Rachael Vaughan
CONTENTS Executive Summary Introduction Macro Economic Analysis Brand Market Position Competitors Consumer Demographic Product Selection Social Media & Influencer Marketing Marketing Mix Proposed Strategy Bibliography
5 6 10 13 16 19 22 24 28 30 34
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
The purpose of this report is to explore the brand’s target audience and understand the marketing techniques they use to expand the brand and increase turnover. This will be done in various ways, by looking into the brand’s history and the way they portray themselves across various platforms such as social media, marketing campaigns and advertising. This will allow me to analyse the strengths and weaknesses of the brand and enable me to establish ways in which the brand can continue to grow in a more positive way. To explore the brand in more depth, I used various methods of research including the basics of newspaper articles and the brand’s website along with SWOT and PESTLE analysis’. I also gathered more of my own research by visiting stockists and asking employees for information on how well the sales for the brand were doing and their personal opinions on Dolce & Gabbana. Many of Dolce & Gabbana’s competitors have been rebranding themselves to portray a more simplistic approach to fashion. To ensure they aren’t being left behind, Dolce & Gabbana need to rebrand to make themselves more appealing to the affluent younger customer who will take the brand forward.
Founded by Domenico Dolce and Stefano Gabbana in 1987, the pair launched their knitwear line and in 1989 their beachwear and lingerie lines. In 1988 they produced their ready-to-wear line in Domenico Dolce’s family owned atelier, located in Legnano, Milan. The Dolce & Gabbana look is bold, imaginative and expensive, with the focus on Italian style and sophistication, it appeals to women of all ages – assuming they have the figure to carry the distinctive designs off. Dolce & Gabbana has had a lot of negative media attention recently due to their questionable advertising and personal views on social media. This has led me to question: will the brand be able to continue its growth with the designer’s opinions being at odds with current industry thinking or will the brand lose market share?
INTRODUCTION
Dolce & Gabbana is a luxury Italian fashion brand targeting wealthy individuals aged between 20-50 years old, with a current estimated annual revenue of $126.6m. With its luxurious and unique style, Dolce & Gabbana has captured the attention of Hollywood and the world’s most glamorous celebrities, with global idols such as Madonna, Isabella Rossellini, Kylie Minogue and Angelina Jolie, all regularly seen wearing Dolce & Gabbana’s creations at numerous red carpet events across the world.
MACRO ECON POLITICAL Despite the pair’s strong views published on social media, the designers deny any sort of political link to their work. “We are Italian and we don’t care about politics. We make dresses and if you think about doing politics with a post it’s simply ignorant,” Gabbana stated after Miley Cyrus posted her disapproval to the brand on Instagram.
ECONOMICAL In 2017, the brand launched a promotional video to promote ‘The Great Show’. As part of the #DGTheGreatShow campaign and their Shanghai show on November 21 the Italian fashion house shared a series of videos featuring an Asian model struggling to use chopsticks to eat traditional Italian dishes of pizza, spaghetti and Sicilian cannoli. The offensive videos – which were posted to Chinese social media platform Weibo – have been accused of perpetuating racist stereotypes with people calling out the “outdated” cultural symbols such as lanterns, and the styling of the model. Many accused them of mocking Chinese culture. With Chinese consumers spending more than $7 billion a year on luxury items, this could have been a disaster for the brand.
SOCIAL To attract more influencers and engage them with the brand, Dolce & Gabbana invited many of them to walk for their Fall 2017 show. Along with a variety of celebrities kids and young musicians and actors such as Tinie Tempah, the brand had found an individual way to target the younger generation and to attract them to their more formal and classic style.
TECHNOLOGICAL With the growth of technology, it’s vital Dolce & Gabbana keep at the forefront of the medium. In Spring 2018, the brand used drones on the runway to model its handbags for Milan Fashion Week. Although they weren’t the first to use this technique of promotion, they certainly made it work.
OMIC ANALYSIS ENVIRONMENTAL Dolce & Gabbana in 2019 are not cruelty free, they still test on animals and use real fur. In 2017, activists went undercover to an Orylag farm and found rabbits crammed into tiny cages that never saw daylight, meaning that the majority of vegans and vegetarians would not purchase the brand.
