Marketing Strategy for Aquascutum Brand Revival
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Aquascutum is a British heritage fashion brand founded in 1851 known for its raincoats. However, only 55% of respondents were aware of the brand, showing low recognition. Those familiar saw it as a British brand but associated it more with accessories than specific clothing lines. Despite sharing similarities with successful brands like Burberry, Aquascutum's marketing failed to improve its standing as it drifted between markets and lost control of profitable Asian markets. To revive the brand will require redefining its identity and target markets through improved marketing strategy.
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Marketing Strategy for Aquascutum Brand Revival
- 1. Marketing Strategy for Aquascutum Brand Revival By Jing Huang 20th, August, 2012
- 2. 2 Contents Contents 2 1. Introduction 3 2. Background 4 • The History-Success 4 • Modern Times-Difficulties 4 • The Failure of The Company 4 • The Potential 5 • The Approach 5 3. Marketing Analysis of Aquascutum 6 • Definition of the Brand Position 6 • The Customer Perception of the Brand 6 • Results 6 • Awareness of the Brand 6 • Detailed Analysis of Aquascutum Brand 9 4. Analysis of Aquascutum’s Marketing Performance 11 • Product 11 • Price 19 • Place 20 Distribution 20 Product Display 22 Store Display 22 Window Display 24 • Promotion 26 Advertising Campaign 26 Public Relation 29 Promotion Media Tool 31 • Other marketing 3P 30 5. Recommendation of future marketing strategy 33 • Timeline 33 • Developing a Strong Brand Personality 34 • Brand Repositioning 36 • Attracting a Fresh Customer Base 37 Brand New Imagine Setting 37 Brand New Targeting 37 The new Imagine and Attitude 37 Aquascutum Ladies are 37 Aquascutum Men are 37 • Establishing Luxury Status for a Fashion Brand 39 Heritage Element 39 Timelessness 40 Creativity 40 High Quality Craftsmanship 40 Rarity and Exclusivity 40 Art 40 • Maintaining Luxury Brand Dream Value 41 6. Conclusion 42 Reference 44
- 3. 3 1. Introduction This project will look at the British fashion brand Aquascutum and look at the marketing of the brand and its contribution to the downfall of this brand that recently left it in administration. Its subsequent rescue by a Hong Kong based firm is very interesting because they obviously see the value in the brand that no other UK companies did. The owners of the new brand now have to make difficult decisions regarding what to do with this brand going forward. Brands often fail, times change and people’s tastes move. However, Aquascutum found itself struggling at precisely the time when another brand, Burberry was soaring with success. I found the, on the surface at least, the story behind these two brands, and even their products, were so similar that this would be a fascinating case to look at how brand marketing strategy can have incredibly powerful effects on a brand. This project is intended to provide recommendations for the future brand strategy of Aquascutum by first examining the market that the brand operates in and then analysing its marketing activities. I regard the failure of the company as largely a failure of its marketing function as it failed to listen to the demands of the market. Its revival will therefore need to be informed by those changing demands and the failures of its marketing. The future recommendations for the brand will provide a specific strategy for the future and detailed analysis of what aspects of the marketing mix the brand needs to change in order to achieve the necessary changes to revive this brand.
- 4. 4 2. Background The History -Success Aquascutum its name taken from the Latin 'aqua' meaning water and 'scutum' meaning shield is a luxury British heritage label. The label had its beginnings as an upmarket menswear store and first opened for business in 1851. It made its name selling a range of shower-proof clothing, courtesy of a patented new material that was developed by founder John Emary, previously a Mayfair tailor. The popularity of its clothing quickly took off amongst the well-heeled Mayfair shoppers, and by 1897 its reputation gained greater prestige when Aquascutum was awarded its first Royal Warrant. The brand was largely favoured amongst the British aristocracy, and its clothing was typically worn by the Royal family, politicians and other celebrities. King Edward VII, HRH the Queen mother, Winston Churchill and Margaret Thatcher were known admirers of the brand. The profile of the brand was further increased by the likes of Cary Grant, Peter Sellers, Humphrey Bogart and Sophie Loren. The brand was described as being quintessential British label featuring unmistakable quality and unmatchable sophistication. Aquascutum remained exclusively a menswear provider until the late 19th century, when it began to expand into providing womenswear as well. The use of its patented weatherproof fabrics led to it being adopted by the British Army during the First World War. Its rain-proof, double breasted coat with belt was designed to keep the troops warm and dry during the long periods spent in the trenches. This type of coat quickly became known as a 'trench coat'. It remained popular from that point on and became synonymous with the brand. Modern Times -Difficulties Into the twenty-first century, Aquascutum has continued its presence, it has three UK stores and 16 concessions, in addition to seven outlet stores and 11 international concessions. In the 1980's especially, Aquascutum built on its popularity by expanding internationally, particularly in the expanding Asian markets. Recently however, Aquascutum has not enjoyed the popularity it has enjoyed for a lot of its history. Despite being bought in 2009 by Harold Tillman and Belinda Earl from a Japanese trading house Renown and a £30 million investment into the business, the new team were not able to turnaround the business and in 2012 Aquascutum was put into administration. This was despite a new creative designer Joanna Sykes being bought aboard in May 2010, whose classic design gained more than competent review from press. By April 2012 the brand was sold completely to a Hong Kong company YGM Trading, this gave YGM Trading sole global rights for the brand having previously purchased the Asian licensing rights in 2009. It is now in the hands of Aquascutum to try and revive the brand. The Failure of the Company The reason for falling into administration was blamed by the owners on the difficult trading conditions in the UK following the recession of 2008. However, whilst a lot of fashion retailers did indeed suffer at this time, it must be considered that other brands, particularly other British heritage brands actually blossomed in the same period. Clearly there is some deeper issue here than just
- 5. 5 'difficult trading conditions'. The clearest success story of this period is Burberry. The parallels between the two companies are so obvious, it is enticing to look at what Burberry has done to highlight the failures of Aquascutum. Clearly it is possible to be a successful British heritage brand in the current market conditions. This suggests that the faults lie within the company and its market offering. Before doing this, we must consider that as a business, operating in a changing international market there could well be some issues that have affected the business that resulted in the administration. An important one is the structure of the company itself and changes in the global market. A previously said, the company has had a long presence in the Asian markets, and with the rise in economic strength of the region, combined with an insatiable appetite for luxury goods, it has become the money generator market for luxury brand. As well as the need for a strong international presence and a tailored offering to the Asian market, there has been a big increase in the amount of visitors to the UK that spend money on luxury British heritage brands. This opportunity is one that was missed by the owners of Aquascutum when it sold its licensing rights for China and Hong Kong to the YGM Trading group in 2009. This meant that all the potential profits to be made from the expanding Asian markets were kept by the YGM group, leaving the Aquascutum group to rely on Asian visitors to the UK as its main customers. Though, as Burberry has proved, the UK market for these types of products has not disappeared. It's licensing strategy clearly backfired, but I would argue that a company should not have to rely on a new market for survival. The failure of such an established brand within the UK suggests that it is a problem with the marketing strategy of Aquascutum that has led the brand into trouble. As Aquascutum is now under the sole global control of the YGM Trading group, it no longer has this licensing issue. However, although the brand has been successfully expanding in China particularly, it would be dangerous if it lost its unique British identity. Clearly more needs to be done to lead to resurgence in the brand within the UK to keep the original, by making it more relevant to its customers, and at the same time, maintaining and strengthening the values within that brand that overseas customers find so attractive. The Potential In 2011 Burberry announced expected annual profits of £372 million. For a company that shares so many similarities with Aquascutum, it is difficult to not see the potential in the brand. When we consider the origins, the age, the signature product (also a trenchcoat), the styling (a check pattern lining) it is a surprise that Aquascutum should have anguished so badly. Burberry has also not had a smooth ride in recent years, its signature check pattern became synonymous with first football hooligans and then 'chav' culture. Its ability to turn its image around, in just a few years, gives hope for Aquascutum in the future, especially as we can see the major differences are in its strategy. Approach I intend to do a full marketing analysis of Aquascutum, to firstly identify what has failed in its marketing approach. This will look at the external environment of the market; the customers and the environment. I will look at the attitudes of customers towards the brand, to see where it has failed. Following this I will then look at the internal marketing activities of Aquascutum to see what contribution this has made. This will look at the traditional seven 'P's of marketing, and branding to examine the product, price, place and promotional activities of the brand. I will then analyse Aquascutum in comparison with its competitors in the market, particularly other luxury British heritage brands. This will enable me to propose my own marketing strategy, with specific action points to help turnaround the brand.
