Luxury Is the Focus of LVMH Branding

http://us.louisvuitton.com/eng-us/stories/tambour-horizon#the-watch

Louis Vuitton Moet Hennessy has a large portfolio of luxury products, including Louis Vuitton (fashion, leather goods and more), Christian Dior (fashion and more), Hennessy (cognac and more), Sephora (beauty retailer) and prestige watch brands such as Hublot and TAG Heuer. In all, LVMH's group annual turnover exceeds €37.6 billion.

Luxury (at prestige prices) is the focus of all LVMH brands. Loyal customers are willing to pay top prices for top-quality designer products that reflect upmarket status and style. Even technology has permeated LVMH's famous product portfolio. Louis Vuitton recently launched a smartwatch that combines the brand's classic fashion sense with Androidwear tech.

Customers worldwide are responding to the luxury appeal of LVMH brands and are following the latest developments in style and function through brand encounters in stores, online and on social media. Louis Vuitton's Facebook page has more than 20 million likes, and its Pinterest boards have 121,000 followers. Its Instagram account has nearly 20,000 followers, and its Twitter feed has nearly 7 million followers. Through posts and viral sharing, LVMH brands expand their reach worldwide and reinforce the luxury positioning that customers perceive.

NOTE: This post updates the "Marketing in Practice" feature in Chapter 7 of Essential Guide to Marketing Planning 4e.

Poundland's multiprice strategy

Poundland has been selling some merchandise for several pounds--expanding its merchandise range and its appeal to bargain-hunting shoppers. Now the retailer, founded in 1990, has a twist on its multiprice strategy: Selling merchandise for less than one pound.

The multiprice strategy helps Poundland keep its brand promise to price-conscious customers. It also helps the retailer manage seasonal inventory. Rather than store out-of-season stock for nine months until the season rolls around again, Poundland is clearing merchandise by cutting the price, as many other stores do. The result: shelves are full of in-season, fresh merchandise at attractively low price points.

Poundland leverages social media for its price-driven promotions, with consistency in posts across platforms. More than 300,000 people have liked Poundland on Facebook, nearly 25,000 follow it on Instagram, and it has 80,000 Twitter followers (as well as a YouTube channel and a Pinterest page).

This updates the "Marketing in Practice" example in Chapter 7 of Essential Guide to Marketing Planning, 4th edn.

Marketing at the intersection of music, pop culture and home decorating

Pantone, known for insights into colour trends, just introduced a new colour of purple, shown above.

The name of the colour is a symbol: Love Symbol #2.

Do you recognise this iconic symbol and colour?

They're closely associated with Prince, whose Purple Rain album was recently reissued with new tracks. In fact, this particular purple was inspired by Prince's customized piano.

Now Pantone, partnering with Prince's estate, has introduced a standard version of Prince's favourite purple.

In marketing terms, this is a smart way to leverage consumer interest in music, pop culture and home decorating. Many consumers who grew up listening to Prince will know his love of purple. Whether they're painting a room or a chair or a piano, they can buy this exact purple.

Now that Prince's unique purple is an official Pantone colour, watch for a variety of new products featuring this colour, for decorating, for gift-giving, and more.

Inside Uniqlo's Marketing Plan

The marketing plan of Uniqlo, based in Japan, targets Millennials and other selected groups through social media and distribution, in particular. The UK branch of this integrated retail empire has 100k Facebook likes, 31k Twitter followers and 70k Instagram (indicating the fashion interest of Instagram users). New products and new stores are featured in social media, along with seasonal favourites and topical messages.

Expanding beyond its home base of Japan, Uniqlo has a growing audience of brand fans in the UK and Europe, China, and the US. Many of Uniqlo's products are fashion basics, although it also launches new style collections seasonally. The company markets own-brand merchandise, and controls the design and production functions as well as controlling the retail outlets. This allows it to move quickly to ride the wave of a strong trend, for flexibility in adjusting the marketing plan as needed.

One recent innovation is the introduction of #UniqloToGo, vending machines dispensing t-shirts and light outerwear in US airports. The idea is to appeal to people passing through airports who need an extra shirt or another jacket to wear to or at their destination. It's not just convenient, it's also a way to increase brand awareness and capture extra sales. The prices are moderate, which encourages impulse purchasing.

This, plus pop-up stores in major cities, allows Uniqlo wider reach and more flexibility in executing its marketing plan.

NOTE: This post updates the Marketing in Practice box in Chapter 8 of Essential Guide to Marketing Planning, 4e

Top UK consumer brands of 2017

SuperBrands has released its list of the top consumer brands for this year, as determined by UK consumers.

Here are the top 5, along with a bit of news about each of these leading consumer brands.

5. Gillette - Gillette is facing competition from UK newcomer Harry's, which offers a subscription-based alternative to buying razor blades at retail. Backed by Procter & Gamble, Gillete's traditional strengths are positive brand recognition and product innovation.

4. Andrex - The well-known toilet-tissue brand is celebrating its 75th anniversary with nostalgia-laden marketing. Andrex enjoys high market share and has slightly shrunk its rolls to cut costs and fund product investments.

3. Rolex - Reinforcing its brand's luxury positioning, Rolex sponsors special events like the Rolex Fastnet yacht race and the Rolex Grand Prix at CHIO Aachen showjumping competition. These special events keep the brand top-of-mind in the target market.

2. LEGO - The recent Bricklive special event in Belfast offered LEGO fans the opportunity to build and to watch others build creatively. More than 10,000 brand fans showed up, some to build and many to enjoy seeing the process and the finished results--reinforcing loyalty and engaging fans.

1. British Airways - As part of a trend toward entertaining passengers (and the public), BA recently released a funny safety video starring celebs like Gordon Ramsay, 'Mister Bean' (Rowan Atkinson) and Gillian Anderson. The airline's CEO says he wants passengers to watch the safety video from start to finish. It's also a positive branding association.

What's New at Cadbury Dairy Milk?

After a period of outsourcing production of Dairy Milk beyond the UK borders, Cadbury has announced that the popular chocolate will once again be "made in Britain" at the Bournville production plant.

Cadbury is also bringing back a product that twice was deleted from the range due to low sales. The Dairy Milk Tiffin chocolate bar, originally launched 80 years ago, is returning to store shelves permanently following a highly successful limited-edition version in 2016.

Not new: the company still offers personalised Dairy Milk bars. Increasingly important: Cadbury UK's popular Facebook page (more than 700k followers), active Twitter account (more than 300k followers) and Instagram account (146k followers). That's how Cadbury's social media marketing strategy keeps its brand and products in front of Millennials who enjoy chocolate.