Appunti di Management of Fashion Companies

Brand management

Brands nowadays say who we are in the world, they're symbols of identity. Being different choosing a brand seems a paradox, but somehow it represents the values people recognize themselves with.

Many people have tattooed the Apple brand for its meaning: think different. The bitten apple represents the forbidden fruit, something transgressive. This image is something that everybody shares and this is the real paradox that is in branding: I want to say that I'm different, that I'm breaking the rules but to do this I choose an image that all people know and share.

This is what makes branding: something that creates a bond across people, but at the meantime helps them to define their uniqueness which today is a very important value.

The reason why it's important to have a well-known brand is to protect your copyright, your creativity, in fashion your design. Why are brands like Zara or H&M allowed to copy the same style of Balenciaga?

Versace…? Because the brand is copyrighted but not the design. On one hand there is nothing new, on the other it will be too expensive and time consuming to protect the design because of the rarity of the items in a collection and because of the very fast lifecycle. In fashion you cannot just protect the product, but you need to have something above them: the brand. People will associate particular values to that product and will make them willing to pay a premium price.

To create a brand is not so easy: you must invest a lot in marketing. One characteristic of a brand is that they are an asset. When fashion companies are sold usually, they do not take on the market the value that is the equivalent of the turnover, but they are sold for a higher value because of the potential of that brand. On the contrary, we could have brands that are already widely diffuse, they sell a lot, but they are not cool anymore.

Why is Nike considered to be a higher value brand rather than Chanel? What is a

that it is associated with physical attributes or experiences. These associations can include things like the logo, packaging, product design, and even the physical location of the brand. Tangible associations help to create a visual and sensory connection between the brand and the consumer. Emotional connectionIn addition to tangible associations, a brand should also have an emotional connection with its consumers. This means that the brand evokes certain emotions or feelings in the consumer, whether it's happiness, excitement, trust, or any other emotion. This emotional connection helps to build loyalty and a strong relationship between the brand and its consumers. ConsistencyConsistency is another key characteristic that a brand should have. This means that the brand should maintain a consistent image, message, and experience across all touchpoints. Whether it's through advertising, social media, customer service, or product quality, consistency helps to build trust and reliability in the brand. DifferentiationA brand should also have a unique selling proposition or point of differentiation. This means that the brand offers something that sets it apart from its competitors. Whether it's a unique product feature, a different pricing strategy, or a distinct brand personality, differentiation helps to attract and retain customers. RelevanceLastly, a brand should be relevant to its target audience. This means that the brand understands the needs, wants, and preferences of its consumers and is able to meet them effectively. By staying relevant, a brand can stay top of mind and continue to resonate with its target audience. In conclusion, a brand should have brand awareness, a recognizable trademark, tangible associations, an emotional connection, consistency, differentiation, and relevance in order to be successful.that they are incorporated into the trademark itself:

1. Naming: it’s not so easy to find the best name for the brand: it’s very important to find something simple that in different languages can be easily pronounced. Use the personal name could be the best alternative.
2. Symbols: Apple, Nike …
3. Slogan: not every brand adopts it.
4. Lettering: colours like black, white, brown are easily associated with luxury brands.

Intangible association There are 3 kinds:

1. Function: it’s related to product performances. Some examples are efficiency, reliability, comfort, etc. The functional associations are those that you can find every time you buy or use this brand.
2. Experience: “when I buy/use this brand I feel…”. Brands offer an experience to customers, for example Eataly, that offers local product but also the opportunity to eat as an Italian. Normally experience goes with “customer education”
3. Meaning: “when I buy/use…

This brand I am…”. The meaning given to the product by a culture or a group of people. Remember the diesel campaign “Be Stupid”: this campaign was made to create a connection with their target (youngster), it is out of the ordinary and people will remember it.