- 6. 6 3. Marketing Analysis of Aquascutum The purpose of the marketing analysis is to examine the recent marketing strategy and positioning of Aquascutum in the UK, to measure the effectiveness of the marketing strategy in the minds of the market, and to look at how Aquascutum has handled its brand. Definition of the Brand Position Aquascutum describes itself as a British heritage original England made premium fashion brand, which suggests being above the middle market but not however in the luxury level. The fact the brand participates in London Fashion Week every season each year, which suggests the brand has the capability of being qualified and squeezing in the very competitive designer luxury brand. The 'British Heritage' label is also one that Aquascutum is competing in, the realisation to a brand of the value of heritage, and the great achievement of maintaining success over a long period gives a 'heritage' brand an advantage. Interest is particularly high in British heritage brands by customers who value the characteristics they see in these brands, namely; Burberry, Mulberry and Dunhill, While Aquascutum is still drifting between the market between the high fashion and most disappearing middle market. The competitors are sharply forward themselves into the High. We can label Aquascutum as being a premium British heritage fashion brand, so this analysis will focus on how Aquascutum is viewed in this market and how its marketing activities reflect its position in this market. The position a brand exists in depends not on the definition by the brand itself but also in how that brand is perceived by the market. Therefore I will begin my analysis by looking at how consumers in UK area see the Aquascutum brand. The Customer Perception of the Brand In order to investigate the attitudes and perceptions of the market towards Aquascutum, I decided to carry out a survey limited in UK area. This would provide me with evidence of how the Aquascutum brand is perceived amongst different demographic factors. By starting with the viewpoint of the customer, I hope to identify the areas of weakness with the brand, in terms of its general appeal and also with particular parts of the brand. The survey was created by using the SurveyMonkey website and sent to a group of individuals with a wide age and nationality range in UK area. I chose to select professional workers as my target market as these as largely the type of market with an interest in purchasing luxury goods. In total of 67 total responses 60 were returned completed. Although the response was perhaps too small to be totally representative of the total market, I believe that the results are certainly indicative of the general trends in the market Results Awareness of the Brand When asked whether they were aware of the brand Aquascutum, 45% of the respondents were not even aware of the brand Aquascutum. On the surface this is quite surprising, by the figure may be slightly distorted by the large range of nationalities that have participated.. Still it does show that awareness of the brand is quite low.
- 7. 7 In further detail, the familiarity of Aquascutum is much poorer than most of the other brands I have used in comparison. Almost all respondents were either familiar or very familiar with Burberry (60/62) but for Aquascutum 35 respondents had either never heard of Aquascutum or was not familiar with it. 55% 45% Awareness of Brand as percentage of responses Yes No Dunhill Burberry Aquascutum Gieves & Haw kes Mulberry 0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 Familiarity of Brand Really Familiar Familiar Not Familiar Never Heard About BrandName
- 8. 8 When we examine the answers to look at those who are 'very familiar' with the brands, we get the following results (see below chart) It ranks Aquascutum as being below Burberry, Mulberry and Dunhill in recognition. At this point, I would like to analyse the results cross-referenced with nationality, this is because due to the nature of the luxury brand market and how the company has been structured in the past, I would expect there to be differences in how the awareness of the brand in different territories. This will also tell me which markets the brand has been successfully marketed. As the results show, the brand only really has a significantly high level of awareness in the UK and in certain Asian countries (China, Japan and Korea). Though a higher proportion of the respondents were from the UK and China, we do know that a large proportion of the activity of Aquascutum Dunhill Burberry Aquascutum Gieves & Haw kes Mulberry 0 5 10 15 20 25 30 35 40 Comparison of Brands Really Familiar Really Familiar Brand No.ofResponses Albania UK Italy Russia Taiw an China Belgium India Hungary Malaysia France Japan Brazil Thailand South Korea Latvia Australia Germany New Zealand 0 5 10 15 20 25 30 1 9 0 1 0 2 0 2 1 0 2 1 0 0 0 1 0 1 2 0 3 2 0 0 7 0 1 0 1 0 0 0 1 0 0 1 0 0 0 10 0 0 1 6 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 5 0 0 0 1 1 0 0 0 0 2 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 Familiarity by Country Really Familiar Familiar Not Familiar Never Heard About Responses Country
- 9. 9 occurs in these places. Even in these places almost as many respondents were unfamiliar with the brand as familiar. Interestingly, when I look at the 5 respondents from the UK who said they were very familiar with the Aquascutum, 3 of those responses were in the 45 aged plus age range. Detailed Analysis of Aquascutum Brand These responses that of those who do know the brand, most are aware that it is a British brand. This is encouraging, and shows that to the extent that the Aquascutum marketing message is being received, it is putting across the message that it is a British brand. Don't Know UK Other Country 0 5 10 15 20 25 30 35 40 35 25 0 Awareness of Brand Origin Responses No. of Responses CountryofOrigin Mensw ear Ladiesw ear Accessories All 0 5 10 15 20 25 18 20 9 22 Most Associated with Aquascutum Responses No. of Responses ProductType
- 10. 10 When asked what elements of fashion they most associate with Aquascutum, the most popular response was that 'All' items were associated, with ladieswear followed by menswear with accessories last. This is interesting as Aquascutum's heritage was with its menswear tailoring, but the ladieswear has received more coverage in the fashion media. The low perception of its accessories range goes against the recent trends of other luxury brands in recent years which have become more identifiable by their accessories. When we look at the results for how the criteria of the brand is perceived, we can see that in terms of design less than a quarter think the design is good, this suggests that this is a key weakness in the brand. The brand scores much better is terms of perceived quality 34% of respondents scored the brand as either good or very good, and if we exclude the respondents who were unfamiliar with the brand this turns into 61%. In terms of affordability 16% of respondents who were aware of the brand thought that Aquascutum was 'good 'in terms of affordability. This is interesting as they can't afford it because the price is too high for the product or the brand including the design, the quality, the service and the experience is not worth.
