Bob Mackie
Design & Innovation Emma Huckle
27/01/2025 Image 1&2 ( BBW, 2021)
Introduction to Bob Mackie
Over the past 6 decades, Bob Mackie has become one of the most prolific stylists and designers to the stars. Most well known for dressing Cher, his archival and vintage designs can be seen everywhere, notably adorned by Mylie Cyrus at the 2024 Grammys and Marilyn Monroe’s ‘Happy Birthday Mr President’ dress, re-worn by Kim Kardashian at the 2022 Met Gala.
The company’s last report revenue was $986,000, with head offices based in Midtown Manhattan close to Rockefeller Center (Rocketreach, 2024).
Started in 1960 as a novice designer at Paramount Studios.
Winner and nominee of many awards ranging from USA Academy Awards to Primetime Emmy, including the 1999 Winner of the Costume Designers Guild Awards (IMDB, 2019).
Called the ‘busiest 80-year-old on the planet’ by Vogue in 2019 (Borrelli-Persson, 2019).
Able to buy his ‘wearable art’ on his website or at resale.
Image 5 (Mackie, 2024)
Image 4 (Bailey, 2022)
Image 3 (Mackie 2, 2024)
Image 6 (Mackie 3, 2024)
SWOT
Strengths Weaknesses
Although recently in Vogue, not a current brand in pop culture and social media.
Extremely well-known designer name., with a strong association to Alisters and the celebrity world. Selling a wide variety of products (Clothing, watches, art and perfume. Regularly talked about in fashion media, more recently Vogue analysed his inspiration into Gen Z fashion (Allaire, 2024).
Lack of AI.
Expensive clothing resale, minimises potential customers for lack of accessibility, also no money coming into the business due to being sold on different sites.
Only 1 perfume size of 100ml.
No indication of perfume base (alcohol, oil or water).
Opportunities Threats
Investing more into the current perfume line, justified by the 2023 Global Beauty & Personal Care market worth $570bn, as well as growth in the Asian fragrance market (Walker-Smith, 2024). This particular market is $12.23bn, with steady annual growth (Statista, 2024).
Becoming more prominent in current pop culture, not just remembered for what he’s done, but what he’s doing.
Rental site to allow a wider customer base access to clothing, opposed to just having to buy singular items and justifying spending large amounts of money.
Lack of stock availability on website store, other option is buying on Amazon, depleting the luxury element.
No solid pricing structure on perfume, men’s products more expensive than women's, causing male shoppers to go elsewhere. Competitor fragrance brands are more up to date with marketing strategies, like using celebrities.
Lack of sustainability commitments, off putting to environmentallyconscious consumers,
Table 1 (Huckle, 2024)
Mean = £89.41
Mode = £100, followed by £80
Research results
Customers want aesthetically-pleasing bottles
Location mattersDuty Free and Department Stores
Doblin 10 analysis
Profit Model Network Structure Process
Product
Performance
Auctions (Julien’s
Auctions, 2024)
Premium Pricing
Barbie X Bob Mackie
‘Wearable Art’
Barbie X Bob Mackie
Cher Show licensing (BLG, 2024)
2024 ‘Naked Illusion’ documentary Kas Rugs (rugnews, 2013)
9 year Median Tenure on LinkedIn (Bob Mackie, 2025)
Small workforce situated in NY Mackie only ‘hire the best people possible’ (Getty, 2022)
Huge learning and teaching environment
Laggard in market with no recent developments Little to no process transparency
Very little published in sustainability
Simple bottles, could be easy to replicate No personalisation available in perfume
Channel
Product System Service Brand
Customer
Engagement
Social commerce and advertising through Instagram
Items sold via store are final, having to follow through email with issues. Recognition through
Brand extensions through Mattel
Value quality
Clothing seen throughout pop culture history
Lots of social media posts of celebrity looks. No online community as such for customers
Areas of Improvement Process
Addition of transparency in responsible sourcing and release of new products
Product Performance & System Customer Engagement
Addition of personalisation, accessibility, availability to bundle, more competitor differentiation and introduction of DPPs.
Addition of more assurance through purchase with perfume testers available and building of online community
Areas of Innovation
Idea 1 Idea 2
Redesigning the current perfume line and its respected marketing techniques
Swot opportunity 1 -
‘Investing more into the current perfume line...’
Superbowl 2025 cheerleader collaboration
Idea 3
Rental site collaboration with 1st Dibs
Swot opportunity 2 -
‘Becoming more prominent in current pop culture...’
