customers, who have a purchase value of the brand in the amount of 20,000 EUR. Not knowing
the exact determined quantity of customers, the aim would be to invite around the maximum
number of 50 selected customers, accompanied by one person each. Apart from that there would
be the possibility to invite two other types of guests: Firstly the best tailors or knitters to show
the closeness to the products and to specifically value their work. And secondly celebrities, but
not the usual American ones rather than famous artists, architects or musicians. Latter can be
justified with the better fit to the brand Brunello Cucinelli.
Like already mentioned before, the idea behind this new marketing strategy is to focus on

15
customer care management. During the future event the aspiration is to address all five human
senses to make the customers’ journey more memorable. Those five senses are as following:
taste, sight, touch, smell and sound. Whereas the sight, as the visual sense is the most dominant
one for humans. During the elaboration of this marketing recommendation an adherence to
those five senses took place, to ensure a perfect sensation on-site. Figure 16 now shows an
outline of the official invitation, which includes the main information and event components.

Figure 16: The Outline of the Official Invitation of “The Mystery of Solomeo” (own graphic)

In the following the new marketing concept will be described in detail:

On the first day Brunello Cucinelli and his wife Federica would welcome the guests from all
over the world with a grand Italian dinner on Friday evening, to address their sense of taste and
smell. Traditional Italian food will also accompany the guests through their whole journey in
Solomeo. After a restful night and a breakfast in the alleys of the town, the day starts with a
guided tour through Solomeo. This includes the village with all of the old buildings and
associated histories, as well as treks through the beautifully landscaped territory of Brunello
Cucinelli. One general highlight and the core of the tour will be a visit of “The Forum of the
Arts” with “The School of Arts and Crafts”. This is intended to show the guests the artisans of
tomorrow and how they are trained. The guests will receive an insight in Italian craftsmanship
and therefore see how high quality materials are going to be manufactured with passion and
pleasure. In this location while being in contact with all materials, it is possible to address the
senses of touch and smell. Towards the end they will know how their highly esteemed products
of the brand Brunello Cucinelli are produced in accordance with the signature Made in Italy. If
desired the guests will have the opportunity to buy products in the small sales area on-site.
Another part of the tour is the visit of the company’s administrative headquarters, in the valley
of Solomeo. Here Cucinelli’s “Project of Beauty”, the expansion of his business can be visited.
Throughout the day, apart from the senses already mentioned, the sense of sight was addressed
almost all the time because the guests are confronted with all the new impressions. Still missing
is the sense of hearing. Therefore in the evening, after another Italian dinner, a theatre play (e.g.

16
Romeo and Juliet) including classical music will be hosted in the Theatre Cucinelli. Sunday
morning it starts slightly calmer. After breakfast all guests have the opportunity to choose
between the following two activities: a hot-air balloon ride over Solomeo or an exclusive
vintage car drive through Umbria. Both activities enable a view from another perspective on the
region of Solomeo. Depending on the desired level of activity the guests can choose their
preferable event component. During both activities the sense of sight and perhaps also the sense
of sound are going to be addressed. The evening program will be another highlight of the
guest’s journey in Solomeo. After the last traditional Italian dinner they will benefit from an
exclusive fashion show in the Cucinelli Amphitheatre accompanied by a jazz concert. This
combination of fashion and music creates synergies in the form of harmony, inspiration,
experiences and many more. For the Chanel’s Metiers d’Art Show in fall 2017, the designer
Karl Lagerfeld chose also the combination of music and fashion to present their pre-fall 2017/18
collection. In the Elbphilharmonie Concert Hall in Hamburg, invited guests obtained “an
incredible emotional moment” during a “lively installation” (ZDF 2017). Fashion shows like
this are so called ‘métier d’art-’ or ‘cruise shows’ and usually take place during the summer
months in extraordinary locations. Fashion brands not only have to produce fashion anymore,
but above all also visual worlds. Figure 17 gives an impression of how such cruise collections
can be presented at an extraordinary place.

