Ever since 2009, Burberry has always been a true pioneer and inspiration for digital marketing. It’s one of the few companies that fully immerses and embraces the digital world.
‘[Digital] is something that should never be an afterthought – it should never be a checklist that is something to do. Digital for me is not a project; digital is a way that we live. If you deal with it as a project, it will always be superficial.
-Christopher Bailey, CEO of Burberry’
It’s hard to imagine that this digital marketing genius is not from a marketing background at all. He was from creative background. He always openly admits that Burberry as being “as much a media-content company as a design company.”
Avant Garde Web site Design
– Easy navigation
– Big visual to tell the story
That’s just the surface.
1. Media Content Power House
Launched in 2009, it was Burberry’s first big scale digital move – one of a kind style sharing platform. The beauty of it:
– Invites Burberry’s loyal following of trench coat to post their selfies to the Art of Trench site to share their taste
– Link the user generated content to its ecommerce site to allow direct transaction
– Relied largely on public relations and word of month and user submission for the campaign exposure
– Facebook fansbase grew to over 1 million at the same year of launch
– Ecommerce sales grew by 50% year of year
– Apart from online buzz, they also held various event around the globe to promote Art of Trench. One of the notable events recent was the Art of Trench Exhibition in Shanghai.
After that, there are a lot of follow-suits, #WonderFurla and the more recent #MyCalvins
2. Strategic Collaboration
Partnering with the right parties is like being with the cool gangs in High school. If all the cool kids carries an iPhone, iPhone is the cool must-have. (Ok, reality check, there was no iPhone when I was in high school. I grew up in an high school full with humble bookwarms. Good grades were cool and we wrote poems and essay for pastime. That explained my poor sense of style or complete lack of it when I was young)
Burberry makes their media content one step further by collaborating with right influensers.
By collaborating with the God Father of Street Style Snap – Scott Schuman, aka the Sartorialist, Art of Trench mini site was filled with artfully crafted fashion images. By leveraging on then already-famous, the Sartorialist, Art of trench created an exclusive “in-the-know’ feel that appealed to the luxury consumers
(Screen cap from thesartorialist.com)
One of the finest example of Burberry’s strategic collaboration. By working with some of Britain’s finest musicians, fans can enjoy rare live acoustic performance directly from Burberry’s social platform.
The platform featured a series of short films of up and coming British musicians who have been hand-picked by Mr. Bailey, shot in scenic locations with the artists wearing Burberry clothing. The films bring a hip edge to the brand’s image. The project can attract a wider audience that enjoys other aspects of British pop culture. Don’t forget, these films are highly shareable content for social media.
Acoustic is on Facebook and on Chinese Douban.
Fashion Show Live Cast with Apple
Fashion shows used to be exclusvie and somewhat private for the “in-the-know’, Burberry invited fans to watch the show all together with social media. In 2013, they took one step further, by partnering with Apple’s then newly launched iPhone5S, with an enhanced filming function, to document every step of the way to the spring/summer 2014 fashion show.
Of course, the benefits were mutual. Both brands gained the buzz and praise they deserved by being innovative and visionary. No wonder Angela Ahrendtz gained the attention of Apple’s HR too.
3. Digitalized the in-store experience
No one can beat the London flagship store which was designed as a physical manifestation of the Burberry Website.
Burberry World Live
Real-life Bespoke – customers can engage with the products both online and in-person, customize their apparel and try on RFID-tagged items in front of a mirror that projects them onto videos
iPads – with complimentary iPads in hand, customers can relax on the couches as they browse through the products, view videos of clothing being worn by models, video videos and read social reviews. Customers can even pay through the iPad thought waiting in line at the check-out counter.
Burberry World Live also give customers the chances to attend events including gigs by the Acoustic artists, which are streamed online.
I’m sure Christopher Bailey would speak better himself.
4. Complementing social platform contents
Facebook – the Official Voice
Twitter – Product focus
Pinterest – Imageries Inspirations
- Various Pin Boards for fashion inspiration
- London focused Pinterest board pays homage to the city that gave birth to its trench coats with iconic images of the city. Perfect if you’ve ever wondered what London looks like through the Hudson Instagram filter.
They are also on Youtube, Tumblr, Weibo and Douban.
Feel Special Content
Personalised Message
Personalised messages for everyone who shared the image. Acted as a reward for engaging with the content and also helped create a personal attachment with the brand. It’s also likely that the recipients shared the new Images with their own social circles.
Handwritten note from Chris
Asset created for celebrating 10 million Facebook fans
Thematic Integrated Campaigns
Britain Weather
Everyone knows Brits are obsessed with weather especially when the whole world’s focus was in London during the Olympics. Tapping into this is fashion brand Burberry, which has created a summer ad campaign based on monitoring the vagaries of the British skies in billboards around the world, as well as on the Weather Channel….
The campaign includes digital billboards situated in major cities across the world, including London, Paris, New York and Hong Kong, which are fed live London-based weather content. Screens will be updated with imagery of the city and live temperature checks over the course of the day.
In addition, Burberry has partnered with the Weather Channel during the Olympics, providing all advertising on the Channel’s global iPhone/iPad apps, where it will also show imagery of London weather conditions.
My Ode to Burberry!
[The post hasn’t been properly quoted all the source yet. I’ll add up the reference part within a week).
iagegracefully 