Applauded for their success in the London Stock Exchange last month, Burberry’s fast growing financial and fashion success in Europe and Asia is owed to tweeters, facebookers, and an innovative digital marketing team.
een all over the world on mile-high billboards, plasma screens, and social media sites, it is no wonder that last month we celebrated Burberry’s successful ten years on the London Stock Exchange. Named by Xavier Rolet, CEO of London Stock Exchange Group, as “a truly inspiring British success story,” it was a proud moment for Britishness as Burberry’s share price was disclosed as having increased 436 per cent since admission in 2002. An extraordinary turnaround since the days of chav clad c-listers and football fans.
Though it has regained it’s luxury status, Burberry has managed to maintain the feeling of accessibility by adopting an innovative digital marketing strategy. After all, this is the age of the iPad, the smart phone and Twitter. Jerry Clode, associate director at brand development and marketing insight consultancy Added Value, explains: [quote align=”center” color=”#b64736″]Burberry has gotten off its luxury high horse. They are not stuffy like other brands such as Prada. Burberry is consciously trying to capture a new generation of luxury consumer by combining PR with social media[/quote]And it is clearly working.
Adapting to changing technological and economic climates, Burberry, a 156 year-old brand, has managed to secure over 13m likes on Facebook – a record (and increasing) number compared to Prada’s 1.8m. Burberry’s success is not just restricted to Britain. In fact, it has become one of the fastest growing luxury brands in China with the number of Burberry outlets there expected to grow from 57 to 100 in less than five years. After the company’s launch party of their Beijing flagship store in 2011, Angela Ahrendts, Burberry’s chief executive, remarked: “The Asia Pacific is growing at a faster rate [than other territories] and it will very quickly be a third of the business, and I would say in the next three to five years it will easily be half of the business.
By Roberta Phillips