Figure 17: Impressions of Cruise Collections of different fashion brands (Vogue Website)

For the brand Brunello Cucinelli and its identity, there is probably no better place as the brands
origin to do such a show. Since Cucinelli always asks a jazz band (named Vocal Invitation) to
act when having a grand monobrand boutique opening in Germany, this kind of music also
seems to be fitting for “The Mystery of Solomeo”. The guests have the opportunity to let the
whole journey end with a harmonious show and evening-filling program. After a last breakfast
in the alleys of Solomeo, all guests will receive some little things from Italy to take home with
and will be of course transported to the airport if desired.
When thinking about future events, the cooperation with luxury brands of other product ranges
can be possible to benefit from the others product expertise. Examples would be a wine or

17
champagne manufacturer like Moët & Chandon who could sponsor and present their variety of
high quality drinks or an Italian car manufacturer like Maserati or Ferrari who then could
sponsor the exclusive car drive through the region. Those cooperations would be part of a new
marketing strategy, which also has to be analysed in advance to see if the desired effects can be
achieved.

3.1.4 Conclusion
All in all the objective pursued by this presented new marketing strategy is to hold a so called
micro-event for selective customers to deepen their affinity with the brand Brunello Cucinelli
and to engineer lasting memories with the brand and their origin. Using this strategy the brand
chooses a new way to stand out in the competitive luxury market and remind their customers
that luxury is not just a commodity rather than an experience. The company and especially the
investors should see this kind of event as an investment for the future because interactive
experiences increase customer’s loyalty with the brand and bring a high return on investment in
the end. Sharing unique moments and having extraordinary good times make the customer
never forget this journey, give him a feeling of belongingness and thus make it easier to
remember the brand and their products. As reward for their loyalty, customers would receive a
highly tailored event, which offers arts and culture-based experiences at the place where
everything started – Solomeo.

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3.2 Recommendation 2: Increasing brand awareness through social media marketing
on Instagram
3.2.1 Importance of Instagram for luxury brands and Brunello Cucinelli
One of the trends in the New Luxury is the change from personal luxury goods to luxury
experiences (Kapferer, 2012). This implies that the aim of fashion luxury brands is not excluded
to selling exclusive, high-quality clothes but also to create an experience for their customers.
One part of this experience is to create communities through social media, in which existing
customers can communicate, non-customers can discover the brand and also people not
primarily interested in the brand´s product but e.g. sharing the same values, can become part of
the community.
As a survey by McKinsey (2014) revealed, the behavior of luxury consumers is changing:
Luxury consumers are more mobile than ever as 75% of “luxury shoppers carry digital devices
so powerful that the word ‘phone’ barely describes them”. Besides that, luxury consumers make
online searches and get involved in communities before they buy the actual product in the store.
Taking into account this changing behavior of luxury shoppers, luxury brands need to react on
that by providing an outstanding online experience. (Dauritz et al., 2014)
Besides the website, social media such as Instagram, Youtube, Pinterest and Facebook complete
most of the brands online experience. As a study by the L2 Digital IQ Index revealed, Instagram
following´s for brands increased by an average of 53% in 2017 and is therefore far ahead from
the other social media channels (Azis, 2017). This trend is one reason why fashion brands such
as Brunello Cucinelli should invest in Instagram. Furthermore, Kopiasz as Senior Vice President
of Marketing at Parfums Christian Dior said: “The best way for luxury brands to inspire
consumers has always been through storytelling. As Instagram is a visual storytelling platform,
the link is a natural fit.”. This is supported by Chen as Head of Partnerships, Instagram, stating:
“Fashion and Instagram are so intrinsically linked right now. I don´t know that one can exist
without the other these days.”. (Instagram Business, 2017)
Brunello Cucinelli as a fashion luxury brand needs to adapt to these digital trends through social
media presence. For the reasons of Instagram´s current growth and increased importance, the
storytelling potential and the link to fashion, the following social media strategy for the brand
Brunello Cucinelli will focus on the platform Instagram.