- 11. 11 4. Analysis of Aquascutum's Marketing Performance Having identified the consumer perception of the brand, I will look into Aquascutum's marketing mix to see how it communicates its brand image. This should let me see where the weaknesses are, and to gain some explanation for why the brand awareness is so low, particularly amongst the younger demographics. I will use the classic marketing '7 P's' as my basis to systematically examine each area of the brand, taking each one in turn to see where the brand is performing poorly. Product The product is the essence of a fashion retail brand, the product is how the brand is physically represented, and is what actually sells. As a 160 year old heritage British label, Aquascutum, regardless of whoever has run it before, hasn’t been forgetting to transfer its unmistakeable quality to the product. It is not hard to claim that every garment from Aquascutum exhibits extraordinary tailoring with very refined cutting, and they present a beautiful quality product profile in the retail UK market, only if you are able to notice them. The unmatchable sophistication can’t be denied if it is possible to have the classical and timeless Mac on. But does quality guarantee survival? Especially the product can’t possess a seductive power to absorb the attention in the market.
- 12. 12 The trenchcoat with check lining is the iconic piece in the Aquascutum range, as the claimed creator of this particular garment, it would be expected to form the basis of the product range. The core spirit of brand- trench coat or shower-proof raincoat wasn't strongly continued in each runway collection under the former womenswear creative director Michael Herz (from 2005 to 2010). When reviewing the Aquascutum product ranges through the runway shows of the past few seasons, it is difficult to identify a strong image belonging to Aquascutum. Harriet Poshner said in Marketing Fashion ‘The issue of brand continuity is an extremely important factor with the fashion industry’. ‘This presents a change to designers who must create and develop new product collections on a regular basis.’ The runway blurred the brand personality. There are 4 collections selected from 2006 to 2009 following as: SS 2009
- 13. 13 SS 2008
- 14. 14 AW 2007
- 15. 15 SS 2006 Personally, there was no blame for the design of collections if they were not the creations for Aquascutum. There was always a confused story that the designer was trying to tell through the collection timeline, even only through one entire collection SS 2008, the colour selection and style are too various to be appreciated and digested. It can be discovered as fragile reflection of trench and British army respectively from SS2006 and SS 2007, but the voice wasn’t loud enough. There were only the belts as repeating core accessories through the collections selected above which are not even necessary to fully explain the British heritage, military, the iconic symbol trench coat and the code message water-proof. Where is the outstanding Unique Selling Proposition of Aquascutum as the long historic British heritage brand to identify itself in the fashion crucial Hunger Game? If the customers are not even capable to discover the brand identity by themselves, how are they willing to pay for it? How can it be the winning business? All those successful ongoing luxury brands, they tactically discover the flexibility of the customer demand and reset the targeting
- 16. 16 according to unpredictable economic environment or new potential market, but they always ensure reinforcing the heritage and value. Dior has its Bar jacket from Haute Couture to Ready to wear in every single year since 1947. Balmain always plays women power game and the expression of the design delivered through the tailoring of muscling shoulder. Chanel constantly use tweed to define the simplicity and effortless classic. When the core brand message missed in the design, there is already a failure. It is the initiative renounce of the element or the criteria which is able to well- establish a profile of luxury brand. British heritage water-proof trench coat is essential code need to continue being reinforced. On the other hand, it is too difficult not to take a look at the rival- Burberry. It is acknowledged that Christopher Bailey at the helm delivers marvellous collection portfolio for Burberry. Burberry takes the trench coat as the key and brings the innovation with modern finishing showing British unique quirky , the bad boys and girls plus those a little dark rock and roll look are very on demand from global young market who are most confident spender in those recession period. They take use of the material like sheepskin, fur, tweet and new check culture to translate the British heritage without any waste. Comparing to Aquascutum, Burberry has very clear product profile, the trench coat always key piece in the collection, military utility inspiration factor is the thread to hook British culture which is the invention of Trench coat in first world war period. Burberry also cleverly combines the menswear runways collection to speak and strengthen core value and design inspiration of the brand. Through collections in recent years, the metallic finishing and high-quality plastic material component for some collections not only demonstrate the taste of modern and future fashion world but also successfully deliver the statement message of water-proof. AW 2006 Women SS 2006 Men SS 2007 Women AW 2007 Men AW 2008 Women SS 2008 Men SS2009 Women & Men
- 17. 17 After Harold Tillman acquired Aquascutum in 2009, Micheal Herz finally wake up once for his departure show AW 2010, the collection is easily distinguished, it blows pure modern English breeze, The slim, long, classical silhouette quality cutting is definitely an new milestone for the brand, It lights the fantasy world of new elegancy and sophistication which the brand truly targets for, but the most important factor are the design correctly based on the brand iconic product trench coat with military colour code. But it was too late, there was £24m racking up loss in 2008. AW 2010 Aquascutum
- 18. 18 Furthermore, it is very reasonable to point out that the product strategy was out of the date due to the fact that Aquascutum as positioning with British heritage element which taken use to develop as a potential luxury brand didn’t strongly develop the leather goods section to raise the superior statutes of Runway collection and increase the business potential profit. A lady doesn’t need wear labelled outfits to show the sense of fashion, but never can she leave without a luxury handbag. Karl Lagerfeld said ‘Handbags make your life more pleasant, make you dream, give your confidence, and show your neighbours you are doing well, everyone can afford a luxury handbag.’ The handbag tells the story of a woman: her dream, her reality, her mood, her life style. Hand bag is much easier to sell,it saves the complicated service process of fitting and alteration. For the most of luxury brands, the profit is between ten and twelve times the cost to make the item. Aquascutum has been very slow to recognise this market trend and to take advantage, sales for luxury leather bags and accessories have been a key driver of profitability in the industry. The rise of the 'it-bag' phenomena, has dramatically changed brands like Mulberry, whose value rose from £166 million to £1.03 billion in a single year, largely based on the success of the Mulberry Alexa At Louis Vuitton’s immense four floor global store in Tokyo, 40 percent of all sales are made in the first room, which sells only monogram handbags, wallets, and other small leather goods. By Dana Thomas, Deluxe-How Luxury Lost Its Lustre. In 2004, luxury brands collectively sold $11.7 billion worth of handbags and other leather accessories, and the segment is only getting stronger. In addition, today the entering floor of the luxury brand boutique is always surrounded by handbags. Ready to wear department is lower floor in Christian Dior flagship Boutique in Sloane Street I worked for, ready to wear in Chanel Sloane Street is on the upstairs of ground floor, Ready to wear in Prada is behind the section of accessories department. The vision was telling if you would like get something more precious, you need make more effort. There was potential to build dream profile to increase the desire of exclusivity. In Aquascutum, Leather goods price range is only from £100 to £ 400, which is the same value concept as high street brand. The loss of profit is only one factor, the fact remains that leather goods represent a fantastic way to reinforce the brand name, a concept taken to extreme lengths by brands like Louis Vuitton. Last but not the least, from every season runway ready to wear show, It can be seen the brand has placed much more emphasis on womenswear while the brand actually started with professional luxury menswear tailoring for almost half century before womenswear joined in. It should be operated with better management to continue the service as the heritage product attribute as the standard for any brand, especially Aquascutum has the potential element to become a luxury brand and be operate it in a luxury standard environment. Made to Order always bring the reputation of