LAW With counterfeit goods worth more than $1.2 trillion globally, brands need to be constantly vigilant. D&G took another approach, for their Spring/Summer 2017 collection, they decided to produce t-shirts with “I Was There� printed on them, after basing it on a counterfeit the designers spotted in Naples.
BRAND MAR
With the brand’s main influences coming from the designers heritage, this allowed the brand to have an incredibly strong brand image. With their classic designs and links to religion, location and overall luxury, the brand has managed to create a well-known yet individual style for themselves. With the brand sticking to their roots, many customers have become more loyal over time, and Dolce & Gabbana has developed and attracted a strong personal and professional relationships with many A-list celebrities. The brand has also expanded into other fields of fashion, predominantly the beauty industry, which has allowed them to connect with customers who may not necessarily go towards the fashion range. Unfortunately, Dolce & Gabbana’s pricing means that there is still only a minority of people who are able to continuously support the brand. Both Dolce & Gabbana have also been known for publicly expressing their strong views for topics that other designers would class as a taboo. For example, in 2016 the pair spoke out against supporting same sex marriage and adoption. This led to a social media frenzy of people including the global star Elton John encouraging others to boycott the fashion line. With more celebrities opening up about their sexuality, this could have had a huge impact on the brand’s growth during this period of time. With the brand’s main influences coming from the designers’ heritage, this has allowed it to develop an incredibly strong brand image. With their classic designs and links to sumptuous luxury and style, Dolce & Gabbana has managed to individual niche for themselves. With the homophobic scandal being just one of the brand’s inappropriate viewpoints, they continue to put themselves ever more into the limelight of social media to the point that celebrities and even workers on the brand appear to have had enough of their utterances.
KET POSITION
In the survey I carried out, the majority of people listed Paco Rabanne, Gucci and Saint Laurent as a few brands most comparable to Dolce & Gabbana With fast fashion experiencing a rapid growth, high street brands like Topshop and Zara are constantly looking for ways to stay on trend. Recently, the most popular way for them to do this has been by recreating some of the brand’s classic designs. In May 2017, Zara recreated the brands Printed Slingback Mid Heel shoes and sold them for just £49.99. This allowed customers to get an almost identical look from the runway at an affordable price. “It’s all trusciume” Dolce said which means trashy due to the cheap quality and the over manufactured product.
COMPETITORS
With the fashion industry ever changing, it’s vital Dolce & Gabbana keep up to date, which is something they have been lacking in relation to their competitors. D&G need to step out of their comfort zone and design for, and target the young affluent Millennials, taking into consideration how conscious they are about sustainability, self-expression and uniqueness. Prada and Dior have both rebranded in the last two years, bringing a new wave of customers to their business.
CONSUMER
DEMOGRAPHIC
Appealing to strong, confident, not to mention wealthy aficionados of the brand, the Dolce & Gabbana customer is strong, cosmopolitan and perfectly at home on luxury yachts, swanky hotels and even palaces, in the company of the world’s movers and shakers; from actors and business moguls through to royalty and politicians. The brand fits into two parts of the Fashion Pyramid; Haute Couture and Ready To Wear. Previously it would have also fitted into the Diffusion segmentation allowing the brand to focus on more casual and sportswear sides of the brand but their D&G line was discontinued in 2011. Their Haute Couture line is mostly worn by celebrities due to the price and how limited the pieces are, for example, Karen Elson’s dress to the 2015 Met Gala. The pieces are made to measure and used to promote the luxury lifestyle that Dolce & Gabbana chose to portray. The brand also fits in with the ready to wear segment which is where the brand will see most growth. Due to the fact that this collection isn’t limited to one of a kind, the brand is able to produce more industrialised pieces suited to more every day wear as well as special events.
