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Managing products P A G E 379
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:
R BER~y RENA IssA Nc E
t is called 'doing a Cucci' after Domenico De Sole and
r, Rose Mane Bravo's makeover of the 143-year-old
urberry brand has followed the same path.
- watches, blue jeans, bikinis, homewares and shoes in order
World War, business was booming as Burberry won
putation grew when it proved its contribution to the
inffany's, the Burbeny trenchcoat gained widespread
e popularity from the 1940s to the 1970s had waned by
1980s. A less deferential society no longer yearned to
dress like the upper classes and the Burberry brand's cachet
fell in the UK. This was partially offset by a surge in sales to
the newly rich Japaneseand other Asians after they discov-
ered its famous (and trademarked) tan, blacWred and white
check pattern. By the mid-1990s, the Far East accounted
for an unbalanced 75 per cent of Burbeny sales. British and
American consumers began to regard it as an Asian brand
and rather staid. Furthermore, distribution was focused on
small shops with few big fashion chains and upmarket
stores like Harrods stocking the brand. In the USA, stores ,
like Barney's, Neiman Marcus and Saks only sold Burberry
raincoats, not the higher profit margin accessories (e.g.
handbags, belts, scarves and wraps).
Change of strategy
These problems resulted in profit falls in the 1990s culmi-
nating in a f 37 million (€53 million) drop in profits to f 25
million (€36 million) in 1997. This prompted some serious
managerial rethinking and the recruitment of American
Rose Marie Bravo as a new chief executive. Responsible for
the turnaround of the US store chain Saks Fifth Avenue, she
had the necessary experience to make the radical changes
required at Burberry.
One of her first moves was to appoint young designer
Roberto Menichetti to overhaul the clothes range. His
challenge was to redesign Burbeny's raincoats and other
traditional products to keep them fresh and attractive to
new generations of younger consumers. Furthermore, he
sought to extend the Burberry image to a new range of
products. The Burberry brand name began to appear on
such products as children's clothes, personal products,
to attract new customers and broaden the company's
sales base. Commenting on Menichetti, Bravo said,
'Coming in, I had studied Herrnes and Cucci and other
great brands, and it struck me that even during the
periods when they had dipped a bit, they never lost the
essence of whatever made those brands sing. And I
thought, "This man will retain what's good and move us
forward."'
Design was further strengthened in 2001 with the
appointment of Christopher Bailey (from Cucci) as
Burbeny's creative director. He created Burberry 'classics
with a twist' (for example, recasting the classic trenchcoat
in hot pink). Bailey's job was to design clothes that met
Bravo's vision of heritage and classic, but young, modern,
hip and fashionable..
 *: ItiE'l!, ',J ?
P A TJ E 3 8 o Marketing Mix Decisions
A second element of her strategy was to bring in adver-
tising agency Baron & Baron and celebrity photographer
MarioTestino to shoot ads featuring models Kate Moss and
Stella Tennant. Other celebrities, such as the Beckhams,
Callum Best, ~lizabettiJagger, Nicole Appleton and Jarvis
Cocker' have also featured in Burberry advertising. The
focus was to emphasize the new credentials of the Burberry
brand without casting off its classic roots. Getting key
celebrities to don the Burberry check in its advertising was
highly important in achieving this. Bravo once remarked
that the famous picture of Kate Moss in a Burberry check
bra cut the average age of its customers by 30 years.
A third strand in Bravo's strategy was t o sort out dis-
tribution. Unprofitablelshopswere closed and an emphasis
placed on flagship stores in cosmopolitan cities. Prestige
UK retailers including Harvey Nichols were selected to
stock exclusive ranges. Bravo commented, 'We were selling
in 20 small shops in Knightsbridge alone, but we weren't
in Hanods.' Also, stores that were selling only raincoats
were persuaded to stock high-margin accessories as well
Burberry accessories have increased from 20 per cent to
I
25 per cent of turnover. This was part of a wider focus on
gifts-the more affordable side of luxury that can drive
heavy footfall through the stores. As Bravo said, 'Burberry
has to be thought of as a gift store. Customers have to
feel they can go into Burberry and buy gifts at various
price points.'
International expansion was also high on Bravo's pri-
ority list. A succession of new stores have been opened,
including flagship stores in London, New York and
Barcelona. The New York store on 57th Street was the real-
ization of a personal dream for Bravo, whose vision was to
replace the store the company had been running in
Manhattan for almost 25 years with one that was bigger,
. - better and far more profitable. It is the biggest Burbeny
store worldwide and has a number of Burberry 'firsts': a
lavish gift department, a large area for accessories, private
shopping and an in-store Mad Hatters tea room. It also
offers a service called Art of the Trench where customers
can get made-to-measure trenchcoats customized by
allowing them to pick their own lining, collar, checks and
tartan. The Barcelona store was regarded as vital in helping
to reposition the Burbeny brand in Spain. Prior to its
opening the brand was slightly less fashionable and sold at
slightly lower prices than in the UK. The opening of the
Barcelona store saw the London product being displayed
for the first time as Burberry moved towards one global
offering. Besides the USA and Spain, Burberry's third pri-
ority country was Japan since it was an enormous market
for the company already.
The results of this activity have been astonishing.
Profits soared to f 162 million (€227 million) by 2
six-fold increase since she took over, and in 2002
Universal Stores floated one-third of Burberry, i
sidiary, on the stock market, raising f275 million
million). Then in December 2005 it demerged B
completely, allocating Burberry stores to GUS shakho
in proportion to their holdings in a deal worth f 1.4 b~
(€2.0 billion). I
Burberry does face problems, 'however. One
weeding out of grey-market goods, which are o
cheaply in Asia only to be diverted back to western m
at discounts. Not only are sales affected but brand
can be tarnished. Like Oior before it, Burbeny is willin
spend the necessary money to try to eliminate this adi
Another ptoblem is that of copycats which in
its trademark. Burberry claim to spend about f 2
(€2.8 million) a year fighting counterfeits, running a
tisements in trade publications and sending letters to
groups, textile manufacturersand retailers reminding th
about its trademark rights. It uses an Internet-monito
service to help pick up online discussion about count
It also works with Customs officials and local police
to seize fakes and sue infringers.
The fondness with which so-called 'chavs' regard
Burberry check is a third problem. One obsewer"
defined a chav as a young, white, under-educated u
class obsessed with brands and unsuitable jewellery.
product with which chavs have become part1
ated is the Burberry baseball cap. They are a
with violence, particularly at football matches.The sigh
football hooligans appearing in the media adomed
and black check was not one appreciated at Burbe
In response, the company has stopped producing the in
mous cap and is shiftingemphasis to other non-check lin
including its Prorsum line of luxury clothing designed
Bailey.
A fourth problem arose in 2005 with the annou
ment that Bravo had decided tg step down as
executive.The woman who had built Burberry into an u
fashionable f 2 billion (€2.8 billion) global bran
need to be replaced. Her successor is Angela Ahren
was recruited from the US clothing company Liz Clal
which owns such brands as DKNY jeans and Juicy Co
After a period of working together,Ahrendts took the
in July 2006 with Bravo taking the newly created role
vice-chairperson, a part-time executive position. The
chlef executive opportunities to further bu
brand by expanding in the USA (especially the MI
China and Russia. She has also set about improvl
office' efficiencies such as supply chaln management
executive coordination.
 Managing products