Marketing vs Brand Management

Nowadays marketing is widely diffused and so it is common to find a marketing department in companies but ten years ago not at all. This because if you think about marketing in the simplest way, marketing is about “The 4P”: price, product, promotion, and placement. This does not fit with fashion because the creativity and the study of the product are something that belong to the stylistic offices, supported by the merchandising offices. Talking about the place, the commercial department decides how to sell the product (which kind of store and which kind of costumer’s services). These days, many companies have created a function that is named “omnichannel”

that creates a link between physical store and the commerce. But this is not marketing! For many years in fashion marketing was just about analyse data of the costumers so it was not about the process of product, distribution, and promotion. But analysis is needed, and this is the reason why many companies are creating bigger marketing functions. Marketing is now important, but always under the control of the brand manager and the creative director. Brand identity Every brand builds his own identity. There are 3 kind of identities under a brand: 1. The Stylistic Identity is a permanent set of stylistic codes (fabrics, textures, colours, patterns, volumes, silhouettes, use of logo) defining the brand unique and long-term style 2. The Communication Identity is a permanent set of communication codes (messages, tone of voice, atmosphere, models, media) defining the brand unique and long-term image 3. The Retail Identity is a permanent set of codes related to interior design and service (layout, lighting,furniture, visual merchandising, music, sales associates, selling way) defining the brand unique and long-term retail experience These identities need to achieve external relevance and internal consistency. Two kind of consistency are needed: Each season, even different, should represent a step in the evolution of the society. The key word is evolution but always following a trend otherwise the costumer doesn't buy your products. There must be coherency between product, communication, and retail strategies. Creating a discrepancy means creating a distortion of the consumer perception of the brand Line and Brand extension Line extension occurs every time you stay in the same product category and you create different labels that makes the same product category more affordable or more expensive. In order to do that, you have to create a sublabel: Diesel Black Gold, 55DSL. Brand extension applies every time you keep the same brand, and you start selling with the same brand different

product categories (typical growth of French companies as Dior, Chanel…). Why extend lines/brands?

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Increasing competition between less & larger players with global aspirations and ability to communicate globally

React to declining markets

Similarity of brands’ offers attributes

Decreasing brand loyalty

Nourish the brand perceived vitality

Costs and risk associated to launching a new brand

Financial community’s demand for short term results, bonus and stock options drive short term decision in brand and product-line strategies

From Luxury to Masstige

Is luxury still a nice word to be used today? Tom Ford, a creative director that in the nineties used to be a designer of Gucci, once said that luxury went from something hard to find into something hard to miss. With this phrase Tom Ford wanted to say that it became something more affordable. This is the reason why even in Italy we don’t call it luxury but “alta

"gamma”.Today there is a debate: is luxury really a value?

Meaning of luxury

Luxury means light: why luxury should mean light? Gold and God. A connection between human being and god.

Luxuria means ambivalence, self-pleasure.

Luxury is also relative: if you are used to travel in economy, travel in business would be a luxury experience. If you are used to travel in business, have your private airplane would be a luxury experience. There is no roof on what is considered luxury, it is relative. This is the reason why luxury brands may sell super expensive watches, super expensive evening dresses but as well sunglasses (less expensive).

McKinsey-Comitè Colbert (association French luxury brands) has given this definition about what luxury should be: first of all a strong brand that should relate to an exclusive lifestyle (it has to be recognized), a superior quality, a premium pricing, stylish and extravagant in terms of design and a timeless style.

Today the luxury experience can be

costumers that there is the opportunity to buy. This makes the bag more desirable (of course you must be Hermes to do this).

Segmenting luxury:

1. RICCARDO BURLANDO 91. Absolute luxury: what the true luxury should be, unique pieces, made by hand, a lot of creativity and there is exclusivity in terms of distribution (you meet directly the designer in the showroom, not in the shop in via Montenapoleone)
2. Lifestyle luxury: limited editions, not everything made by hand. We move from exclusivity to selectivity → those products are sold just in mono brand stores located in the best malls or streets in the world. There is no advertising, it’s a unique experience.
3. Accessible luxury: high fashion content, price/quality, accessibility (target, media, channels), power communication

In recent years, in some cases luxury leaders have segmented their offer according to exclusive, selective, and accessible categories (trading do