PRODUCT
Dolce & Gabbana are mainly known for their women’s and menswear apparel. Anything from skirts and suits to underwear and beachwear. But they also produce many more products such as children’s clothing, footwear, perfumes, make-up, sunglasses, watches and jewellery. Up until 2012, the brand had two lines. D&G was the younger line set out to produce new trends instead of following the rest. It was very flamboyant and followed an urban inspiration whereas Dolce & Gabbana focused on the more classic, luxury garments sticking to the brands Italian heritage. Although the prices for the brand’s apparel are quite high, the brand still finds ways to attract people from other markets to grow sales. This was done by introducing Dolce & Gabbana Beauty; exotic fragrance, luxurious body care and make-up to the brand. The cheapest make-up item being £21 for an eyeliner pencil which just compares with the majority of department store make-up brands, and the most expensive item being £120 for a make-up palette which personally, I find a little overpriced and out of line with the rest of its competitor brands such as Illamasqua.
SELECTION
SOCIAL MEDIA MARK The brand’s Instagram page is probably what receives the most reach for them with 19.7m followers. Compared to other brands such as Chanel and Dior, Dolce and Gabbana’s Instagram is bland, lacks vibrancy and colour and appears to be updates on what celebrities are wearing and current campaign images. There is in space for people to imagine how the clothes could be worn to make them look distinctive. There is a lack of styling possibilities. They use Twitter and Facebook but unfortunately there is a lack of creativity and engagement due to posts being exactly the same as what they post on Instagram. Dolce & Gabbana are individuals who are not afraid to voice their opinions to the public on social media. Unfortunately, this has at times done more harm to the brand than good. Perhaps Gabbana’s fortune of more than US $1.7 billion (in 2018)* makes him feel immune to the thinking of the wider population. Celebrities and models pulled out of the brands Shanghai show, cancelled due to the negative impact of Gabbana’s racist comments and series of offensive videos. Celebrities stated they would boycott the brand and people showed their anger by burning clothes and shoes, using them as cleaning products. The brand was also pulled from various e-commerce sites such as Net-A-Porter, JD and Taobao.
& INFLUENCER ETING
MARKET
With Dolce & Gabbana being known for their luxury and classic approach to fashion, it was clear there price range was never going to be cheap. This therefore meant that the brands target audience would be somewhat of the richer side. One of the main ways that Dolce & Gabbana promote their brand is by dressing celebrities such as Jennifer Lopez and Madonna. So with them spending money on garments and giving them out for free to celebrities, they have to find a way to earn that money back which is done by upping the prices. With the cheapest item of clothing being around £45 for a pair of socks in the sale and the most expensive pricing at around £7,350 for a dress. As the prices for clothing, bags & shoes it quite high, it makes it a lot more exclusive due to a lot of people not being able to afford it which for some makes it a lot more desirable. Dolce & Gabbana being an Italian brand, their headquarters are based in Milan. There first outlet was also opened here back in 1985 after the launch of it’s first collection. The first outlet outside of Italy was in Japan and they then moved to USA, India and China. They now have 222 stores worldwide. By using bold and controversial marketing campaigns, the brand manages to stay relevant. Using social media, tv adverts, magazine articles, billboard posters and celebrity endorsements – the brand is enabled to use multiple platforms and reach a mass amount of people. One of the most influential ways the brand uses to promote is through their mobile app. This allows IPhone and Android customers to view products and the brands catwalk looks, admire campaigns and allows the customer to locate their closest stores.
ING MIX
Dolce & Gabbana need to retain their market position with regards to fashion whilst expanding their beauty products and homewares. They need to aim to win over their competitors customers: Gucci, Valentino, Versace and Chanel, by creating very limited edition items, collectables of the future. Once Dolce and Gabanna are no longer alive, these items will attract high prices due to the designers stating ‘Once we’re dead, we’re dead. I don’t want a Japanese designer to start designing Dolce & Gabbana’. Dolce and Gabanna have been able to keep prices high by keeping the number of branded stores low and only selling their products in high end stores. Creating a feeling of exclusivity with their clientele. By reintroducing the D&G line, Dolce and Gabanna could attract a new market, young, sporty, aspirational people with disposable income and a hunger to be different. Although this line would be less expensive, the main Dolce and Gabanna brand would be safeguarded as this would still remain exclusive and expensive, but may instil an ambition to own exclusive D&G in the new clientele, protecting D&G’s future. In August 2018, five months after Ricardo Tisci was appointed created director, Burberry re-vealed their new logo on Instagram. The new design consists of a classic sans serif typeface logo. They also released a new monogram print made up of the founder, Thomas Burberry’s initials after the monogram trend made a reappearance in late 2017. Inspired by Louis Vuitton’s Spring/Summer 2000’s show, monogram prints were extremely popular in 00’s and fitted in with the “trashy” style of the time. The more in your face an item of clothing or accessory was, the more on trend it was. After looking on various platforms such as Depop and Ebay, I believe that if Dolce & Gabbana begin to create more monogram inspired pieces, the brand will become more sought after due to the branding being printed into people’s minds visually. In 2016 D&G collaborated with SMEG to produce a limited edition range of fridges, only 100 were produced, expensive and beautiful, bright bold patterns, immediately recognisable as D&G. In 2017 the collaboration produced small kitchen items, kettles, blenders, citrus juices, toasters, coffee machines, blends and stand mixers to add to the home range. D&G could create a whole homeware range, offering the affluent, young market the opportunity to fill their homes with D&G cutlery, crockery, glasses, curtains, carpets, bedding and accessories, creating a D&G home. Enabling the purchaser to flaunt their wealth.