- 19. 19 haute couture and luxury know-how, although Aquascutum are able to easily operate well to develop concept and service of high sewing for mens. Over 150 years Aquascutum has offered its British bespoke tailoring service to its make clientele, but where is the buzz to attract public gossip about it? This service as a part of products of the brand is invisible. The company jokingly launched personal tailoring service for women in Autumn 2007, which was the begin of Credit Crush. When female customers started queuing outside of Primark, Aquascutum launched high sewing charging £700, especially people didn’t know much about the high tailoring service for men apart from old people. Price When other luxury brand annually increasing the price, Aquascutum is more interested in price reduction due to the fact it only defined itself as a premium British heritage brand. On sales definitely is one key strategy for middle market and massive market to use. Aquascutum seems should be allowed. It automatically loosen the chance which they shouldn’t really. In luxury, it never talks about the price, but operating management of luxury brand, price proves the brand’s value. The good price management leads to the achievement of luxury dream status. People are going to buy what it is worth. At the same time, Luxury is distance, and must constantly recreate that distance for its own clients. By J.N.Kapferer and V. Bastien, The Luxury Strategy. Increasing the price is the way to increase its attractiveness and dream value, It is a classic strategy in luxury. Aquascutum was able to easily manage it to lift the level for itself in this point of view. I have visited Aquascutum in Canary Wharf, the manager Angelina told me the trench coat priced from £650 to £ 900. I have checked the lower price items which are from £60 to £150. I have been told the price of trench coat always selling with price £ 700 without any increase conduction. Question mark ? The price range £ 650 to £900 isn’t luxury? Why should I pay this much as I can pay for a luxury brand? Later I have visited menswear in Selfridges London. I also log on John Lewis website, and research some information about Regent Street. It looks like sales promotion refers to Aquascutum everywhere. It clearly shows that the Aquascutum iconic trench coat can’t sell, we have to get rid of it rather than giving a special offer. There is no any point shows the position of British luxury heritage brand they defined for themselves but with the luxury standard price.
- 20. 20 Place Distribution: October, 2004, Aquascutum has re-launched its flagship store at No.100 Regent Street. (Now It permanently closed down). Although Aquascutum was trying to reinforce its traditional historical and sartorial image, but the Regent street is famous for high street brands like All Saint, H&M, Gap, Mango, Zara, and some middle market brand like Armani Exchange, Michael Kors. But Aquascutum is position with price point at £700 to £ 900 British heritage brand with London fashion week catwalk collection to compete with the middle and massive market with price point from around £10 to £ 300 while all the luxury brands are all located in Sloane Street or Bond Street. It is a contradictory concept of marketing positioning strategy. Besides, Aquascutum also have boutiques in Canary Wharf and Westfield in the London area. Canary Wharf is the place gathering 30 years old above city bankers which was the targeting market planned before. I have paid visit to the store in Canary Wharf , High Street River Island opposite was providing price reduce promotion with red sale logo everywhere, middle market brand Reiss is also on sale on the right hand side.
- 21. 21 There exists a small luxury share market in Westfield. In addition, Aquascutum located in several discount outlets in Swindon, Freeport Braintree, Bicester Village etc. It has concessions in John Lewis, Harrods and Selfridges as well. Harrods and Selfridges sells very high end and high profile brands with emphasis on a quality shopping experience, on the other hand, John Lewis are selling more family commercial product. It might gain different benefit from both. In a summary, Aquascutum seems covered every market on the view of distribution. There is the question: What market on the earth Aquascutum aim for, high or mass? The distribution is one of the non-ignored factors leading to failure. Targeting various market can be a winning business if it had well planned as the luxury brand stretching strategy pyramid model like Armani Group, It can’t implement it only in this simply way which selling the same range of product in every retail market place with no label different. There is some evident from Canary Wharf: Aquascutum store in Canary Wharf River Island opposite Reiss left hand side
- 22. 22 Canary Wharf shopping centre environment Product Display • Store Display The watchword of luxury brand management nowadays is ‘experience’, the multi-sensory total of what is lived and felt at each point of contact with brand. The shop is where the client can live the brand. By J.N.Kapferer and V. Bastien, The Luxury Strategy. Distribution is generally the weak link of luxury strategy, and this is where many brands die or lose their status. It explains thoroughly that Aquascutum did waste this bullet of gunpowder. There are four boutique display located in different shopping commercial area, Canary Wharf, Regent Street, Westfield and Selfridges London. Except the former flagship store in Regent Street, The display did totally kill the concept luxury universe. In Canary Wharf, There were too many pieces and hangers hanging the rail. The crowd merchandising murders the exclusivity of the luxury brand which needs to be legitimately spoken, and need to be experienced by the clients. Rarity tells value. It looks like any piece on the rail can be comfortably and fearlessly picked up and tried on without any personal help. Luxury is all about details. The second bullet of gunpowder has been wasted as well. In the luxury world, it is all about the dreaming and making you feel special. During the sale process, a personal relationship must be created between the brand and the client. Imagining the Aquascutum used to dress for royal family, how can it be fearless and easy accessible to pick the piece. There isn’t any dream. How can the client feel like to pay £ 750 just for a rain coat? In Regent Street, the former flagship store, the display is clear and sharp, every customer walking in is going to be visible, when they don’t feel comfortable only because they didn’t dress up, the dream is already achieved, and the display automatically delivers the value of the brand. Every single customer walking in should have the fantasy of being the status of the King or Queen if they are wearing Aquascutum. How can the merchandising guildline be the same? How can one brand be a luxury as well as middle market or even lower as the crowd display. In addition, Flagship store should fight the chance to enter in Sloane Street instead of Regent Street. Display is one of important channel of branding communication. The store mechanising guideline are confused, the posh image of Regent Street of Aquascutum failed its reputation of luxury.