i~ibferences Streetloumal, 7 May; Barton, B. and N. Pratley (2004)

)bed on:
J. O U S Burberry, Marketing, 1
A ~ O ~ ~ (2002) The Two Faces of Burberry, Guardian G2,15 April 2-3;
3: August, 17; Anonymous (2003) Retail Brief: Burbeny Barns, E. (2005) Are Advertisers Wise to Chase the Chav
<ri
Group pk, Wall Street Journal, 23 May, 6; Heller, R Pound?, Campaign, 24 March, 18; Callan, E. (2006)
'
(2000) A British Gucci, Forbes, 3 April, 846; Voyle, S. Burbeny Seeks to Offer Luxury in US Midwest, Financial
Times, 7 July, 1;Walsh, F. (2006) Burbeny Chief Turns on
. (2002) Looking Beyond the Traditional Trenchcoat,
./

Charm with 19 per cent Growth in Retail Sales, Guardian,

Financial Times, 12 November, 12; White, E. (2003)
Protecting the Real Plaid from a Lineup of Fakes, Wall 13 July, 28.

@ How were the clothes karing the Burbcny name augmented to create a brand before the 1980r?
What elements of the brand-building factors discussed in this chapter have been used by Rose Marie Bravo since
1997 to rebuild the Burbeny brand?

What pwblems might arise in trying to build Burberry info a global brand?

\rO What are the dangers inherent in Burberry's strategy since 1997?
\. Thk w e was written by David Jobber, Pmfksor of Marketing, University of Brudfod.