PROPOSED
STRATEGY
People are now delaying buying houses and starting a family until later in their life, In place of this they live a more upwardly mobile life, socialising and spending more, and aspiring to look like the rich and famous and live their lifestyle. The 20+ age group has money and looks at ways to spend it on items that makes them look and feel good. Wearing branded items makes people happy and proud to wear them. They feel self-confident, beautiful and superior. The brand makes a statement and makes the person wearing it feel unique. D&G could capitalise on this by using their brand more prominently, as Off-White, Balenciaga, Balmain and Gucci do. The brand need to stop using social media as a political window. If the designers refrained from using social media for a period of time, people would wonder what they were doing, make assumptions and be curious, and keep the brand in the news. Not using current images of their work on social media and being more abstract would also make the consumer intrigued and wonder what their next season is going produce is also a technique they could use to make sure they maintain interest. By creating a campaign that tells a tale over a period of time keeps the audience engaged and waiting for the next instalment which will keep the brands name in people’s minds. Social media has created problems for D&G, of their own making, but it could be used to repair the damage previously caused by spreading news of new initiatives, ie. promoting sustainability. Many of D&G’s designs are exclusive and they are all expensive, leading to people keeping them for longer than less expensive garments. If the brand focused more on upcoming millennial celebrities, the younger generation would be more inspired to purchase D&G’s clothing due to them being able to relate to the icons they look up to. Musicians such as Billie Eilish and Post Malone are constantly being photographed in designer clothing all around the world and have a huge Instagram following. Even if some of their fans may not be able to currently afford the brand, it will give them a better and more positive reputation. Also, should D&G take the decision to stop testing their products on animals, social media would be the most effective way to promote this and could regain some of their followers. It is the easiest and most cost effective way to reach the younger market, building a ‘must have’ campaign and trends they all love to follow.
BIBLIO
Ardehali, R. (2019). Dolce & Gabbana designers say the brand will die with them. [online] Mail Online. Available at: https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-5588865/DolceGabbana-designers-say-brand-die-them.html [Accessed 25 Feb. 2019]. Bruner, R. (2017). http://time.com. [online] Miley Cyrus and Dolce & Gabbana Are Having a Political Disagreement on Instagram. Available at: http://time.com/4823473/miley-cyrusdolce-gabbana-politics/ [Accessed 22 Feb. 2019].
