Burberry management should read this
The management of Burberry plc should read Will Hutton's comments about branding and British companies in the Observer today.
Will says:
Today's successful brands stress a commitment to sustainability, the environment and healthy communities. Behind the brand, companies make more attempts to meet the promise, partly compensating for the marketing hype....
The brand can promise personalised identity, authenticity, and integrity; but if it is going to work buyers have to feel, after the purchase, that the brand keeps its promise
Burberry says on its website:
Burberry is a luxury brand with a distinctive British sensibility
They pride themselves on the 'Britishness' of their brand - but they now plan to close their factory in Treorchy in the Rhondda and transfer the work probably to the far east.
If they want to be seen as a British brand they need to keep manufacturing jobs in Britain. The Treorchy 300 represent one-third of their British manufacturing jobs. If it's Treorchy today, it will be Yorkshire tomorrow.
If they export their manufacturing jobs out of Britain, they will be committing the worst branding mistake in British business since Gerald Ratner said his products were 'total crap'.