Burberry builds on core competence of digital marketing

Burberry (founded in 1856) is a 21st-century marketing star, not just because of its strong luxury brand heritage and fashion sense but because of its savvy development of digital marketing expertise as a core competence across the company.

Shopping in a flagship Burberry store is a multimedia experience, with screens, speakers, iPads, live streaming of fashion events and more. 'We wanted to totally merge the digital and the physical worlds', the creative director said when the redesigned store was opened in 2012. Rather than worry about showrooming, Burberry seems to be diving into multichannel marketing with the knowledge that customers are and must be in control of where and when they browse and buy.

Visitors to Burberry websites have many multimedia options--including participating by showing what your trench looks like on the company's Art of the Trench site. Want your own custom-designed Burberry trench? Since 2009, the company has invited you to design what you want online. The mobile site can stream fashion events and more so you can watch or buy from your smartphone or tablet. 

Burberry aims to have a digital presence wherever its brand fans are (or want to be). Just recently it opened a digital branch on China's Tmall shopping platform, owned by Alibaba. In short, Burberry's content engages customers and fashionistas on multiple platforms, including in-person, via mobile and online. Take a look at Burberry's integrated social media presence on YouTube, Twitter (3m followers), Pinterest (86k followers) and Facebook (17 million likes).

This is a brief update to the closing case in chapter 1 of Essential Guide to Marketing Planning.