Chiorando, M. (2018). Dolce and Gabbana Accused Of ‘Selling Fur from Tortured Rabbits’. [online] Plantbasednews.org. Available at: https://www.plantbasednews.org/post/dolce-andgabbana-selling-fur-from-tortured-rabbits [Accessed 22 Feb. 2019]. Dear, A. (2017). Zara are selling knock-off £645 Dolce & Gabbana heels for only £49.99. [online] OK! Magazine. Available at: https://www.ok.co.uk/lifestyle/fashion/1070828/zara-knock-offdolce-and-gabbana-heels-slingback-floral [Accessed 22 Feb. 2019]. Depop.com. (2019). Depop - The creative community’s mobile marketplace. [online] Available at: https://www.depop.com/ [Accessed 26 Feb. 2019]. eBay. (2019). Electronics, Cars, Fashion, Collectibles, Coupons and More | eBay. [online] Available at: https://www.ebay.co.uk/ [Accessed 26 Feb. 2019]. Fontevecchia, A. (n.d.). Dolce & Gabbana Break The Internet Coming Out Against Gay Parenthood, Elton John Cries Vendetta. [online] Forbes.com. Available at: https://www.forbes. com/sites/afontevecchia/2015/03/16/dolce-gabbana-break-the-internet-coming-outagainst-gay-parenthood-elton-john-calls-for-boycott/#415436ad35e7 [Accessed 22 Feb. 2019]. Haas, B. (2018). Chinese retail sites drop Dolce & Gabbana amid racist ad backlash. [online] the Guardian. Available at: https://www.theguardian.com/world/2018/nov/23/dolce-gabbanavanishes-from-chinese-retail-sites-amid-racist-ad-backlash [Accessed 22 Feb. 2019]. Krupnick, E. (2011). Dolce & Gabbana Trash Designer Collaborations. [online] HuffPost UK. Available at: https://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/2011/12/20/dolce-gabbanacollaboration_n_1160578.html [Accessed 22 Feb. 2019]. Ma, A. (2018). Dolce & Gabbana is using drones to model its handbags at Milan Fashion Week. [online] Business Insider. Available at: https://www.businessinsider.com/dolce-and-gabbanauses-drones-to-model-handbags-at-milan-fashion-week-2018-2?r=US&IR=T [Accessed 22 Feb. 2019].
GRAPHY
Michael, A. (2017). Kylie Minogue puppy print gown at Dolce & Gabbana show in London. [online] Mail Online. Available at: https://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz/article-5049535/ Kylie-Minogue-puppy-print-gown-Dolce-Gabbana-London.html [Accessed 21 Feb. 2019]. Reinach, S. (n.d.). [online] Fashion-history.lovetoknow.com. Available at: https://fashion-history. lovetoknow.com/fashion- clothing-industry/fashion-designers/dolce-gabbana-brand-history [Accessed 21 Feb. 2019]. Rooney, M. (2018). [online] Popsugar.co.uk. Available at: https://www.popsugar.co.uk/ celebrity/photo-gallery/16178571/image/16178597/Stefano-Gabbana-Jennifer-Lopez- Domenico-Dolce-2004?utm_medium=redirect&utm_campaign=US:GB&utm_source=www.google. co.uk [Accessed 22 Feb. 2019]. Sauers, J. (2011). [online] Jezebel.com. Available at: https://jezebel.com/say-goodbye-d-g-isdiscontinued-5843240 [Accessed 22 Feb. 2019]. Street, C. (2018). Monogram Mania: why, once again, we’re loco for the logo. [online] Evening Standard. Available at: https://www.standard.co.uk/fashion/monogram-mania-why-onceagain-were-loco-for-the-logo-a3791246.html [Accessed 26 Feb. 2019]. Talon, K. (2018). Dolce & Gabbana vs China: here is what happened. [online] nss magazine. Available at: https://www.nssmag.com/en/fashion/16855/dolce-gabbana-vs-china-here-iswhat-happened [Accessed 22 Feb. 2019]. The Fashion Law. (2018). Brands Can’t Beat Counterfeiters, So They Are Joining Them. [online] Available at: http://www.thefashionlaw.com/home/counterfeit-fashion-if-you-cantbeat-them-why-not-join-them [Accessed 22 Feb. 2019]. Waddell, G. (2013). How Fashion Works: Couture, Ready-to-Wear and Mass Production. [online] Wiley.com. Available at: https://www.wiley.com/en-ae/How+Fashion+Works%3A+Couture%2C+Ready+to+Wear+and+Mass+Production-p-9781118814994 [Accessed 22 Feb. 2019]. WIRE, B. (2017). Global Brand Counterfeiting Report 2018: Value of Counterfeited Goods in 2017 Amounted to $1.2 Trillion - Research and Markets. [online] Businesswire.com. Available at: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20171222005383/en/Global-Brand-Counterfeiting-Report-2018-Counterfeited-Goods [Accessed 22 Feb. 2019].