- 23. 23 Canary Wharf Regent Street Westfield, London Selfridges, London
- 24. 24 • Window Display: The window of the luxury store is a privileged place and a major tool of public communication, and the only one in which the brand controls all parameters. It is a good way of making non-customers aware of the status of the brand, and of the people who carry it. Windows play a big role in ‘dream equation’, so important in luxury. By J.N.Kapferer and V. Bastien, The Luxury Strategy. Andy Warhol said ‘someday, all department stores will become museums, and all museums will become department store’. Luxury always associates with art. All the display below from Regent Street, Selfridges, and Westfield were not strong enough show the value £ 750 trench coat British heritage of course not Luxury as well. Regent Street In Regent Street, it s a huge fame with the picture of classic and courtly man dressed with distinctive tailoring suit. The display probably tried to tell the heritage of men suit tailoring. You can’t really find any extravagant air in the window display except dull, stagnant and spiritless expression. Selfridges in London In Selfridges London, There are menswear suit tailoring, the element of brand – water proof, and the brand historic glory transmit. But the way it has been done was artistic and luxurious. There are no refined and delicate mannequins dressed with extraordinary cutting suit and crystal shining black leather shoes instead of trousers hanging down. The lifestyle of British literary and raining weather is delivered but in a very stingy way.
- 25. 25 Westfield, London The Westfield store, the window display is luxury, simply and clear with trench coat on the mannequins, but where says it belong to Aquascutum? Comparing with Aquascutum, the windows display of other British heritage brand Dunhill: Brand Value of Dunhill can be read obviously through the window display and VM mechanising, Luxury lifestyle accessories for men. You can see one successful man has his quality life accessed by Dunhill.
- 26. 26 Promotion Promotion activities must gain attention, be appealing, tell a constant message and above all else give the target customer a reason to buy Aquascutum rather than to choose the product of a competitor. The promotion is not just about the feature of a product, it is the benefit for customer, It should be easy to identify, why should they buy the product? Promotion material must be customized to suit the target customers and chasing them as required. Advertising Campaign I have selected the advertising campaign from 2006 to 2010. Without the judgement and analysis of the product design or the economic environment, All the Campaigns show the illusion of high class. Some of advertisements produced in 2006 to 2008 demonstrate the luxurious and posh fantasy British life style from movie secret agent of James Bond to the casino hostess of Casino, the social status from City stockbroker to rich Kensington girl. I absolutely adore the campaigns, especially more charm has been added that some of them shot by Mario Sorrenti, who is world well-known fashion photograph for Kate Moss for Calvin Klein Obsession. Unfortunately, during 2007 to 2008, whole world experienced dramatic economics sunk- Credit Crunch, It terribly effected the confidence of consumers. Even super model Gisele Bundchen appearing in the Campaign didn’t still account. When professionals were worried about job losing, in a crisis largely blamed upon the 'roulette banking' of the slick financial whizzkids of the City of London. Aquascutum advertised the city banker standing in the top floor bright posh office with £900 cost suit. In that period, young people were only the group with optimistic consumption attitude, but Aquascutums targeted city banker. Even before the crash, public opinion was already turning against bankers and their out of proportion bonus culture.
- 28. 28 AW 2008 In addition, there is other problem. Aquascutum supposes to tell they are high quality trench coat maker, but the message only make this claim after 2009. It suggests they deliberately underplaying this, to modernise the brand. The campaign in 2009 to 2010, the value of Aquascutum are purely clear, There was Trafalgar Square and the wet climate as background , modern classic silhouette British lifestyle delivered very English trench and tailoring culture of Aquascutum, which was the second year of £24m profit loss in 2008. AW2009
- 29. 29 AW 2010 Public Relations The Publicity of the Brand is far not enough. The public relations management is very poor. The lack of brand awareness amongst consumers is reflected in the lack of coverage Aquascutum receives in the media. Despite the growth of the British Heritage Brand trend , the profile of Aquascutum remained very low. Despite expensively shot ad campaigns with big stars, the brand was not about to generate any buzz. An important function of any fashion brands press office is to monitor the press for how its brand is being perceived and what is being said about it. From working as an intern in the Christian Dior Press Office, one of the key duties is to check every single day the media. Dior maintains a list of the most influential media, including magazines, blogs and websites that are checks everyday. I used this same list to check on the news for Aquascutum.
- 30. 30 From all of the influential media sources that I have checked, besides news regarding the company going into Aquascutum going into administration and the usual mentions in the seasonal updates from the fashion shows as well as the departure of old fashion director / change of fashion director, there is no interesting eye catching break news regarding Aquascutum in relation to ongoing events, celebrities and buzz regarding its brand. There is little that engages the customer. From all the most influential media sources checked throughout a single day only 3 news items had an interest. The first was a story from a Brazilian online (Grazia) media outlet reporting a sighting of One Direction singer Harry Styles, one of X factor stars at a Aquascutum runway show in 2012. However the story was more slanted to a possible romantic link between him and Cara Delevingne (ironically the new face of Burberry). It did not create any buzz regarding Aquascutum. The second story from Harpers Bazaar saw their Woman of the Year award was partly sponsored in 2009 by Aquascutum. However this award is not widely recognized like Vogue fashion night out. The third story (from The Independent) marks the return of the Mac as a fashion icon, but focuses more on the rise of Burberry. Another story shows how designer Anya Hindmarch to celebrate the release of the movie “The Iron Lady” dressed her shop window mannequins mix with Aquascutum and M&S pieces in the style of Maggie Thatcher. This is interesting as it was another company that realized the potential of this film release to build the profile of Aquascutum, an opportunity missed by the company. Every Designer brands always try the best to gave the heavy and positive impression of the brand for the press. Because fashion week gathers most powerful press and they are wait for the most exciting fashion story to report, it is much easy and less effort to create the buzz for the brand to help the brand healthy developing. The value £50m of media coverage generated during London fashion week, 1.87m photographs taken by accredited photographers at London fashion week in
- 31. 31 February 2009. 79 countries represented at London fashion week. By Cathy Bussey, PR week UK, September 2009. And how much effort have Aquascutum made in every fashion week? Which high exposure celebrities have been invited to sit at the first row? When Kate Moss, Victoria Beckham, Gossip girl queen Blake Lively, Sex and the City star Sarah Jessica Parker, Harry Porter star Emma Waston, Rihanna, Keria Knight, British It-girl Alexa Chung and the Duchess of Cambridge Kate Middleton all wear Burberry trench, Which famous people nowadays wearing Aquascutum to stand for the luxury value of the brand? When International mega-brand Burberry announced a rise of 17.1 percent in its revenues, while Aquascutum has entered administration, It can’t be argued that Aquascutum doing a great job for PR. Few people under the age of 40 knew the brand. Said Shaun Lattin, Consultant, the former marketing director of Aquascutum. Promotion media tool: Fashion is a very fast updating industry, it needs high demand surrounding to help to achieve the result, it could be politics, high-technology, charity and so on. Who knows the world, who is able to run the world. The promotion communication tool need to follow and update. While the other brands use the Iphone Apps, Facebook, twitter, Youtube and online digital magazine , Aquascutum only have its old fashion website picture slider to tell the world how advance the heritage brand could be. If you can check the facebook home page of Aquascutum, there is only HongKong public relation event and press release updating in Chinese language. How the local British customers attracting the brand are able to find out what is new about Aquascutum? Other Marketing 3Ps ( people, process and physical evident) Due to my research, I have pretended a customer to mystery shop in two different store of Aquascutum. I have visited the first one in Canary Wharf. The manager Angelina served me in the first one, she approached me in very friendly way, after my mystery shopping enquiry, and she was
