BOTTEGA VENETA x ASTON MARTIN

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Brand summary

• Bottega Veneta is a brand that was founded “in Vicenza in 1966” (Kering, Undated). The brand is famous for its iconic ‘intrecciato’ technique. This specific technique has been done by Bottega because it makes their products more “solid and able to last longer” (440 Industries, 2021).

• Their design has always been their selling point and because of this, there is never any use of a logo on any of their products. The brand's motto is “When your own initials are enough” (Jacqueline Tsang, 2017), which explains this point perfectly. Bottega as a brand has a “distinctly refined attitude” (Kering, Undated) meaning that its image is refined and has an aspect of class to their image. Their lack of social media presence makes the brand feel exclusive and boutique-esc.

• Bottega's recent strategic development if focusing on the “power of its accessories” (Dominique Muret, 2022). This includes their bags, which have been their biggest selling point in the last years when Daniel Lee took over as creative director of Bottega.

Market segmentation

• Bottega Veneta being a very up market and expensive brand, has a very well-established target consumer. They target people between the ages of 30-45 and have a starting income of half a million dollars (Rey, 2016).

• The consumer of this brand is someone who enjoys indulgent travelling and does so in luxury, privacy and comfort.

• They aspire to target a slightly younger target audience who also appreciates the high-class luxury and so is looking to extend its current market segmentation (Rey, 2016).

• Aston Martin targets a similar consumer, who values luxury, quality investments and exclusivity.

Bottega Veneta and Aston Martin's target consumer

Maddy Baxter and Abi Boyton

Market Gap

• Although there have been many car collaborations in the past couple years, none have been with mainstream luxury fashion houses. There has also been collaboration with designers from big fashion companies but not the company itself. Examples of this would be the collaboration between Maybach and the late Virgil Abloh which was revealed in 2022 and “Aimé Leon Dore x Porsche” which was unveiled in 2020.

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• Both Bottega Veneta and Aston Martin are brands that have heritage, and both are luxurious brands in their chosen industries. Their signature colours are both Green Bottega's is referred to as “Bottega Green” (Layla Ilchi, 2021) and Aston Martin has their trademark colour which is also green. It is “also known as Aston Racing Green” (Jonathan A. Stein, 2013). Bottega’s growth in the last couple of years has brought them into the spotlight. Many luxury brands such as Balenciaga have been collaborating with brands very frequently. However, Bottega has only had one overall collaboration. They partnered up “with 12 Italian Bottega's and artisans for the ‘Bottega for Bottegas’ project” (Jack Stanley, 2021). A significant collaboration for Bottega would be their first since their recent rise to fame and collaborating with a brand such as Aston Martin would keep their status and respect because of the class both brands radiate. A collaboration with Aston Martin would be the perfect fit for both brands involved because it would maintain relevance for Bottega Veneta and would build relevance and sales for Aston Martin.

“From Rimowa’s new tie-up with Porsche to Mercedes teaming up with Palace, a new wave of fashion-carmaker partnerships is targeting a younger generation of aspirational consumers” (Daniel-Yaw Miller, 2022). A part of this trend is the “collaboration requires creating a narrative that explains why it makes sense in the first place” (Daniel-Yaw Miller, 2022) which I believe that this collaboration has even just down to the signature colours both brands have.

Macro trends

Trend Analysis

Since the pandemic, the rise of digitalization has rapidly increased, due to the conversion of everything going online. And when the lockdown was lifted instead of returning to pre covid times stores and lifestyles have now adapted to this digital era. One macro trend is how luxury services are having to redefine their exclusivity to fit in to this metaverse. According to a WGSN article by 2025 ‘online will become the single biggest sales channel for personal luxury goods, making up 30% of the global market (WGSN, 2022). Gucci has collaborated with the metaverse store 10KFT which creates custom-made digital collectables for existing NFT projects (WGSN, 2022). This has allowed Gucci to remain relevant to the new generations as those also on the metaverse can gain special access to new and future collection of Gucci clothing as well as invitations to exclusive events.

