Introduction to Louis Vuitton Icon - Research Paper Example

Research Paper on A view of famous Icons from Business Industry Contents Introduction to Icons 3 2.A view from Business point of view 4 3.Case of Louis Vuitton 5 a.Introduction to Louis Vuitton icon 5 b.Popularity of the Icon 6 4.Conclusion 7 1. Introduction to Icons Colors and shapes have impact on persuasion which is one of the major fields of Psychology. Human behavior and mental processes are bases on ‘stimulus-response’ model and thus it is always part of modern marketing aspects to attract customers. Advertisers and Marketing professionals are keen at persuading customers with symbols and Icons which try to convey a message. Human mind is conditioned to certain colors as attractive, neutral or repelling. This conditioning by advertisers is successful to a great extent. For example yellow color represents happiness and about 75% of the pencils sold are painted yellow in order to attract children. Similarly shapes tend to impact mind in informative way (Ciotti par 1-5). The Icons used by Microsoft represents freedom and four colored blocks in the icon tell about aspects and range of products in which freedom is claimed. The information shared from an Icon design is easy to remember. The products aim at fulfilling consumer demands created by market dynamics. They are changed in order to have greater audience and fixate consumers with product characteristics. History of Icon creation is old and dates back to the Greek era. Churches, Citadels and certain Buildings wore Icons to make people feel their imposing presence. Today Icons are created and re-launched in different ways to convey variety of messages; there are fonts, shapes, abstract images or even simple lines to represent ideas, groups and consortium etc. For example some icons are colorless like that of Apple, Mercedes and certain news channels. They actually convey neutrality, balance or a message of calmness. Toblerone, one of the finest chocolate companies from Bern, Switzerland has a hidden silhouette in its Icon. A bear in mountain illustration conveys the product to be originally from Bern, The City of Bears. Icon used by Baskin Robbins flashes a figure of 31 whenever seen or reminded of. Similarly an arrow that forms a smiley under amazon.com has a tail on ‘A’ and head on letter ‘Z’. It conveys availability of almost everything one needs (Ad par 4-8). These icons convey in variety of ways and are helpful in marketing of products and services. With time some icons lose their attraction or magnetism in the face of human psychological process of habituation. People stop paying attention and sometime more attractive and imposing icons surface as competitors with better marketing stunt. Microsoft can be cited as an example. The internet explorer in Microsoft operating system is not being used by most of their own customers. This and certain other market rumors like network security level of Microsoft lags far behind Linux operating system are the messages Microsoft intended to incorporate in its new logo. A butterfly shape of four blocks was created to make people understand specializations, features and freedom of using Microsoft operating systems. 2. A view from Business point of view From business point of view products and services need to be advertised and target customers for sales and appreciation. This fact is of keen interest among manager and marketers. Products use different logos that are iconic in dissemination of its features and dependability. Certain products and services lose their market value if they do not find self-evident product shape. As mentioned above icons run in market with silhouettes and emblems filled with colors for the purpose of attention. These icons feature their specialization and effects. For business growth and sustainability advertisement has a great value. The case of Microsoft emerging from old font-type imagery to butterfly-logo is one such example which is an attempt to meet the challenge thrown by other market competitors. The security assured Linux-Unix operating system, entertainment and gaming assured Google internet applications were posing a challenging environment for Microsoft in various fields. A block wise descriptive logo of Microsoft is being suggested as one the most attractive and self-explanatory version of the operating system. A recent survey suggests that customers have appreciated new features and its presentation in the Information Technology market. 