Despite the general trends, further characteristics and objectives of the brand Brunello Cucinelli
motivate, why they should focus more on their presence on Instagram. As discussed in the
chapter 1.1.2 Brand Positioning, the brand Brunello Cucinelli is positioned in between lifestyle
and supreme luxury. Therefore, it is important to keep exclusivity but also raise brand
awareness though social media such as Instagram.
As indicated in the SWOT analysis, a threat for the brand Brunello Cucinelli are the fast-
changing trends in the industry and they already reacted towards the digital trends by
19
introducing the “Great Internet Project”. Part of this project is to take advantage of digital
developments in a unique way and act as “humanist web artisans”. (Cucinelli, 2016)
Besides the new setup of the website, Instagram should also be part of this project.
Brunello Cucinelli wants to focus more on younger generations for the future, which can also be
seen in the choice of the models to present the brand´s apparel e.g. in their online boutique. This
generation can be reached perfectly through Instagram as most of Instagram users are aged
between 18-34 years (Statista, 2018).
When looking at the website of Brunello Cucinelli, they present a world of images, portraying
the “beauty of the world” with e.g. images of the hamlet Solomeo and its cultural heritage. This
“world of images” fits to Instagram being a platform to share images and other visual content.

3.2.2 Status Quo Instagram page “brunellocucinelli”

Before introducing the improved Instagram strategy for Brunello Cucinelli, the status quo and
its current weaknesses needs to be analyzed.

Figure 18: Status quo Instagram page “brunellocucinelli”

The official Instagram page “brunellocucinelli” was established in July 2014. Since its
establishment, “brunellocucinelli” shared 47 posts and gained 228k followers. The followers
can expect 1-2 posts per month and react on the content with a big range of likes, in average 4k
likes and about 40 comments on a post. (Instagram Brunello Cucinelli, 2018)
Based on these facts, the current Instagram strategy does not exhaust its full potential.

The content shared by “brunellocucinelli” is very little as only 47 posts have been shared.
Therefore, the brand Brunello Cucinelli is not kept in the follower´s mind and brand awareness
is limited.
The first impression looking at the Instagram page is that a “fanpage” for Brunello Cucinelli
was created, the content of the pictures is focused on the portrayal of the figure Brunello
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Cucinelli. Pictures of Brunello Cucinelli, attending events such as the award ceremony at the
Messina University, a discussion about contemporary themes at Salesforce, holding a speech at
the Bologna University or receiving the Global Economy Prize 2017 at the Kiel Institute, are the
main content. He often expresses his gratitude of attending an event and being honored
accompanied by a picture of him and other attendees in this special event. An example is shown
in the third picture of figure 18, in which you can see Brunello Cucinelli with three other people
public talking at the Sarbonne University. The caption says: “A special thank-you to this
magnificent university for having given me the possibility to describe what it´s like to live and
work in a small Italian village.”. The figure Brunello Cucinelli is indispensable for the brand
and its success, but his values and beliefs should be more central than his public appearance.
This directly leads to the next problem of the current Instagram content, that the brand identity
is not portrayed through the page and the values, which the brand Brunello Cucinelli stands for,
are not communicated properly. For the audience it would be rather interesting to see “what it´s
like to live and work in a small Italian village” rather than getting the information that Brunello
Cucinelli talked about that at the university. The shared values of humanity, nature, beauty,
craftsmanship, respect, dignity etc. should be communicated more clearly. Picturing those
values instead of highlighting the founder´s public presence, the audience would get a good
understanding of the brand identity and therefore be able to find passion for the same values.
This might but does not necessarily have to lead to a passion for the apparel that Brunello
Cucinelli offers and attract new customers as well as retain and engage customers who are
already part of the community.
The current Instagram page shares very mixed content, both in regard to quality and themes. A
post from 1st July 2017 shows Brunello Cucinelli at a university with a bad quality photo. This
photo is accompanied by a very high-quality photo of Italian grapes, showing the gift of nature
and therefore conveying one of the company´s values. A structured and consistent content is
essential to gather a larger community because the audience wants to know which content to
expect. For the presented strategy we want to build up on these strong images.
As can be seen in the number of comments, the community is not very engaged in a discussion,
the comments focus on congratulating Brunello Cucinelli for his achievements, e.g. “Un grande
Uomo”, which suits the impression of the “Brunello Cucinelli fanpage”. As most of the
comments are in Italian language, it can be presumed that the current target group are Italian,
customers and people who admire Brunello Cucinelli. A higher engagement and variety of the
community would lead to a higher brand awareness and increasing community.