Micro trends

A micro trend found on LS:N talks about how the car sector is ‘drawing from virtual platforms, extended reality and cryptocurrencies to create immersive and entertaining in vehicle experiences (Rhodes, and Bishop, 2022).’ As part of the metaverse macro trend cars are converting into a more experiential form of travel. With the ability to use new technologies from AR and XR to cryptocurrencies, automotive brands can build more immersive and engaging relationships with car owners and passengers (Rhodes and Bishop, 2022). An example of this trend would be Samsung who have proposed the idea of connected cars, using AR and cameras to create an immersive interiors.

Another micro trend within the car and fashion community is how car brands are combining the fashion and material innovation to promote sustainable practices (Fasano, LS:N, 2022). Due to people become more aware of sustainability with the current climate crisis, car brands have identified this gap in the market, collaborating with fashion designers to repurpose materials that are discarded during vehicle manufacturing (Fasano, LS:N, 2022). For example, Hyundai have been transforming their discarded car materials into clothing and accessories since 2019 through its Re:Style initiative (Fasano, LS:N, 2022). They also created a capsule collection in 2021 using materials from its IONIQ 5 vehicle.

Collection Rationale

Place/Time

Stratstone Aston Martin Mayfair, London

Aston Martin Dubai, United Arab Emirates

Aston Martin Milano, Italy

Aston Martin Beverly Hills (Los Angeles), United States

Aston Martin Beijing, China

Stock Turnover Plan

Assortment plan

Product 120,000 28,950 18,750 26,400 23,000 22,900

Blue 15,000 3,900 2,000 3,700 2,800 2,600

Green 31,000 8,000 4,500 6,700 5,850 5,950

Red 23,000 5,050 3,500 5,300 4,700 4,450

Green 32,500 7,350 5,600 6,800 6,450 6,300

Purple 18,500 4,650 3,150 3,900 3,200 3,600

color Total amount Stratstone Aston Martin Mayfair, London

Aston Martin Dubai, United Arab Emirates Aston Martin Milano, Italy

Aston Martin Beverly Hills (Los Angeles), United States Aston Martin Beijing, China

Oliver Frampton

Oliver Frampton

Siyu Gao

Range Plan

- Store allocation

To maintain the car's exclusivity in alignment with both Bottega and Aston Martin's values, the car will only be sold in 5 Aston Martin dealerships worldwide:

In these dealerships, there will be select colourways of the car model on display. The car itself will be 'made to order on request' however there will be display cars available to buy in store, depending on availability.

5 of each colour available in each dealership 25 made for the dealerships in total.

Stratstone Aston Martin Mayfair, London

Aston Martin Dubai, United Arab Emirates

Aston Martin Milano, Italy

Aston Martin Beverly Hills (Los Angeles), United States

Aston Martin Beijing, China

Sourcing strategy

Bottega Veneta

The brand ensures the clarity of its leather goods' production chain to ensure responsible and accountable sourcing. Their ability to track the process of tanning and improvised manufacturing from the farm that supplies leather to them means that their products are sustainable and cost effective.

Aston Martin

SMEs have been urged to bring manufacturing processes back to the UK. One of UK'S most well-known corporations has announced plans to expand its domestic supply chain.

Senior Purchasing Manager David Wyer told Supply Management that increasing the UK's contribution to global operations will "meet our quality, cost, environmental, and risk management objectives." This was done to ensure sustainability and flexibility in their production process.

In 2014, Aston Martin became a member of the United Nations Global Compact, marking the company's first move toward incorporating sustainability into its operations.

This commitment has led to the creation of an integrated sustainability plan for the company based on the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).The strategy's goal is to provide advantage to stakeholders against its competitors by delivering sustainability .

Production/Supplier

Aston Martin

According to their website Aston Martins are hand built to the highest of quality in their Gaydon headquarters in Warwickshire, England and have been for 104 years. Their highly skilled employees and technicians assemble the car themselves without the use of robots (Astonmartinpalmbeach.com, 2022).

Bottega Veneta

Bottega uses 100% leather for their products, and each are produced to the highest of quality by hand in the laboratory within the headquarters at Montebello Vicentino, Italy (English, 2021). The traceable leather is usually purchased raw from Italian suppliers, which then undergo a series of physical and chemical tests before being used (Kenefick, 2017).

Production

To produce the interior of the car the materials used would be crafted by Bottega in Italy and then transported by air, to reduce time, to the UK where it can be fitted into the car. The interior will be made predominately with 100% traceable leather and any leather scraps will be recycled to make other bottega bags and accessories.