Swot opportunity 3 -
‘Rental site to allow a wider customer base access to clothing...’
Idea 1 -
(Living Ink Tech, 2025) (WWF, 2020) (Tydings, 2018) (Kent, 2022)
Redesigning the current perfume line and its respected marketing techniques
Aligns with SWOT point to invest more into the perfume line
Recycled glass bottles.
Added skincare elements.
Use of VR pop-ups consisting of immersive boxes for users to enter.
Own survey results show duty-free and department stores are where consumers are most influenced to buy a new perfume
New product of a Mylo leather travel pouch and collaboration with Living Ink Technologies
Grooved shaped bottles for inclusivity and easy-handling.
Hashtag marketing #HappyinMackie for after purchase connections, staying associated with brand.
‘Top-spending clients will create 65-80% of global market growth through to 2027’Key insight from BoF ‘State of Fashion Luxury’
Even with China’s domestic luxury slowdown, the global luxury market is still expected to grow 2-4% per year for 2025-27 (BoF et al, 2025)
Bette Breeze
Bette Breeze
RougeRoad
RougeRoad
Smooth Umber
Smooth Umber ‘Blossom Flute’
Idea 2Superbowl 2025 cheerleader collaboration
Aligns with SWOT point concerning more visibility in social media and current pop culture
Regen Bio Spandex , a bio-based corn alternative to petroleum based traditional spandex (Hyosung, 2024) Radiant matter bio sequins used by Patrick McDowell and Stella McCartney (Radiant Matter, 2024)
The World’s first vegan made ostrich feathers by Ethical Plumes (Blue District, 2024)
(GoGreenNOLA, 2018)
(Freecycle.org, 2024)
Image 9 (New Orleans Saints, 2019)
(Healey, 2023)
MARDI GRAS INSPIRED
Idea 3Rental site with 1stDibs
Aligns with SWOT idea of making clothing more accessible to everyone
Rental site collaboration, pricing items between £15-120 per 24 hours.
Allows for lesser-income shoppers to still be able to wear the products on occasion.
Dedicated page to Bob Mackie’s history, items available for purchase and rental, as well as a rotating page of seasonal items.
Continued use of the #HappyInMackie trend, alongside the fragrances.
With the new ‘Rental’ tab, customers can go through ready-to-wear rental pieces, look through seasonal picks through ‘Coveted styles’, in this case a red focus for Valentines day, and also Bob Mackie’s own designer history.
Based on By Rotation’s rental prices of Oscar De La Renta, I would price Bob Mackie rentals between £15 to £120 a day, ranging from cocktail dresses and scarves to more highly embellished gowns (By Rotation, 2025)
Creating a new rental tab within ‘Purchase’ and ‘Make an offer’ to go into renta l info and prices
Bob Mackie Rentals
Renta
Summary
Focus on key brand weaknesses
Bring Bob Mackie back into the spotlight
Appealing to all generations
Chosen with deep environmental concerns
Alliance to United Nations Sustainable Development Goals
Only a starting point, so much more can be done from them
References
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Mood board References
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Mackie (2024). Bob Mackie on Instagram: "@mileycyrus has purchased the dress she wore during her iconic performance at 66th Annual Grammy Awards 2024. Proceeds wil be donated to MusiCares. ‘As the designer of this dress, I couldn’t magine it on anyone else That girl was born to perform!’ Bob Mack e @juliens auct ons [online] Instagram Available at: https://www instagram com/p/DDX6QMgzaCF/ [Accessed 26 Dec 2024]
Mackie 2 (2024). Bob Mackie on Instagram: ‘Attention Los Angeles! #BobMackie will participate in a live Q&A next Wednesday, November 20, following the 7:10pm PST screening at the Laemmle NoHo. This is your chance to hear insights and stories from the legendary fashion and costume designer himself an event not to be missed!’ [online] Instagram. Available at: https //www.instagram com/p/DCUcj-uSNnM/ [Accessed 26 Dec 2024].
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Image References
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Bailey, A. (2022) Bob Mackie, the Designer Behind Marilyn Monroe’s Dress, Says Kim Kardashian Wearing It ‘Was a Big Mistake’. [online] ELLE. Available at: https://www.e le.com/culture/ce ebr t es/a40034024/bob-mackie-kim-kardashianmarilyn-monroe-dress-wearing-react on/ [Accessed 19 Jan. 2025].
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