Comparing the current Instagram page with the website, the philosophy website conveys the
brand´s values very well and it is the objective to convey the same message with the improved
Instagram appearance.

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3.2.3 Improved Instagram strategy for Brunello Cucinelli
As stated by Kapferer (2012), “in luxury, you communicate in order to create the dream, to
recharge the brand´s value and to create awareness”. This is our reference to build up a
successful Instagram strategy. The improved Instagram strategy for Brunello Cucinelli will be
explained in terms of content, tools, communication and implementation.

Figure 19: Brunello Cucinelli´s improved Instagram strategy and exemplary posts

Content
A structured, authentic and inspiring content of the Instagram page is the key to success.
Inspiring pictures are accompanied by quotes of philosophers such as used on Brunello
Cucinelli´s philosophy website and his thoughts on the contemporary world. This will attract a
more diversified follower base and more importantly not make them “scroll over” the images
but think about it, evoke emotions and discussions.

Italian heritage: The brand Brunello Cucinelli has its origin in the ancient hamlet of Solomeo,
Italy, which has been restored by Brunello Cucinelli. The importance is expressed in the

22
following citation: “Solomeo lies deep in Brunello´s heart as it represents the core of his family,
business and spiritual life.” (Cucinelli, 2018). The connection between the village and the
brand Brunello Cucinelli is so strong that Solomeo is referred to as “Cucinelli-land” (Nalley,
2013). Pictures of buildings as the Church of Saint Bartholomew, The Forum of the Art, the
theatre and the castle, local people, local fruit and nature can be shown here. These images are
accompanied by telling stories about the traditions, history and happy life in Solomeo.
The exemplary post shows the hill and castle of Solomeo, captioned with a quote from
Rousseau “Life in the city is difficult. We must return to live in villages, rethink and reshape
humanity.”.

Brunello Cucinelli: The personage Brunello Cucinelli is the heart of the brand itself and
therefore needs to be portrayed in the Instagram page, delivering the brand´s identity. The life of
Brunello Cucinelli, showing him with his family, in the earlier stages of his life, or engaging
with his workers can be shown here. These images are accompanied by his observations of the
world, way of leading business with “Humanistic Capitalism”, attitude and beliefs.
The exemplary post shows Brunello Cucinelli with his wife and daughters at the piano,
captioned with a quote from Brunello Cucinelli: “We don´t take care of what we do today, but
we work hard to leave the place we found more beautiful for the future generations.”.

Cultural events: Culture including music and arts is very important in the life of Brunello
Cucinelli. Through images and videos, the audience is given impression of e.g. performances in
the theatre of arts by artists such as Peter Brook and Toni Servillo. The content of cultural
events does not only share value but also evokes the feeling of desire of belonging to this
community for the followers. This is supported by Kapferer (2012), saying that “luxury
customers must feel as being part of a club”. Therefore, peaks of special customer events as
inviting them to a concert in the Theatre with the artist Toni Servillo theatre are also shown to
reinforce these emotions.

Apparel: The men´s and women´s apparel should be shown in between the other inspiring
content. The goal is to create stories around the content and inform the observer about the
values of craftmanship and high-quality, which the made-in-Italy products stand for. To mention
is that the product is not in the center of attention as the goal of this improved Instagram
promotion strategy is to communicate, not to advertise (Kapferer, 2012). This is intensified by
making use of storytelling around the products. The pictures from the online boutique are used,
which tell stories about e.g. wearing the dress at a lonely beach with the sun setting (as seen in
figure 19). This evokes emotions in the observer´s mind, who are remembered of situations or
imagine themselves being at this beach in a breathtaking scenery. Therefore, the product itself is
not advertised to be sold, but on an emotional level the experiences owning the product can be
imagined.

