Luxury Brand Management and International Events - Tom Ford - Case Study Example

Tom Ford is a relatively unknown brand outside the United s and Europe. However, its founder, who lent his to the brand, has always portrayed the company as dynamic enough to gain recognition and stable enough to build on its past successes. This paper will assess the Tom Ford brand by examining its brand features (personality, image, identity) and analysing it using a SWOT test. In addition, the paper will provide recommendations as to how the brand can be developed and grown, present a proposal for an international event that it can organise to support growth, provide a summary of critical success factors for both the successful growth of the brand and Tom Ford and the event, and discuss contemporary issues in the luxury brand management industry. By the end of this paper, a clear picture of the current and future outlooks of Tom Ford will have been painted. Readers will be able to relate to and understand what the brand represents and what it can offer them. Introduction to the Brand Tom Ford is currently one of the most renowned fashion brands in the world. Founded in 2004, the company initially operated as a menswear fashion line. However, in a move that signalled a strategic shift in the company, it launched its women’s collection in 2010 to support its long-term goal of gaining international recognition. In 2006, the company ventured into beauty products by introducing a line of perfumes. Four years later it proceeded to launch its first colour products. Currently, Tom Ford consists of three main brands: Tom Ford menswear, Tom Ford women’s collection, and Tom Ford Beauty. All the brands play a vital role in the company’s corporate strategy. The menswear collection has become very popular with high-income earners while the women’s collection is slowly gaining ground globally. Although it is a greenhorn compared to established brands like Gucci and Versace, Tom Ford is growing fast and is expected to break into the league of major fashion lines within the next decade. The company’s vision is to become the most influential and recognizable brand of the 21st century. It also intends to open 100 retail shops internationally within the next decade. Brand Analysis In terms of physique, Tom Ford pursues sophistication, luxury, and polish. The style is primarily sexualized and features minimal accessories. The message that the company is trying to send with this approach is that its designs are so exquisite, premium and appropriate that the need to accessorize is considerably less than with other brands’ offerings. According to Tom Ford, the company’s founder and lead designer, the more accessories a design needs, the less luxurious it is (Black, 2014:23). Quality designs are so graceful that they do not need elaborate compliments. This message seems to resonate with its small target market that is composed of high-income earners. Considering the type of physique it symbolizes, it is not surprising that the brand targets and is favoured by people who are celebratory, sassy, and have a high affinity for luxury. The benefit of this approach is that it cuts across all cultures. Such personalities are found in every society in the world, and they are always willing to spend on designs that accentuate their characters. Few people know it, but Tom Ford has a cultural dimension to it that forms part of its appeal. Although it is affiliated with and leans towards Italian culture, its refinement and sophistication is representative of English culture. Italian is often associated with fashion while English culture is renowned for finesse and heritage (Gutsatz & Auguste, 2013:27). By blending the two, the brand can appeal to two of its largest markets: North America and Western Europe. It is acknowledged that most luxury fashion brands in the world originate from Italy. By affiliating itself to this notion, Tom Ford has built a strong marketing platform. An interesting feature of the brand is that it is inherently tied to its founder. Tom Ford exudes high self-esteem, celebrity aura, confidence, and drive, and his designs are made in such a way that they communicate these qualities. He is saying that when you wear his designs you are wearing him; you become part of his movement. This is a very powerful marketing strategy. Although he is almost 55 years old, Tom Ford represents style and fashion consciousness and youthfulness (Scholz, 2014:12). His designs are an embodiment of these features. People who care about their self-image admire, buy, and wear Tom Ford. These are largely high-income consumers with a keen eye for fashion, sophisticated demeanour, and a “clean” image to enhance the first two qualities. Brand Identity The above figure presents a summary of Tom Ford’s brand identity. It is based on Kapferer’s brand identity prism, which draws inspiration from externalisation and internalisation of a brand. Personality, physical attributes, consumer mentalization, culture, relationship to the brand, reflected consumer, constructed source, and constructed receiver are at the heart of Tom Ford’s brand identity. Brand Image and Personality Tom Ford is a premium brand that targets high-income consumers only. These include socialites, celebrities, and famous personalities in different fields. The brand is also elegant, fashionable, and extremely sophisticated. Its primary attribute is its elevated visibility that allows it to be recognised by prospective customers and even consumers who do not subscribe to its characteristics (Kennedy, Stoehrer, & Calderin, 2013:42). This is aided by its use of celebrities to market itself and its strategic presence in vital areas of the global fashion world (e.g., fashion weeks, films, and music). Since its establishment, Tom Ford has been open in its endorsement of and affiliation to pop culture and celebrity status. This means that it knew the market it wanted to target from the beginning and worked to ensure that it differentiated itself from rivals early enough so that consumers can forge a new relationship with it. The brand is often depicted as holistic because of the perfectionism, quality, and intricate nature of its designs. Moreover, these qualities are uniform in all its designs so that the company does not confuse itself and its consumers. For instance, once it has gravitated towards the luxury segment it cannot produce designs that do not represent that do not embody luxury (Wang & He, 2014:31). All products must epitomise luxury and exclusivity to align with the brand’s objectives. Tom Ford