Clients & Case Histories
GUCCI
Jessica DennisTait Subler forced us to clearly articulate a core set of values that define and differentiate the brand in the minds of employees and consumers. Our strategic point of view has become an important point of reference for everything we do. Tait Subler delivered on their promise.
Worldwide Advertising and Marketing Director
The Challenge
The Tom Ford era had just ended at GUCCI. The new management team wanted to clearly define what the legendary global brand stood for (apart from its former designer) in order to provide focus to all the design, retail, advertising, PR, and hiring decisions that lay before them. A clear brand theme and targeting approach were required to inspire the bold action needed to address the flagging sales that preceded Ford’s departure and the fashion press skepticism that percolated afterward.
What We Did
Conducted work sessions with key GUCCI leaders in Europe, the U.S. and Asia to understand priorities, passions and hypotheses about the core essence of the brand. Then conducted deep learning sessions with designer-savvy fashionistas around the world and synthesized the learning from the internal and external work.
The Outcome
Defined a brand theme that provided a strategic filter that influenced all aspects of the organization’s creative and business decisions – and gave the team a clear, differentiated direction forward. In essence the team uncovered the magical core of the GUCCI brand that transcended any particular designer or season.
The brand theme became central to execution across the organization at GUCCI and sales hit an all time high for the brand in 2005 and continued to grow at a robust 18% rate in 2006. According to the Business Week ranking of the 100 most valuable brands in the world, The GUCCI brand has jumped from #59 to #41 since we helped them develop their core brand strategy in 2004-2005. The value of the brand has surged by nearly $3.5 billion.