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All four content aspects are shown equally as they represent “the world of the brand Brunello
Cucinelli”.
Tools
The use of tools in Instagram has to be selected carefully as the presence needs to be authentic
for the brand Brunello Cucinelli and remain its exclusivity.

Images: The power of images is enormous and gets the attention of people more than texts.
Luxury brands “are setting the visual standards for others to follow” (Facebook, 2017) and so it
is recommended for Brunello Cucinelli to use the extraordinary images they have created and
show on their website to inspire a broader audience at Instagram with their images.

Videos: As found in a survey by Instagram (Facebook, 2017), “video is the ultimate medium for
luxury, providing more emotive and expressive ways to show your brand”. For Brunello
Cucinelli videos are used as a strong tool to show the apparel in slow-motion in action and
therefore convince the customer of the fabric´s quality and let them mentally “experience” the
product.

Stories: Stories are recommended to bring the brand to life for a highly- engaged audience and
to bring the audience closer (Facebook, 2017). The content of the stories recommended for
Brunello Cucinelli are videos of the process of craftmanship of the products, behind-the-scenes
footage and videos impressing the spirit of Solomeo, e.g. the sun setting above the hill of the
castle in Solomeo. With this tool of stories Brunello Cucinelli can reduce the distance from the
brand to the audience and be more present for the audience.

Hashtags: As researched by Instagram, “hashtags are a great way to mobilize your community.
Instagrammers use them prolifically for research and inspiration, and no group conducts more
hashtags searches than luxury aficionados.” (Facebook, 2017). Recommended for Brunello
Cucinelli is to use a mix of popular hashtags such as #fashion and their own created custom
hashtags #brunellocucinelli and #cucinelli. This will on the one hand lead to a larger audience
calling attention to their posts e.g. through the search of popular hashtags and on the other hand
allowing the community to post their own content associated with #brunellocucinelli. Further
the feeling of being part of a club is evoked for the users.

Location and people tags: Location tags such as the place Solomeo or the Theatre are
recommended to use. People discovering places through the location search function of
Instagram can therefore discover the brand. People tags should only be used if e.g. an image of
a musician is posted (see figure 19 tag of Toni Servillo). The community of the artist would then
also be made aware of Brunello Cucinelli. At the same time, people with the same values and
interests are directly targeted.
24
On purpose, tools such as purchasing tag or sponsoring are not introduced in this strategy as
Brunello Cucinelli does not aim to advertise and sell its products through Instagram but to
increase its brand awareness. The combination of the tools images, videos and stories,
accompanied by meaningful captions and hashtags is the key to success for the Instagram
presence of Brunello Cucinelli.

Communication
The communication plan includes the frequency of connection to the followers and the defined
target group.

Connection: Frequent connection and engagement with the users is essential to be in the
discussion, discovered by new people, fulfill the expectation of followers and give them a
feeling of belonging to the community. Very popular Instagram pages such as “channelofficial”
provide around two posts per day (Channel, 2018). However, for Brunello Cucinelli as a brand
positioned in between supreme and lifestyle luxury, and to retain its exclusivity, 1 post in 2 days
is recommended. The recommended time for the posts of Brunello Cucinelli are 7-9pm as most
of the users can be reached then (Loren, T., 2018). The tool of stories instead can be used every
day. Further recommended is to reply to some user´s comments to engage them and create a
discussion.

Target group: The target group reached with this renewed Instagram strategy are existing
customers, people with a passion for fashion, nature, philosophy, craftsmanship etc. When
creating content, the target group needs to be bared in mind.

