Fashion Marketing Assignment - Gucci

Running head: FASHION MARKETING
FASHION MARKETING
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author note

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Gucci, one of the largest fashion brands of the world is an Italian luxury brand of fashion
and leather goods was established in the year 1920. A recent advertisement campaign undertaken
by the brand is probably the most innovative and trendy ad campaign that the world has ever
experienced (Keller 2017). The following essay is an illustrative discussion on the advertisement
campaign that has been undertaken by this well-known fashion house of the world. Probably,
Gucci one of the fashion giants in the world has taken a major revolutionary step to bring
innovation in their advertisement techniques.
It has used one of the popular tools to develop its advertisement campaign. The use of
“Meme”- the fashion brand has taken a creative initiative to enhance its sales. The word “meme”
coined by the British ecologist Richard Dawkins in the year 1976 initially implied imitation of
things. However, in the recent decades, the internet has changed the meaning of the word and as
a result a new idea of meme has come up with the present generation (Tait 2012). Currently,
memes, be it in the form of images or GIFs, has become a public coinage of social media and are
constantly exchanged from user to user for million times in a day. The main discussion that will
be focused in the essay will encircle the advertisement campaign of the company that is mainly
related with the fashionable wrist watches. The essay will analyze this innovative marketing
approach of the company and will highlight its influence on the customers of the company along
with critical study on the 2ps of the marketing mix of the company- Promotion and People.
The essay will conclude by highlighting how this advertisement campaign has influenced
the promotion of the brand and increased the sales of the company and will evaluate the results
of such similar campaigns that might have been undertaken by some other brands. It will also
suggest some recommendations, that the company might incorporate in its later campaigns, to
develop its business further.

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The latest ad campaign that is based on the theme “#TFW Gucci” or “That Feeling When
Gucci” has incorporated a number of memes for Instagram to promote its fresh range of
timepieces. This approach of the brand has left many of its followers in confusion as they could
not comprehend the underneath meaning of the meme. This ad campaign is primarily planned
mockingly to demonstrate the desire of Gucci’s creative director Alessandro Michele who once
expressed his desire “to engage with a wider creative community than that which traditionally
locates around the world of fashion” (Kim and Sung 2013). At present, memes, be it in the form
of images or GIFs, has become a public coinage of social media and are constantly exchanged
from user to user for million times in a day.
Gucci, in order to launch their new range Le` Marche` des Merveilles watches, appointed
some global artistes curated by Alessandro Michele to create some quirky images. This was
followed by infusing some viral effects into the images by the popular twitter and Instagram
artistes so that the images appear much more lively (Radon 2012). This provided the images a
totally new look that became appealing to the new generations. These memes were then
captioned in the form of art to support the online observers.
This theme of memes taken from a recognized class of memes is about some sentiments.
The main message that they wanted to portray through the memes is “when Gucci is about the
moment of placing on one of the watches and the world all of a sudden, becomes disparate and
time slows down a little bit” (Kim and Ko 2012). Moreover, the transcripts on the memes
contributed life to the memes as digital works of art. Hence, the directors of the brand are of the
opinion that the memes of Gucci will influence new generations and it will find new purpose as
these memes are spreading rapidly across the Internet. One of the most popularized post is found

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featuring the Arthur meme that says “me vs the guy she says I shouldn’t worry about” (Shukla
2011).
The marketing mix is a concept of the marketing analytics. The marketing mix is all
about combining the exact product or an arrangement of products so as to place the right
products with the accurate price and at the right time. Hence, marketing mix is a set of marketing
equipment and technics that is utilized by a firm to follow its marketing goals in the target. The
marketing mix thus can be divided broadly into 4 strata of marketing theory which are product,
price, promotion and people (Kapferer and Bastien 2012).
Gucci, while dealing with marketing mix in this campaign, mainly emphasized on their
promotional activity and the people. The promotional approach that Gucci has undertaken is
mainly through the online media platforms. This is the reason why Gucci’s snapchat and
Instagram accounts are ornamented with the social-centric features and comments from the
followers of the brand (Atwal and Williams 2017). Since Gucci has undertaken an innovative
approach to attract the new generation customers, their promotion campaign utilizes the social
media sites that are now a sizzling platform for all kinds of branding and promotional activities.
Before this, the company had used print and online media but there were no such pro-active
responses from the followers and the customers. This is why the company has applied meme-
one of the popular tools to attract the youngsters. However, this approach of the brand also faced
some criticisms from some of the old customers of the company. Hence, it can be highlighted
that the company has deliberately taken a promotional attempt that can affect the reputation of
the company in both the ways- positive and negative. Apart from this new advertising
approaches, the company in order to compete with other fashion brands has invested a high
amount in the advertising sector.