- 32. 32 very helpful to find the right size for me and assisted me to try. As she open the button of the trench she told me it is shower-proof, but her gesture wasn’t pleasant and elegant enough, she was put the hanger on the lower rail and bent her body takes a long time unbutton the trench for. The store display was too full, the change room is no different so tiny as the one in H&M or Zara. That was my first actually visit Aquascutum store. As the working experience in Christian Dior, I understand the exquisite display and detailing from store to staff are vital to Luxury brand presenting, Customer pay a pile of money like a mountain is not just for purchasing the item, they pay for the service and store experience. I have been served in very good hospitality and friendly way, but it doesn’t mean I pay £700 for it, I can have the same service in Zara if I meet a reasonable sale assistant. In addition, in second day I have visited in the menswear concession in Selfridge, London, I was stick around approximately 10 minutes, there was even a assistant coming to say Hi instead of chatting with the people in other concession. Findings In my mind Aquascutum has a lot of good things going for it, it has an excellent heritage, excellent product quality, products which unlike other brands are made in England, and to some extent an iconic product. Its design team have produced acclaimed collections, but they have not been able to generate buzz in connection with the Aquascutum range, due largely to the indifference of consumers to the brand. What it hasn't been able to do is to deliver a consistent message of what it wants to be as a brand and what market it wants to be part of. Its inability to ride the crest of the British heritage wave has led it to be overtaken by other brands. Aquascutum sends out confusing messages, it offers luxury services like bespoke tailoring, and great quality and premium prices, but does not provide the luxury retail experience. It's advertising does not strongly reinforce the brand image, and it is hard to interpret what the brand really stands for anyway. The brand continues to emphasise its quality, but not in a way that connects with anyone except for the loyal customers that have grown up with this brand for decades. The runway shows and advertising campaigns are all well executed and look good, but they are not working for the brand. It must be very worrying that so few people are aware of the brand, even if they are not necessarily in the market to own Aquascutum. The marketing channels used by Aquascutum needs to be updated to bring in a younger crowd. If Aquascutum seriously wants to compete with Burberry it needs to become far more willing to use digital media to get its message across.
- 33. 33 5. Recommendation of future marketing strategy: The above marketing analysis has identified both the weaknesses and strengths of the Aquascutum brand. As my conclusion states, the Aquascutum brand does not currently have a consistent idea of what place in the market it wants to be in. My suggestion is that it takes a confident attitude and reaffirms its position in the luxury British heritage market, it can have confidence in its design team but it needs a stronger brand image to bring the designs into greater public consciousness. In order to do so it needs to alter the way it markets itself. What follows are my suggestions for how to achieve this, 1. Develop a stronger brand personality in the market 2. Reposition the brand clearly into the luxury British heritage brand market 3. Attract a fresher customer base, make them love the brand. 4. Follow the 'dream-value' maintenance model to achieve sustained success I would also encourage Aquascutum to pay far more attention to the marketing aspect of the business. It has been too reactive for too long, not adapting to changes in demand quickly enough and relying for too long on its heritage and name. This has led competitors like Burberry overtake it. Perhaps the most obvious strategy would be to mimic Burberry and copy the steps Burberry has taken recently, this though would be a danger, and Aquascutum does not want to end up with the image of a Burberry wannabe. It can though examine its success and aim to become an edgier, more exclusive brand for an even more discerning customer than the Burberry customer. The growth in the market for brands with craftsmanship and quality at their centre gives the Aquascutum brand a huge amount of potential. As other brands reach exposure saturation, Aquascutum should be ready in the next two to three years to be in a position to attract this market. Timeline I suggest that the first step for Aquascutum is to reposition the brand, followed by a strategy to more firmly establish Luxury status and then to move into my strategy for maintaining dream value. Brand Repositioning Luxury Status Establishing Luxury Value Mantaining
- 34. 34 Developing a Strong Brand Personality Aquascutum's first step is to improve the awareness of its brand in the market. It needs to generate buzz in the media to make customers aware of it and what it stands for. The first step is awareness, as my survey found, too few people were not even aware of the brand. Aim: Create greater awareness of Aquascutum and its brand values This can be done in the following ways: • To hire better art creative visual merchandising team for the boutique imagine communication This will create a stronger image for the brand and can create a more identifiable look in the retail environment, reinforcing the brand name. • To organize brand exhibition and create more publicity and brand awareness This can be done to emphasise an anniversary or celebrate a particular association, with Aquascutum it might be related to its support of the Armed Services and its contributions to clothing them or the history of invention of shower-proof material and the fine tailoring craftsmanship. • To make right advertising campaign for the changing market with marketing assistance To appeal to a younger customer base as detailed below • To develop more modern and attractive visible official website to suit the core value of the brand dream. To balance the image of Aquascutum as a heritage brand but not outmoded, a cleaner fresher approach with more interaction, in line with its competitors with contemporary store related. • To take use and manage well contemporary promotion media: Iphone Apps, Digital media, social networking, Look-book, Blogs Again, by using the media channels that its market prefers and making itself relevant in the twenty first century • To operate better PR management, build good relationship with press, Celebrity VIP relationship management, create brand front row guest list, create more buzz in the fashion big event like fashion week, anniversary celebration, product launching party Brand Repositioning It is an optimistic sign for Aquascutum that Burberry is doing very well at the moment, because it intimates the trench coat is indeed on demand globally, which confirms that Aquascutum exists in the right market. Aquascutum is able to share the market in particular way, just as Dior's new launch shoulder bag is in fact just like Chanel Classic Flap. The competitors could possibly be a positive rival. Comparing with Burberry image at the moment, the heritage of Aquascutum is Mayfair high quality men’s tailoring, much stable, safe and mature cutting and style, Less interpretation of fashion trends, I think it could be continuing in a very clever way, although the business failure. According to the market survey I did, the quality is generally positive, and design creativity need to be more focus. This factor Aquascutum is expecting to be tactically improved through the criteria
- 35. 35 luxury status establishing according to the core value of the brand. Hermes is the good brand example as a new goal to move forward in the future. The vision map is below: High Fashionability Burberry Aquascutum Hermes Low Price High Price Low Fashionability Repositioning Map This strategy will allow Aquascutum to avoid becoming a copycat of Burberry, by charging a higher price, it can market itself as a high quality and more exclusive alternative. To achieve this, it needs to focus on brand building. In terms of repositioning, Aquascutum must deliver a consistent brand image that exists through all the marketing channels. It will need to provide a greater customer service experience to justify its status, its visual merchandising must reflect the fact that customers are now buying the brand for more than the promise of a well made raincoat. The stores need to be stripped back to avoid sending the current contradictory messages. Aquascutum should position its stores where its market is, into more selective retail environments where it can control its image. In the beginning Aquascutum does not need to change its price structure, but should instead work on giving its customers a reason why its products are worth the prices they are charging. That emphasizing the quality will only work to a point. A key advantage to Aquascutum that has been badly underplayed is that its products are all made in England, this can become a critical part of the brand message. Product range resetting: • To build the excellent profile of Aquascutum’s creative designer • To reinforce the heritage through every collection: men fine tailoring, water-proof trench coat, English culture, Royal family and club check. • To develop leather good section to gain more profit for the business.