Implementation
The improved Instagram strategy for Brunello Cucinelli is implemented as part of the “Great
Internet Project”. The Instagram page needs to be managed carefully by a communication and
marketing director, for which Brunello Cucinelli´s daughter Carolina Cucinelli would be
proposed as she knows and shares the same family´s and brand´s values and also successfully
managed setting up the new website.
Not only creating content but also monitoring on Instagram is essential. The content of
comments, tags and places associated with Brunello Cucinelli should be monitored.
The feedback of followers, customers is valuable to have a continued improvement of Brunello
Cucinelli´s online presence.

3.2.4 Benefits from the improved Instagram strategy

Comparing the old with the new Instagram strategy, many objectives are reached. Through the
authentic and structured content, the brand´s identity and its values are visualized. By creating a

25
strong Instagram community, the relationship with existing customers is strengthened to raise
brand loyalty. Also, non-customer audience is reached by using different hashtags, location and
person tags. A younger audience can be attracted to the brand because they are generally
frequent users of Instagram. Giving insides of the company e.g. through sharing stories, the
distance from the brand to the audience is reduced. Through the purposeful choice of images
and videos, emotions are evoked and the dream is created. Nevertheless, Brunello Cucinelli
remains authentic with its online presence on Instagram and focuses on exclusive content
instead of advertising.

To conclude, Cucinelli emphasized in an interview the importance of Instagram: “We´re living

in a world that is rapidly changing. Not the internet itself anymore but Instagram is changing the
world dramatically. As is well known, pictures say more than a thousand words and they all
speak the same language. Pictures are understood all over the world.“ (Oess, 2017).
Implementing the improved Instagram strategy, the brand will reach its full potential to be
understood all over the world.

3.3 Recommendation 3:

An opportunity

The Brunello Cucinelli Communication Plan for 2018 has stated “Brunello Cucinelli is having
difficulties in adapting to a rapidly changing market, which distances the brand from customers.
Therefore, there is an opportunity based on becoming more active and create a deeper
relationship with clients.” In this scenario, I want to design a strategy that can strengthen
Brunello Cucinelli’s philosophy and embrace customers desirability towards the brand. One
such approach is experiential marketing, that “allows customers to engage and interact with
brands, products, and services in sensory ways.” With a new generation of luxury consumers
getting to know the brands online rather than in boutiques, it can be difficult for Brunello
Cucinelli to stand out and exhibit its philosophy and values. As B. Schmitt (1999) argued,
‘traditional marketing was developed in response to the industrial age, not the information,
branding and communications revolution we are facing today’. Consequently, Hermes has
created “Wanderland”, an itinerant exhibition inspired by the house’s 2015 theme of flânerie,
or the act of wandering the city streets and enjoying the details of everyday life. Wanderland
featured interactive installations with objects drawn from the Hermès archives or collections.
The exhibition proved highly successful, attracting nearly 113 000 visitors in London, 80000
visitors in Shanghai and close to 65,000 in Taipei. Another brilliant strategy of Hermes was to
set up Hermèsmatic, a temporary laundromat that enabled customers to overdye their scarves
with unusual colors. This pop-up space has travelled 15 cities worldwide providing an
immersive brand experience.

26
Figure 35.

Brunello Cucinelli Resources

To design an experiential marketing strategy for Brunello Cucinelli, we must consider not only
its communication objectives, but also its resources: the brands unique philosophy, its School of
Arts and Crafts and its global presence.
Brunello Cucinelli’s philosophy is summarized best in its founders words “I have listened to the
wise and moving words of Saint Francis, Saint Benedict, Kant, Marcus Aurelius, Socrates,
Seneca, and I have realised that economic value is nothing without the human component and
that the former cannot survive without the latter”. The company is founded on the principle of
common good and people are at the very center of every production process. Brunello Cucinelli
has established a School of Arts and Crafts in Solomeo, where students can understand the true
value of craftsmanship and learn different disciplines related to the company’s production.
Alongside tailoring, disciplines including embroidery, knitting and masonry are taught. As an
italian renaissance workshop, the courses are attended by no more than twenty students at a
time. Brunello Cucinelli is present in over 50 countries, with more than 80 capital city
monobrand stores and a presence in about 1,000 multi-brand luxury department stores.