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On the other hand, the another P of the marketing mix, “People” plays another significant
role. People in the marketing mix are implied as human actors who participate in the business
services of the company. Gucci’s new ad campaign is intended at the young generation of the
society so that they become acquainted with the hip of the brand. The brand itself said that their
aim is to reach to the new kid of the town. The main stress that the brand highlighted in this
theory is the distinctiveness of their products by successfully portraying the vibrant images of the
through its arrangements of various fashion shows that highlight the unique culture that the
company represents (Godey et al. 2016). In many of its former promotional activities, it had
endorsed some popular contemporary celebrities to increase the popularity of the brand.
Gucci being one of the most popular fashion brands, has an extensive list of affluent
personalities and clients who also influence the promotion of the company (Mohr 2013). Some
of the well-known clients of the brand comprise Audrey Hepburn, Jackie Kennedy and Grace
Kelly. Gucci, which has always been a favorite of the sophisticated class of a society has started
experimental marketing to attract the newer generation customers. As a result, many a times
there are instances when the company encountered criticisms for its use of controversial
strategies of advertisements (De Mooij 2013). For instance, the company came into the spot light
when in one of its ad for perfume Opium, the company post a naked image of the model Sophie
Dahl. This scandalous ad helped the company in achieving the limelight of the media across the
world and led to the awareness of the brand and its products. The recent association of American
model and actor Blake Lively, models Kate Moss and Charlotte Casiraghi as the brand
ambassadors of the company has attracted a lot of customers in the stores. Besides, when the
company launched handbags named “Jackie O” under its promotional activities, it turned out to
be a success as the bags were sold like hot cakes. Therefore, the company focused its products

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and promotion to some high-class people with a good sense of humor as the memes were
embedded with valuable messages within it.
Fashion marketing principles influence the products as well as the consumer behavior.
Every minute details of the products are essential for influencing the consumer behavior. Fashion
marketing is not only about the branding and shaping of a product but also it is about portraying
a person to a different level so that the it creates a long lasting effect on the customer. Gucci, that
has taken its promotion campaign to a new level of innovation has utilized this approach
effectively to fascinate the new customers (Kasriel-Alexander 2016). The meme ad campaign is
perhaps the most modernized advertisement that the fashion world has ever experienced. The
memes which are generally hilarious for all ages are made even more comical with the
definitions that are provided for the people who are not yet accustomed with the use of meme
(Godey et al. 2016). This is evident from a reaction meme that had been posted by a follower of
the brand who wrote on Instagram that Gucci should delete their account. There were also some
positive responses that the brand received as many of its followers wrote “Gucci is killing the
game with their memes rn”.
Besides, Gucci there are few brands that has implemented this meme ad campaign in
their promotional marketing. Barkbox, a service center that subscribes for the treats and toys of
dogs utilizes this process by creating the majority of its Instagram content with memes that are
animal related. Another name that can be made is the Seamless. Seamless, an online food
delivery service based in the US created a complete set of memes on the back of what is always a
popular topic on social media that are broadcasted across its digital channels. For instance, it
created a number of spoof film posters one of which was “Waffle of Wall Street” (Godey et al.
2016).

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Before I undertook this assignment I came across an advertisement of this brand Gucci on
the social media that really fascinated me to work on the following topic. I have been a follower
of this brand for quite a long period of time. What really fascinated me about the advertisement,
is the concept that it used to demonstrate its products. The products that mainly consisted of
timepieces were not as attractive as the memes that were made on the images. The memes that
were inscribed with the products not only enhanced the quality of the products but also spread a
strong message underneath it.
Hence, from the above discussion it can be concluded that technological advancement not
only increases the production rate of a company but at the same time, it brings out the creativity
of the company. The advertisement campaign that has been discussed here focuses how the
presentation of a product can influence the choice of the buyers. The advertisement campaign
has mainly involved approaches that could simply attract customers of all ages and hence it can
positively influence the growth of the company.
Gucci has taken an approach that is convenient only for a handful amount of customers. It
is recommended that the brand must bring in some innovative traditional approaches that will
also be convenient for loyal customers of the brand but are not accustomed with the social
technologies. Otherwise, the company might lose its loyal customers who also contributes
largely for the popularization of the brand. This will also enhance the profit of the company as it
will appeal to both the new generation as well as the loyal customers of the brand.

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References
Atwal, G. and Williams, A., 2017. Luxury brand marketing–the experience is everything!
In Advances in Luxury Brand Management (pp. 43-57). Palgrave Macmillan, Cham.
De Mooij, M., 2013. Global marketing and advertising: Understanding cultural paradoxes. Sage
Publications.
Godey, B., Manthiou, A., Pederzoli, D., Rokka, J., Aiello, G., Donvito, R. and Singh, R., 2016.
Social media marketing efforts of luxury brands: Influence on brand equity and consumer
behavior. Journal of business research, 69(12), pp.5833-5841.
Kapferer, J.N. and Bastien, V., 2012. The luxury strategy: break the rules of marketing to build
luxury brands. Kogan page publishers.
Kasriel-Alexander, D., 2016. Top 10 global consumer trends for 2016 (pp. 18-21). Euromonitor
International.
Keller, K.L., 2017. Managing the growth tradeoff: Challenges and opportunities in luxury
branding. In Advances in Luxury Brand Management (pp. 179-198). Palgrave Macmillan, Cham.
Kim, A.J. and Ko, E., 2012. Do social media marketing activities enhance customer equity? An
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Kim, D.H. and Sung, Y., 2013. Gucci versus Old Navy: Interplay of brand personality and
regulatory focus in advertising persuasion. Psychology & Marketing, 30(12), pp.1076-1087.
Mohr, I., 2013. The impact of social media on the fashion industry. The Journal of Applied
Business and Economics, 15(2), p.17.

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Radon, A., 2012. Luxury brand exclusivity strategies–An illustration of a cultural
collaboration. Journal of Business Administration Research, 1(1), p.106.
Shukla, P., 2011. Impact of interpersonal influences, brand origin and brand image on luxury
purchase intentions: Measuring interfunctional interactions and a cross-national
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a new brand strategy tool. Journal of Brand Strategy, 1(4), pp.377-388.

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