Logistics and Critical path

Factory Locations

for car manufacture

trim: Gaydon Warwickshire, Montebello

and installation of Bottega Venetta interior

Italy

Phase 1 Phase 2

Stage Date Stage Date

Design Aston Martin DBS model to Bottega Venetta Specification

60 working days 04/07/2022 26/09/2022

Fly interior leather fabrics from Italy to Uk 10 hours 27/09/2022 27/09/2022

Manufacture 2 exhibition cars- one left hand on right hand drive at Gaydon

14 days 28/09/2022 17/10/2022

Test cars, Gaydon and approve trim interior 60 days 18/10/2022 10/01/2023

Eurostar drive left hand exhibition car to Geneva Car show

Drive exhibition car from Geneva to Milan Right hand car drive and exhibit to UK car show in Farmborough

24hrs 11/01/2023 12/01/2023

1 day 18/01/2023 19/02/2023 1 day 20/08/2022

Fly Leather fabric for main production run from Italy to UK 10 hours 14/09/2023 14/09/2023

Manufacture main production run 25 cars 60 days 14/09/2023 06/12/2023

Drive the car to dealership- Mayfair, UK 4 hours 06/12/2023

Ship any unsold cars to Bejing, USA, Milan and Dubai Dubai- 21 days Milan- 16 days USA- 28 days Bejing- 42 days

Cars are launched in dealerships

CSR Report

•Environmental responsibility; In terms of sustainability, Bottega Vanetta uses some environmentally friendly materials in the manufacture of its products such as organic cotton, linen, jute and recycled fabrics e.g., regenerated nylon and polyester. Moreover, the brand doesn’t use any exotic animal skin within the manufacture of its products however it still sources animal derived materials such as leather, wool, silk and feathers which are not only cruel to obtain but are also unsustainable due to the detrimental impacts they impose upon the environment, such as the production of greenhouse gasses and deforestation.

•Environmental Goal- Based on this information, for Bottega Venetta to become more environmentally friendly and sustainable, a potential suggestion for the brand could be to eliminate its use of animal derived materials.

• Philanthropic responsibility; Bottega Veneta can currently be seen as a philanthropic company and have made many charitable donations within recent years (Maxwell, S., 2012.) Some examples of this are fundraisers held at events, donating a percentage of sales to charities (e.g.2016 spring collection release), a generous £450,000 donation to Covid-19 research and offering fashion student scholarships or financial assistance.

• Philanthropy Goal- Based on this information it is evident Bottega Veneta are a very giving and charitable brand and should aim to maintain this. However, deriving materials from animals can be seen as cruel and damaging for the environment so it could be a goal for Bottega to put some thought into how they can abolish animal

Walkabout, luxury fashion Charity fundraiser 2016

Marketing Strategy

Bottega Veneta X Aston Martin would create a paid earned media promotion campaign called 'Bond's car meets Bottega'.

5 cars will pop-up in a selection of luxury secret locations, where celebrities and highprofile influencers will promote the car by posing in the vehicle and posting it to their own social media platforms with the caption 'Bond's Car Meets Bottega'.

They will use the hashtag #canyoufindit? to start the buzz about the collaboration and encourage followers and fans to find the cars and take their own photo inside.

Once they take their photo inside the car and post it to social media with the same caption, the first 100 people will then receive a free oneof-a-kind NFT version of the car in their chosen colourway.

Marketing strategy - continued

Car NFTs

Promotional Channels

Because Bottega is moving towards targeting a younger consumer, promoting the product through social media makes the product more accessible for a wider market of consumers.

Although many of the consumers who participate in the 'Bond's Car Meets Bottega' campaign may not be able afford the actual car, the pop-up still allows the consumer to experience and enjoy the car without having to purchase it. Additionally, the NFT is offered as an incentive and a version of the car so the consumer can still feel like they own it.

Despite the social media campaign being the main form of marketing for the car, posters will also be put up around the major fashion and luxury capitals including, Milan, London, New York, Los Angeles, Paris, Cannes, Monaco, Monte Carlo, Dubai, Beijing and Sydney. This aligns well with Bottega Veneta's 'wordof-mouth' marketing strategy but also works well with the exclusivity of both brands as the posters appear secretive and not displaying typical advertising traits.