Valentino: Brand Audit Project

VALENTINO

LUXURY BRAND AUDIT LXFM 760 LEAH JEON

Part 1. Proposal Brand Selection Project Proposal Research Outline

CONTENTS

Part 2. Brand Business Model Positioning Map Competitive Analysis Target Market

Part 3. Strategy Current Efforts Survey Recommendations

PART 1. PROPOSAL

Valentino is one of Italy's leading luxury brands and wants to work on sustainable activities. Although there is still a long way to go than other brands that stand out in sustainable activities, Valentino is also trying to walk the path of a sustainable brand step by step. In particular, Valentino decided not to use alpaca wool with great interest in animal protection. In terms of the environment, Valentino set up a policy to reduce waste from leather and packaging. I chose this brand to further accelerate its progress on sustainable practices.

Focus: The focus of this project is to evaluate Valentino’s sustainability business practices and understand the current positioning. And then recommendations will be given to elevate their sustainable practices into their business model as well as a strategic plan for sustainability.

Goals: Determine Valentino’s current sustainable practices in different aspects toward the environment, people, and animals. Provide a best sustainable business practices suggestion that fits Valentino. And finally, give a strategic plan that Valentino can follow step by step.

To gain insight into the brand, I will have both primary and secondary resources. I’m planning to conduct a survey to gain consumers’ insight into Valentino’s current positioning and future positioning in the luxury market. For secondary research, I will use the brand’s website, press and articles to understand Valentino’s current sustainable practices. These resources will help to build the brand audit for this project.

PART 2. BRAND

Valentino is a protagonist of international fashion and has gone through an impactful creative evolution. Valentino plays a major role in the luxury market through tradition and innovation, a necessary combination for a creative industry that generates a sense of beauty. Its fashion is displayed through the Haute Couture and Pret-a-Porter lines for women and men and through the accessories line including shoes, bags, small leather goods,

eyewear, scarves, ties, and fragrances. And the second brand, Red Valentino with a different pricing strategy. Valentino S.P.A. is controlled since 2012 and has brought rapid growth. Valentino is amongst the leaders of international fashion to believe in the elevated added value that derives from a global vision of style, developed through collections.

Valentino ended 2020 with a revenue of 882 million euros.

Valentino is an Italian luxury fashion house founded in 1960

by Valentino Garavani. Valentino relatively has a shorter history, however, its value and popularity are matching to other luxury brands. Valentino's significant designs create incomparable inheritance. Valentino is known for the creation of dresses for about 40 years. Valentino's romanticism and highly crafted Haute Couture collection is their essence and currently expanded into all types of clothing both womenswear and menswear as well as accessories.

The trademark color of this vibrant red is called Valentino red giving a romantic mood and chic mood at the same time.

Prada is an Italian luxury fashion house that was founded in 1913 by Mario Prada.

Currently, Prada has over 618 boutiques worldwide. Prada is known for its high quality and chic designs. They has a slightly higher price point than Valentino.

Gucci is a luxury fashion house based in Florence Italy founded by Guccio Gucci. It is now under Kering Group and has 487 boutiques worldwide. Gucci is known for its unique vintage design and successes in logo play. It has a slightly higher price point than Valentino.

Louis Vuitton is a French luxury fashion house founded in 1854 by Louis Vuitton. Louis Vuitton is under LVMH Group and has more than 160 years of history. LV is also known for its signature logo and products. The price point is much higher than Valentino.

VALS Framework Demographic Geographic Behavioral Lifestyle Brand Persona

Valentino's consumers are a mix of 4 types of VALS framework, including strong Experiencers, some Innovators, with a sprinkling of Achievers, and Believers. The key traits of each type are described by their color.

Believers

Achievers Experiencers

Innovators

Age: 24 - 38 Gender: All gender Income: Middle to Upper income Occupation:Related to Design/Art field

Experiencers are trend-driven and up on the latest fashions, active, social, and spontaneous. Innovators are experimental, future-oriented, and internationally exposed.

Achievers are professional, goal-oriented, and private. Believers want friendly communities and rely on spirituality.

Countries: All the globe Regions: Urban areas Cities: Fashion capitals such as New York, Paris, Milano, London, and Seoul

based on the behavioral concepts, Valentino's target consumers live a trendy and professional lifestyle but also enjoy life with their friends and community. They enjoy the luxurious city life and digital innovations that give them the feeling of active life.

