Brooks Brothers' promotion strategy and brand positioning challenges

¶ … Marketing Mix: Promotion Strategies

Assume that you are the newly hired promotion manager for Brooks Brothers and that the VP of Marketing wants you to prepare a report on how the designer's/brand's product/good is currently marketed and to begin to think about what changes, if any, you might want to see made in the promotion of that designer's/brand's products/goods.

What promotion makes the designer's/brand's products different from its competitors?

Brooks Brothers is one of the most famous marketers of classic clothing for men and women in the world. Its generations-old name and reputation for quality distinguishes it from its more recently-arrived competitors. Unlike the classic British fashion house Burberry, it has not tried to brand itself as a more trendy fashion line for the young, and showcased streaming podcasts of its fashion shows and crowd-sourced photographs and fashion advice. Brooks Brothers specializes in simple, clean lines and its current marketing mix is fairly straightforward. It offers preppy dress and casual clothing for men, women, and children. Its prices are slightly cheaper than Burberry's, but still somewhat pricey for 'off the racks' fashion. Its main competitors are Ralph Lauren, J. Crew and Banana Republic for casual clothes and for higher-end clothing, classic designer labels such as Burberry and Armani.

In 2001, the stalwart, nearly 200-year-old American company "which has outfitted powerful and famous men from Clark Gable to John Kennedy" was acquired by Italian entrepreneur Claudio Del Vecchio (Spiffing up Brooks Brothers, 2001, Business Week). Del Vecchio believed that "Brooks Brothers forgot about the suit guy -- the one they dress five days a week" and tried to shift the brand's focus back to that of the high-end consumer (Spiffing up Brooks Brothers, 2001, Business Week). High end consumers tend to be less 'hard hit' by economic trends, given that they have larger disposable incomes, more savings, and are less dependent upon a paycheck for their necessary expenses. However Brooks Brothers' new owner could not ignore the trend toward wearing casual wear and 'dress down Fridays' which had penetrated even investment banks and law firms (Spiffing up Brooks Brothers, 2001, Business Week).

"The retailer must draw new and younger customers into its 160 U.S. shops with relaxed clothing that is fresh but doesn't clash with its traditional image. Managers at Retail Brand Alliance, Del Vecchio's Enfield, Connecticut, holding company, say a new line of sports coats made from lighter fabrics and an all-cotton, no-wrinkle shirt are a good start. Brooks Brothers is about style, not fashion. It's about always looking right in classic garments instead of boring" (Spiffing up Brooks Brothers, 2001, Business Week). As well as to cultivate a more casual image, Brooks Brothers must draw in new consumers, while still holding on to its core clientele and not alienating them.

In terms of product/good marketing, how would you change the advertising mix?

Advertising Brooks Brothers should encompass a wider range of market demographics and styles of Internet marketing. Advertising using online ads and videos with humor that could go 'viral' would encourage readers and viewers to share with their friends. This was successful for Old Spice, for example, which was regarded as a somewhat dated brand until the new video advertisements for the Old Spice guy went viral because of their clever humor. Even if Brooks Brothers videos did not adopt a similarly playful tone, using the Internet in a more proactive fashion is necessary to generate interest amongst consumers. No online community for the label currently exists, unlike other fashion-forward, modernized labels like Burberry. And Brooks Brother's marketing must become more personalized and set a unique tone for the brand, to ensure that its message is not lost.

Catalogue advertising should be minimized, given how few people use print media today, particularly the younger demographic Brooks Brothers is striving to embrace. Only if younger consumers shift over to Brooks Brothers can the company survive, as its core, older demographic ages out of the brand. Brooks Brothers can continue to cultivate its traditional demographic, but by using segmentation, it should adopt a more casual tone for its Internet, mobile, and social media followers. Crowd-sourced photos, asking wearers to share their experiences wearing Brooks Brothers, and making use of online celebrities or spokespersons and models who embody the ethos of Brooks Brothers are necessary to generate excitement about what has too long been regarded as a stiff and unexciting brand.