- 36. 36 • To invent real luxury reputation profile through developing the special edition, exclusive material feature vision trench coat and rarity vintage piece. • To continue High sewing Order to made tailoring suit and do better management • To collaborate with contemporary artist Price management: • To set by Luxury standard price • To increase price gradually for setting the distant from the crowd • To set the limited edition and special service profile • To reduce the discount sales action Place: • To depose the number of discount outlets • To reselect the retail marketplace: Sloane Street, Bond Street, Westfield, Canary Wharf (moved next to the same level competitors)Harrods, Selfridges, Heathrow airport • To restrict the distribution for the special edition product • To set a special boutique for men suit tailoring in Luxury Savile Row • To Create more exclusive product placement Promotion: • To well-training staff before every collection launching • To develop VIP CRM system • To Set mystery shop staff performance testing system • To hire better art creative visual merchandising team for the boutique imagine communication • To arrange more private shopping in ceremony atmosphere in Flagship store, and exclusivity product preview • To organize brand exhibition and create more publicity and brand awareness • To make right advertising campaign for the changing market with marketing assistance • To develop more modern and beautiful visible official website to suit the core value of the brand. • To take use and manage well contemporary promotion media: Iphone Apps, Digital media, social networking, Look book, Blog • To operate better PR management, build good relationship with press, Celebrity VIP relationship management, create brand front row guest list, create more buzz in the fashion big event like fashion week, anniversary celebration, product launching party People, Process, Physical evident: To redecorate the store with exquisite and fine luxury atmosphere To recruit good image and smart sale force to present the store To rearrange the store display following the standard luxury guideline, less product on rail and shelf more delicate position.
- 37. 37 Attracting a Fresh Customer Base Brand new imagine setting: Nowadays, the fashion market have never ever become so globalised, today, more and more big cities become multi-national metropolises. The fashion brand should be always consider to set the international imagine rather than just focus one country market. Aquascutum should take use the collaborative attitude to deliver English culture and well brand based on global environment. It needs its brand image to reflect in the desires of the new young professionals Brand new targeting: Young professionals Aged 25 to 35 The new imagine and the attitude: Well educated, Ambition, international, Fashionable, contemporary, dream pursuer, open mind, optimistic, confident also kind hearted Aquascutum Ladies are: Young, Beautiful & elegant, fashionable and chic, strong personality, decision maker, Independent, Self-confident, wealth and modern Aquascutum Men are: Well educated, talent, funny, clever and smart, professional, cool, successful, charming, individual character, very contemporary, never out of date and civic-minded. Aquascutum should target this kind of market, by sending out a relevant brand message that talks to this market. This needs to be a consistent message carried across all its marketing activities. By making its message relevant it can grow the awareness of the brand. I suggest the first place to begin is to select brand ambassadors that have a greater connection with this market, who people see as role models or aspire to be like. There are tremendous opportunities to have Aquascutum clothes worn by influential trend-setters. It is an irony that Aquascutum has a reputation for dressing royalty, but not any fashionable royals, given the emergence of Kate Middleton and her enormous popularity, she would be a perfect celebrity to endorse Aquascutum (despite dressing in Burberry) I have evaluated several personalities who I think would be a better fit with want Aquascutum wants to achieve: Ed Westwick A young actor known for his appearances in a popular top fashion brand reference TV series “Gossip Girl”, his character ‘Chuck Bass’, a young playboy millionaire steeped in the traditions of the Manhattan upper class lifestyle, is known for his smart dress sense, and cool persona. He is a good role model as Ed is actually British.
- 38. 38 Benedict Cumberbatch The actor is most famous for playing the updated reimagining of Sherlock Holmes in BBC drama Sherlock, which has been incredibly successful. He has an image as being intelligent, erudite and accessible. This combines well with his posh persona and upperclass background. Benedict has a wide appeal across the UK and his appeal is set to grow across the Atlantic as his movie career takes off. Also he has been invited as the mystery guest walking in Spencer Hart The spring/summer 2013 collection of the luxury Savile Row tailor in men’s London Fashion Week, which already gained fashion credit because of his acting career. Gemma Arterton She is a English actress, who have acted one of Bond girl in 2008 James Bond Movie, her look is young, fresh and elegant, She is already fashion show relevant, She is already active in many fashion show of front row guest list in fashion week. She will be a very suitable celebrity to present one English brand to give efficient press exposure which Aquascutum need. There are three movie she casting which will be released in 2013. Victoria Beckham She is a former member of British girl band The Spice Girls, the wife of Britain country ambassador David Beckham, Fashion Paparazzi’s favourites, she got great signature fashion style and always associated with Hermes Birkin, In addition, She launched her own fashion line. The imagine of the talent, independent, confident role model is exactly fashion attitude I planned for Aquascutum.