designs pay great attention to detail. From the embroidery to the colour combinations, the company ensures that all aspects of its designs stand out from rivals’. As previously stated, the designs do not require further accentuation with accessories because they are made to represent all the aesthetic qualities a consumer may want. Luxury brands consumers have always associated them with certain qualities that appeal to their specific tastes and preferences (Johansson & Carlson, 2014:54). Tom Ford communicates power, strong personality, trailblazing, sex, and decadence. Anyone wearing the designs should be sexy, influential, and unique. Buying and wearing Tom Ford designs insinuates ability to command respect and praise in the community. In addition, luxury brands are a manifestation of modernity, trendiness, and fashion consciousness. SWOT Analysis Strengths Tom Ford is a renowned fashion designer and stylist. The brand thrives on his popularity. The Tom Ford brand is highly valued. Attracts high-income, trendy and fashionable consumers. Quality and attention to detail. Weaknesses Limited global appeal. Reduce purchasing power due to hostile economic environment. Opportunities Emerging markets with an expanding middle-class (China, Hong-Kong, South Korea, etc). Brand consolidation to cement luxury perspective. Threats Intense competition from established, traditional brands. Direct rivals and major brands have more global visibility. Competition cheap fashion lines with the potential of evolving into luxury brands. Recommended Strategy for Luxury Brand Development and Growth Offer an exclusive line of products that are high quality and expensive. This will be crucial in sustaining the luxury brand image and allowing Tom Ford to continue pursuing superior fashion design. Global expansion to high growth and high potential markets like East Asia (Johansson & Carlson, 2014:41). Consumers in these markets have enough purchasing power to afford premium brands and are also highly fashion conscious. More marketing to increase visibility. Currently, Tom Ford is overshadowed by established brands with great marketing power. Since it cannot compete with them in terms of resources and number of campaigns, the brand must be innovative and direct. It can make a few advertisements that reach its target markets and have a huge impact on their purchasing choices. Proposal for International Event to support Luxury Brand Growth An international summit organised by Tom Ford that brings together major luxury brands to support charitable activities would be an ideal way of promoting and growing luxury brands. For a long time, people have associated luxury brands with capitalist greed and obsession with self ((Kennedy, Stoehrer, & Calderin, 2013:16). However, they can challenge this perspective and promote their brands by portraying themselves as responsible members of the society who, despite making billions of dollars annually, also care about the plight of society (e.g., social causes, disasters, and community mobilization). Summary of Critical Success Factors for both the Successful Growth of Tom Ford and the Event Differentiation Tom Ford can organize the event in such a way that it gains maximum visibility and stands out from other brands. Social awareness and responsibility By using the event to demonstrate a commitment to social development, Tom Ford will appeal to millions of consumers across the world who will associate the brand with social responsibility and even purchase its products because of faith in its methods (Johansson & Carlson, 2014:47). Consumer engagement The event can provide an avenue for Tom Ford to interact with consumers from different world regions, enlighten them about the brand, and forge a positive relationship with them (Corbellini & Saviolo, 2013:62). Marketing Although this is a social event, it also has immense marketing potential that should be exploited for the company’s benefit (Choi, 2014:25). Tom Ford can use the opportunity to introduce some of its brands and reach out to millions of consumers across the globe. Contemporary Issues within the Luxury Brand Management Sector Globalization and Offshoring Globalization has had a major impact on international business, and one of the industries that have been affected is the luxury brand management sector. Globalization has provided luxury brands with new and innovative ways of marketing their products in other countries by forging alliances with local firms in far-flung areas of the world (Choi, 2014:34). A few years ago, it was difficult to imagine luxury brands like Gucci having numerous stores located in emerging markets. However, due to cheap labor in those markets and favourable regulations, luxury brands are expanding their reach to developing nations. One aspect of globalization which has been instrumental in luxury brands’ corporate strategies is technology. While it has enabled knowledge sharing on luxury brands development, it has also led to the loss of jobs. Overall, globalization has proved to be an opportunity and a challenge. Offshoring is a product of globalization that has become popular because luxury brands are keen to take advantage of cheap labor, good infrastructure, large customer bases, and lax regulation in emerging markets and developing nations (Corbellini & Saviolo, 2013:19). Asian countries like Bangladesh, China and Taiwan, have become synonymous with sweatshops where garments are produced at cheaper prices than can be accorded by developed countries. The finished products are then shipped to first world countries to be sold to customers who are oblivious of their origins. Logistics and Supply Chain Management With increase offshoring and globalization, luxury brands have seen their supply chains expand exponentially. As a result, logistics and supply chain management have become vital in the success of fashion marketing and luxury brands development (Kennedy, Stoehrer, & Calderin, 2013:36). An increase in the customers, stores and profits has necessitated better and more elaborate logistics and supply chain practices. E-commerce Although traditional retail techniques are still used, e-commerce has evolved to become a major source of revenue for luxury brands. With technological advancement, luxury brands that did not see the need to create websites and sell their designs through those websites are now exploiting them to good effect (Wang & He, 2014:58). In addition, e-commerce websites and online payment systems like PayPal are now being used to conduct millions of transactions in the luxury brands sector. Read More