Pulling a Rabbit out of a Trench Coat

Opinion: Burberry can bounce back better than ever, if only it remembers its brand identity.

Daniel Lee's first collection for Burberry in 2023, Vogue

Burberry has this week reported yet another profit warning, and swapped out its CEO from Jonathan Ackeroyd to Joshua Schulman. The likelihood now is that Burberry will be switching gears from trying to position itself as a true luxury player, to the entry-level luxury brand. This is after all what Schulman was able to achieve in his most recent positions at Michael Kors and Coach. However, there are pitfalls here that Burberry needs to avoid - it was only in the 2000s that the counterfeit industry turned the popularity of the Burberry plaid into something lacking the exclusivity that should define luxury. It took another CEO, Angela Ahrendts, to reposition Burberry as an aspirational brand from 2006 to 2014 before she moved on to Apple. Achieving success whether as a true luxury player or a premium brand, rests on strong, identifiable and, to a degree, utilitarian accessories. Burberry’s success also rests on its original product, the trench coat. The last time I personally ached for a Burberry trench coat was when Cara Delevingne and Eddie Redmayne starred in a campaign together back in 2012. Have they ever been as cool since? 

Another element Burberry needs to consider is making sure the way the creative director and internal colleagues view Burberry’s identity, is the same way their target customer views it. The Business of Fashion (BoF) calls this Brand Magic. BoF and their partner QuiltAI measure this by assessing brand content against the twelve archetypes as defined by Carl Jung, and comparing both how much social media users engage with owned content and how UGC (user-generated content) aligns. This means whether customers are posting content that exhibits the same archetypes. In their most recent study, Burberry was classed as a “lost brand”. That is, low engagement and low alignment. Now, just because the brand magic is lacking, it doesn’t necessarily mean that the creative director should be switched out too. Before Burberry, Daniel Lee was able to launch Bottega Veneta into mainstream success in the social media age precisely because of strong accessory offerings - so much so that even under current creative director Mathieu Blazy, we are still seeing Lee’s designs being sold and reimagined as if they were house codes for more time than just the 3 years Lee designed there. 

I won’t waste time analysing Burberry’s current marketing strategy - the fact that it’s difficult to remember an iconic Burberry campaign in recent years and the Business of Fashion analysis I have summarised above are enough to have a good idea. What I will do is outline the brand strategy I would put in place if I were the marketing director at Burberry, taking inspiration from a certain brand that I think is getting it right.

To me, when I think of the future of Burberry, I see their trench coats and other accessories as the perfect tools for the archetype of the Explorer. The idea of taking on risk, discovering the world and being relaxed enough to actually be thrilled by new experiences is only possible when you have full trust in everything else that is going on around you. You should be able to imagine a night out in Leeds, a fully crowded Northern Line on the way to a first date or a job interview, and hiking up to Arthur’s Seat all in a Burberry trench coat. No uncertainty of British weather should be met with hesitancy to do the things that make life worth living - we should feel empowered to keep our upper lip stiff until the very end. 

Eddie Redmayne and Cara Delevingne for Burberry, 2012

I also see Burberry as the Rebel. They are an icon of British fashion that after rising above the watering down of the brand through counterfeits, was able to dictate the next generation of British icons at the tipping point of social media. They certainly were not able to do this by following convention or rules. They need to prove to their target customer once more that they are able to innovate and keep their finger on the pulse of pop culture before it becomes too mainstream or trendy. A brand is only as powerful as their representatives. Circa 2012, Burberry was able to stay ahead of the game because they put models in their campaigns such as Cara Delevingne, Jourdan Dunn and Edie Campbell before they were popular. Achieving rebel status is partly to do with innovative design, and partly related to the identity of who is seen wearing the brand. Are they culture shifters? Would they ever make it onto any kind of Best or Worst Dressed list?

Daniel Craig for Loewe

To engage people in pop culture like this takes more than PR gifting and sitting in the front row of a fashion show. It’s about creating a cultural moment that feels both natural, and fresh. This is what is going well at Jonathan Anderson’s Loewe recently. Anderson’s creative marketing team has tapped into a strong British market by collaborating with British icons such as Daniel Craig and Maggie Smith. Their TikTok also strongly engages the viewer because they don’t take traditional luxury marketing rules so seriously. They understand that the price point is what makes luxury fashion exclusive, but the rest of fashion is about having fun. 

These two archetypes of the Explorer and the Rebel even link back to the history of the house. Thomas Burberry himself was not the inventor of the trench, but instead invented gabardine by waterproofing cotton and wool. This technical utility that he was able to add to the trench coat is what launched Burberry’s initial popularity with explorers. Burberry would do well to lean into their original founder’s identity of explorative risk taking and breaking traditional rules. 

Raye performing at the O2, Rolling Stone

Burberry obviously cannot and should not try to exactly replicate what Loewe are succeeding with in their marketing strategies. However, they can and should present British risk takers, explorers and rebels in their own way. I would love to see artists or actors who have achieved success by breaking the rules in Burberry campaigns. If I were Burberry’s marketing director, I would launch a three-part series of campaigns that could resonate with multiple audiences, and be a culture defining moment to open Burberry’s new chapter. One with singer-songwriter and all-round musical genius Raye, stripped back of her usual glamour and having the time of her life as a music lover rather than a performer. One with the Lionesses, with each one going about their daily lives before coming together for practice, emphasising the explorer mindset that is needed to take the risks that allow you to achieve great things. The last with Charithra Chandran letting it loose as a typical London girl would on a rebellious Friday night - not something we’ve typically seen her play in movies or shows she’s done before, a feeling that would feel natural for her to express.

I can imagine the UGC content now. If we can have a brat-summer, a hot girl summer, a healed girl summer or whatever kind of summer we want, without having to think twice about what to throw on if it rains, Burberry has finally done its marketing the way it should.