- 39. 39 Establishing luxury status for a fashion brand Based on my previous project, I have identified the following seven luxury brand criteria as essential for having luxury status which are “Heritage, Timelessness, Creativity, High Quality Craftsmanship, Rarity, Exclusivity and Art£. This diagram master designed below aims to evaluate luxury brands by the 7 criteria in a visual form. The brand needs to have a score in each criteria to attain luxury status. I would like provide the example of specific detailed marketing and promotion method through each criteria, the company could bring more promotion idea in the future to continued the luxury status of Aquascutum. Heritage element: Heritage is a key part of the Aquascutum brand value. Aquascutum has a long heritage but it needs to communicate this. Many established luxury brands frequently refer back to their heritage and mine their creation stories for 'inspiration' for products. It also creates an additional attachment between the product and the brand itself. The following aspects I have identified can be used in promoting the brand heritage: • Men fine tailoring, • Water-proof material invention including the exclusive process of impregnating cotton for rainwear • Trench coat, • English culture, • Royal family • The club check • Regents Street • Vogue • Club 92 • Star Culture/Celebrity Culture • Country leisure - for walking, motoring, riding, shooting and golf
- 40. 40 • Simplicity of the traditional English look • Weatherproof coats in pure new wool cloth • Featuring iconic detectives in trench coats • Official uniforms for the Great Britain Olympic team • The product: • The exclusive Wyncol D711 conquering Mount Everest • the shorter raincoat, a trend that spread around the world • the 'Oscar' winning shower-proof Evening Coat • Antartex that explored the South Pole and 'Aqua 5 Key Recommendation: Story creation for internal training and external advertising material, influence print media magazine and newspaper press credit, new product launching with heritage name, sponsorship for sport event shooting, riding and golf. Media association, rebuild the royal family warrant reputation. Wool and tweet material selected for product design, commercial video making of quality men suiting tailoring etc, exhibit all heritage related etc. Timelessness: Shower Proof Trench Coat The timelessness have to be achieved in the design every season catwalk collection, position the iconic trench coat in very exclusive way in obvious spot of every single store. Key Recommendation: Design different price range of trench. Creativity: Good profile designer, the brand core value new product creation Talent designer is always able to gain the attention of fashion industry. The company have to select right designer to present the brand and the heritage culture. Key Recommendation: Promote the name of the next designer alongside the brand High Quality Craftsmanship: The quality craftsmanship need to be PR management to cover publicity, It could be achieved by inviting VIP witness the craftsmanship: special event exhibition craftsman tailoring, and material selecting. The ad leaflet, the digital video, the interview of designer or craftsman team etc Key Recommendation: Emphasize the superiority of 'Crafted in England' label, show the behind the scenes production in publicity releases Rarity and Exclusivity: This is one of most important strategy for Luxury brand establishing, It could be achieved by distribute in flagship store, Special limited launching, VIP product salon preview service, and VIP gift or Private party etc. Key Recommendation: Create demand by launching a series of limited edition pieces that are seen with trend-setters. Art Art is the highest level for fashion to achieve, Luxury always links to Art, especially contemporary art which means the fashion brand with art spirit are keeping going. It could be achieved by photography of Iconic trench modeling by different people, Artist collaboration, exhibition etc. Key Recommendation: lock the past, present and future together to achieve the value of Brand timelessness. By working to fulfil all these seven criteria, Aquascutum will become a desired brand, this will feed and be driven by the brand promotion activities it will carry out.
- 41. 41 The Future Maintaining Luxury brand dream value Once Aquascutum has successfully repositioned itself, it will need to be aware that it has to take care to maintain its status. It is important that whilst it works to build its brand image, it does not just become an short-lived success story. Luxury is all about setting the distant and building the dream , it is very dangerous if company ignores and forgets about controlling then It could lose luxury status when the brand have drawn massive publicity. The company has to understand how to manage draw the distance between the number of people who recognize it and the number of wearers of the brand that creates the dream. Luxury brand dream value – luxury status of the brand maintain The diagram made according to The Four Typical Situations, The Luxury Strategy by J.N.Kapferer and V.Bastien Clearly, it can be seen from the graphic of luxury dream value measurement, that a well managed dream value only can be qualified by the big distance between purchasing and brand awareness. Consumption level very near the brand awareness is too enough to keep the standard of good management of dream value. Aquascutum can use the model above and marketing 4PS dream value management master table below to continue well managing the long historic name of luxury British heritage. In terms of setting the brand direction like Hermes, Aquascutum should intensively clear-define the brand ironic product and focus on the quality controlling, input the high class artistic impact and limited the distribution eventually for achieving the final exclusive very high class luxury brand.
- 42. 42 Explanation for Luxury dream value management: The price strategy is easily manageable, increasing annually to control the purchase is the way to prevent the high consumption from the continuous higher awareness raising. These could be postponed if consumption drops too far The name and the style of the product, if they are created ingeniously, which are able to process promotion and naturally helped awareness increase. The product stretching is a method to help lower profile clientèle able to afford and enjoy the pleasure from the dream. The company is able to make innovation and create limited edition to preserve the gap and control purchase. Place is the traditional retail boutique to market the product, also restricting the distribution is the other way to control the amount of consumption. Promotion is no doubt for increasing awareness.
- 43. 43 6. Conclusion: Aquascutum easily has the potential to recover from its recent troubles , but the extent to which it recovers depends largely on the ambitions of its new owners YGM Trading, and its plans for the brand. Aquascutum has a lot of positive attributes that will enable it to move forward if these attributes are successfully exploited. Its heritage, Britishness, classical styling and reputation for quality connect, well with the current demands in the international market. However this is a very competitive field, and many competitors have outperformed it. This has highlighted the failings in the management of the brand. It has a very poor level of awareness of the brand contents, particularly in those under 40 and its promotional and physical identity is inconsistent. In short, not providing any compelling reason for someone to prefer Aquascutum is one of its rivals. If Aquascutum starts paying more attention to what the market wants, it will find that it is in a reasonable position to take advantage of its positive attributes and find a position in the UK market again that once again makes it relevant. Although the new owners may be tempted to prefer to concentrate on expanding its Asian activities, it must be surely wary of having a British heritage brand with no tangible connection to the British market. I recommend that Aquascutum creates a much greater experience for its customers, to create a brand that its customers wear with pride and becomes a byword for classic, high quality British fashion. To do this, it needs to move forward and embrace a new market whilst maintaining its heritage. I suggest that the strategy will be to move Aquascutum to a position as a more exclusive, limited Burberry, marketed to a more discerning customer, it will enter the niche Luxury market.
- 44. 44 Reference: Bibliography: J.N. Kapfere and V.Bstien (2009) The Luxury Strategy: Break the rules of marketing to build luxury brands, Kogan Page Limited, London, Unite Kingdom Dana Thomas (2007) Deluxe: How Luxury Lost its Luster, The Penguin Group, London. Harriet Posner (2011) Marketing Fashion, Laurence King Publishing Limited, London Sar Perlman, Gerald J.Sherman (2010), Fashion Public Relations, Fairchild, New York Contact: Angelina Store Manager Aquascutum Canary Wharf, London Cabot Place West Unit 2 Canary Wharf London E14 4QT Areas: Canary Wharf, Isle of Dogs Tel: 020 3069 8790 Aquascutum Menswear, Selfridge, London Selfridges Limited Aquascutum Department, 400 Oxford Street, London, UK Tel:0207 318 3680 Callie Adams PR coordinator Christian Dior Press Office Tel: 0207 245 1334 E-mail:CADAMS@christiandior.fr Daisy Ma Former Buberry Sales Assistant Tel:07540959816 Website: http://www.aquascutum.com/ http://www.mulberry.com/ http://www.dunhill.com/ http://uk.burberry.com/store/?WT.srch=1 http://www.style.com/fashionshows/designerdirectory/AQUA/seasons/ http://www.style.com/fashionshows/complete/S2012RTW-BURBERRY http://www.fashiontv.com/cara-delevingne-the-official-face-of-burberry_704.html