HISTORY OF THE BURBERRY BRAND

Burberry was first established in 1956 by Thomas Burberry, opening the doors to a store in Basingstoke, England.

14 years later by 1870, the brand had established itself by focusing on outdoor clothing. In 1891, Burberry opened a shop in the Haymarket, London, which still exists and until recently was the site of Burberry’s corporate headquarters.

In 1914 Burberry was commissioned by the War Office to adapt its officer's coat to suit the conditions of contemporary warfare, resulting in the "trench coat".

After the first world war, the trench coat became popular with civilians, and is still one of the most iconic items of clothing in association with Burberry have evolved over the last century.

Women's trench coast in the 1930’s.

“The American Gentleman with a fetish for the finest, can now indulge his taste in weatherproof luxury. For here without the fanfare reserved for royalty, we illustrate a few favorites from our current collection of ‘Burberry Bluebloods’”.

1960s Burberry Ad Campaign.

1970 Burberry Ad.

1990’s ad campaign.

BRAND VALUESThe brand values of Burberry have changed from when the brand was first established. Before the war, Burberry clothing was manufactured to be capable to adapt to life on the front line. However in the present day, Burberry has very different Brand Values.

In the 21st Century, Burberry is all about luxurious effortless style, and creating new designs that represent current trends however are still stay loyal to the idea of what Burberry is all about, for example the ‘trench coat’ is a Burberry statement piece however has evolved and developed over the past century. Burberry are also recognized for there traditional tweed print, that is often used for certain pieces in there collections, and more often then not used for the inside lining of the majority of garments.

PRODUCT LIFE CYCLE

Dead Dog

Cash Cow

Rising Star

Problem Child

Printed CapsTraditional Burberry print/pattern

Women's midi skirtsWomen's watchesMen's graphic print shirts

Traditional Trench CoatsSmaller bags and purses

Potential investment

TARGET AUDIENCEBurberry targets both male and females in there late twenties/early thirties, very wealthy, successful, stylish, slim, a lot of there garments are smart so they appeal the modern day business person.Burberry specifically target this sort of audience, however they try there best to not appeal to a certain market that damaged the brands reputation in the 90’s, Chavs in Britain wore theiconic print head to toe and really damaged the brands reputation.

Marketing and PR Strategy Burberry’s reputation was really damaged in the 1990’s due to football hooligans (CHAVS, there new strategy was to get there products out there targeting the higher end of the market.They use celebrity endorsements to do this, giving numerous celebrities there garments to wear to portray the right message with there brand and slowly remove the ‘chav’ reputation that Burberry had gained throughout the 90’s.

Catwalk Pieces

Items in stores that some can affordTrench Coats

Some dresses, business clothing, bags, shoes

Cheaper, smaller garments and accessoriesPurses, belts, hats, perfume etc.