3. Case of Louis Vuitton ` Recent news of Louis Vuitton business in doldrums is thought to be affected by its classical icon and its placement on products. The luxury its products offer is marred by the presentation Louis Vuitton has relied upon. The products are excessively filled with Louis Vuitton icon which is quite classical (FamourLogos, par 2-4). Since the products Louis Vuitton offers are expensive there is a tendency among a selective group of customers to complain even the most delicate point in a product. The classical icon is now being said to as outdated despite the fact that the same icon used to be integral part of ostentation of its products. The case of Louis Vuitton logo and the company’s move to make it hidden will be helpful in understanding the dynamics of icons’ popularity and fading out. a. Introduction to Louis Vuitton icon Louis Vuitton Mallettier shortened as LV a range of French leather products and luxury items. It is one of the largest luxury items manufacturing company formed in 1896. The products are claimed to be of genuine manufacturing items and target connoisseur class of fashion designing. The icon used by Louis Vuitton was designed in order to prevent counterfeit products. Ironically, Louis Vuitton is one of the biggest counterfeited fashion products. The symbols that are used by Louis Vuitton such as quatrefoils and flowers along with LV monogram rose were based on popularity of these shapes during min-nineteenth Oriental and Japanese designs. Art Director of Louis Vuitton, Jacobs Marc in 2001 formed a team of designers and architects to enhance icon’s attraction. The new arrangement merged Stephen’s graffiti logo and Takashi’s cherry blossom design. The unpacking of the new look in a delicate flagship store in Paris was an excessively extravagant show (Logo Orange Designs par 2-4). Now Louis Vuitton is thought to be a symbol of posh lifestyle, celebrities and extravagant elite who flash the LV icons as status symbol. b. Popularity of the Icon The logo used by Louis Vuitton was excessively used by the company as a print on handbags. The symbols were a show of delicacy and fashion. The logo was aided by a date and serial code which was used to check the authenticity of the product in order to curb counterfeit. Impression of Paris has been imposing on various international fashion business and markets. The Paris based product is used by various celebrities and elite figures. Until 2013 the fashion shows used to find Louis Vuitton sponsorship due to well exhibited connoisseur position. However the sales of the product showed 6 percent decline in 2013. A report published in 2013 showed that the popularity of Louis Vuitton was declining due to the excessive use as print on handbags (Fredman par 3-7). It is said that the classical look is giving fatigue to the consumers and more often counterfeiting products with less prices are the side shows. Market critiques have opined that the logo is being excessively used on a handbag which is killing the outlook of the product. Competitors like Gucci, Burberry and Cartier are seen to have an increased share to around 20 percent because of their product presentation. It is also opined that excessive use of an icon causes a sort of appeal fatigue keeping in view the soaring prices of the products. To this effect the Louis Vuitton management has decided to change the momentum of flashing LV icon. This move, according to various market analysts will increase the classical reputation of LVM handbags. Too much flaunting of the Louis Vuitton icon is being linked with manufacturing reliance on its past reputation. The changing market dynamics has caused the company to revisit this decision and even change in logo is also possible after a consistent decline in sales during successive years until 2013 (Reuters par 2-5). The company has addressed this consumer demand by planning a reduced visibility of its monogram. However a selective range of products is not being redesigned with less visibility of the icon (Ledbury par 1-4). The company CFO, Jean Jacques announced in a conference to be market specific rather being a monolith throughout the world. The icon is also being criticized to be outdated and is facing challenges by Burberry, Cartier and other such competitors. The demand for reducing the visibility of the out-dated icon is was also addressed by CFO of Louis Vuitton. The use of logo is being considered as blackmailing the consumers for the products with excessive prices. Business managers opine that Louis Vuitton should concentrate of not letting price mount the use of too much LV icon prints on a single bag. 4. Conclusion Icons play an important role in marketing and business development. However it is not the only way for managers to rely upon for growth. The messages that are conveyed through these icons matter a lot, yet consumer get fatigued if they are over-charged or deceived with the use of icons. Case of Louis Vuitton is an epic story of rise and fall, but as explained and assured by company managers, the icons can rejuvenate its value with time. Works Cited Ad. "Fantastic logos with a hidden meaning."StockLogos.com. N.p., 2014. Web. 26 Apr. 2014. . Ciotti. "The Psychology of Color in Marketing and Branding Help Scout." N.p., 2013. Web. 26 Apr. 2014. FamousLogos. "Louis Vuitton Logo | Design, History and Evolution." Famous Logos | The Most Famous Brands and Company Logos in the World. N.p., 2014. Web. 26 Apr. 2014. Fredman. "The classic Louis Vuitton logo may be killing the company’s handbag sales – Quartz." Quartz. N.p., 2013. Web. 26 Apr. 2014. . Ledbury. "Logo Driven Brands look to Reduce Visibility." N.p., 2013. Web. . Logo Orange Designs. "Logo Design History - Famous Logos L." Corporate Identity Design & Strategy l Logoorange™. N.p., 2014. Web. 26 Apr. 2014. Reuters. "UPDATE 1-Louis Vuitton sales slow down in Europe, China." Reuters. N.p., 2014. Web. 26 Apr. 2014. . Read More