Figure 36.
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Inspiration

My inspiration to build a memorable experience, comes from one of the oldest forms of art in
human civilization, Textile art. Textile art is the process of creating something using fibers
gained from sources like plants, animals, or synthetic materials. Textile art includes tapestries,
rugs, quilts, and clothing. It displays diverse motifs, for example, the Paracas, an andean society
located in what today is Peru, have knitted textile art masterpieces made mainly from cotton and
camelid fibres that display vibrant colors produced by the use of natural dyes. Those textiles
were valued as a means for sharing beliefs and to signal status. A second example is the
Chamba Rumal, an embroidered handkerchief produced during the 17th century in the
northwest of India. Traditionally made of silk or fine cotton, the precision of this needle art
makes it appear as if it was a painting.
The rumals were often used for ceremonial purposes to cover gifts and as an expression of the
historical and cultural significance of the occasion. As the examples show, textiles have been a
way for many cultures to communicate history, values and beliefs. Considering the importance
of craftsmanship and the unique philosophy of Brunello Cucinelli, textile art would a good way
to communicate the brands identity.

Figure 37.

The Idea

With the objectives to strengthen Brunello Cucinelli’s presence and to embrace customers
desirability towards the brand, I recommend to present an itinerant art exhibition of tapestries
that show the history and philosophy of the brand. The tapestries will be produced by the
School of Arts and Crafts, based on pictures from the brands archive. Adequate pictures would
be, for example:

 The town of Solomeo.

 A ceramic plaque with the quote, “I feel responsible for all the beauty in the world”.
 An old italian newspaper article titled “Cucinelli, quel cashmere che sa scaldare il
cuore” (Cucinelli, the cashmere that knows how to warm the heart).
 A little girl next to a cashmere goat.
 Brunello Cucinelli in Mongolia, surrounded by nomadic goatherds.
 The artisans of Brunello Cucinelli.
 The designers of Brunello Cucinelli.

Each tapestrie should be presented with a caption which refers to the elaboration process and
significance of a Brunello Cucinelli cashmere garment.

28
Figure 38.

Implementation

As Brunello Cucinelli is not old enough to have a strong heritage aspect associated with the
brand, it is difficult to locate this art exhibition in a Museum. Thus, flagship stores will be the
ideal location to experience the brand and to have the possibility to buy its products. The most
important flagship stores are located in New York, Toronto, London, Paris, Milan, Tokyo, Hong
Kong and Seoul. The first exhibition should be held in an asian city, as it is a fast growing
market and Brunello Cucinelli has yet plenty of scope for engaging new customers (see
Apendix).

Figure 39.

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The exhibition would have an opening event to which the most important clients and brand
ambassadors will be invited. The event atmosphere will resemble the small village of Solomeo,
peaceful and romantic. The background music will be classical, including songs of artists such
as Mozart and Beethoven. As a way of creating an entertaining environment, there will be a
catering service offering appetizers with olive oil from Brunello’s wineyard and Sagrantino di
Montefalco, Umbria’s best red wine. As B. Schmitt has noted, brands should find “a duck”, an
element that summarizes the whole experience. When he stayed for the first time in the Conrad
Hotel in Hong Kong, he had found on the rim of the room’s bathtub a bright yellow rubber duck
with a red mouth. It has become the starting point of remembering the entire hotel experience.
Similar to that, I would like to include the possibility for customers to drop off their bought
Brunello Cucinelli garments at a replica of the window of the School of Arts and Crafts and
receive, some days later, the garment with the initials of their surnames embroidered. Besides
the personalised product, this interaction summarizes the experience: Brunello Cucinelli
garments are inspired by a unique philosophy, where customers become custodians and not
owners. Brunello Cucinelli garments are to be worn and passed on to next generations.

Benefits

The main benefit of an experiential marketing strategy is that consumers become immersed into
the brands world. I believe that this itinerant art exhibition of tapestries can help to consolidate
the brands recognition, establish meaningful relationships with customers and embrace their
desirability towards the brand.

3.4 Recommendation 4:

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