29 years old Lives in NYC Works as Fashion Magazine Editor $88,000 annual income Loves to purchase luxury bags Likes to explore new items Goes frequent business trip to Europe and Aisa

34 years old Lives in London Works as Interior designer $120,000 annual income Travel to exotic places to get motivation Early tech adaptor Family-oriented

PART 3. STRATEGY

Valentino's sustainability efforts can be found on its corporate information website. Valentino worked on one big project about the environment. It's called Detox Project that ran from 2013 to January 2020. It promised to reduce chemicals and waste from the production process and create policies for transparency. And every year the results have been made public.

In addition, it announced its own ethical policies and commitments to protecting its employees in the manufacturing process. In 2019, Valentino expressed interest in animal ethics, declaring that they would not use alpaca wool. Serious about the violent practice of shearing animals, Valentino promised to abolish the use of alpaca wool by 2021.

To get the consumer insight of Valentino's current brand image, I've conducted a survey through Google Form. It consists of 5 questions asking Valentino's image and sustainable activities.

What word is describing Valentino the best?

Where do you get information about Valentino?

Have you heard about Valentino's sustainable activities?

Which platform do you want to see Valentino's sustainable activities?

What do you want to expect for Valentino in the future?

I got a total of 22 responses from various fashion consumers.

The answer to the first question, "Feminine," "Modern," "Red," "Sharp," "Romantic," are the words describing the brand the most.

The answer to the second question (multiple choices), the 15 responses for the press release, 10 responses for SNS, 10 responses for the own website, and 7 responses for magazines.

The answer to the third question, 20 respondents said they've never heard of Valentino's sustainable activities and only 2 said they've heard of it.

As the answer to the fourth question, 17 respondents picked SNS followed by its own website and press.

The answers for the last question, 12 expect the brand to be more sustainable, 4 expect the brand to keep their value more luxuriously and eliminate Red Valentino.

The other opinions are related to marketing activities that should be better.

Valentino has focused on the environment and animals in its sustainable efforts. Valentino will also have to work harder on ethical and sustainable efforts with employees and people they meet in the production process. They also said that they were trying to be transparent about their production, but that after the detox project, it was difficult to find information about their sustainable efforts. The general public was not well aware of Valentino's sustainable efforts.

This suggests that Valentino needs more marketing for sustainable activities. A solution is needed to combine sustainable images with Valentino's image recognized by the public.

Initiative 1: Make ethical and sustainable treatment to employees and partners Initiative 2: Transparency in production process Initiative 3: Active sustainability marketing on social networks

Make ethical and sustainable treatment to employees and partners Valentino needs to improve the ethical and sustainable treatment of its employees and partners in the manufacturing process.

Environmental and animal aspects of sustainability are important, but we cannot leave out things about people. Only when all three of these are met can be said to be sustainable. It is necessary to conduct surveys to current employees and partners and make improvements. It should be conducted anonymously so that they can comment comfortably and this process should be done at least twice a year and reflected for their rights.

Transparency in production process

Active sustainability marketing on SNS

As mentioned earlier, Valentino promised to show transparency in the manufacturing process but failed to keep it. This can be a great disappointment to Valentino customers and the community.

Valentino should disclose the process transparently as it works on a new environmental and animal protection project. By disclosing this, Valentino can set an example for others and the brand's value will also increase.

As the results of the survey show, Valentino's sustainable activities have not been exposed much to the public. It was hard to find the viral about its sustainable activities even when I was looking for articles. Valentino is actively advertising the product through Instagram, featuring Kendall Jenner as the main model to give a younger brand image. Consider how to deliver sustainable messages to young customers through Instagram as well as Tik Tok and Youtube.

REFERENCES https://luxiders.com/sustainable-brands-valentino/ https://www.excellencemagazine.luxury/luxury-sustainability-2/valentino-enough-alpacawool-a-new-step-towards-ethics-and-sustainability/ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Valentino_(fashion_house) https://www.valentino.com/en-us/experience/corporate-information https://www.valentino.com/en-us/world-of-valentino/maison http://www.strategicbusinessinsights.com/vals/ustypes/experiencers.shtml