The Critical Reception of Gucci's Marketing Campaign

Background Information

This report will be conducted on the high-end designer fashion brand, Gucci. Gucci is an Italian fashion label founded by Guccio Gucci in 1921, making it Italy’s oldest fashion brand in the market today. During Gucci’s early days, the brand started out as a luggage manufacturer whose target market was producing luxury travel goods for Italy’s wealthy upper-class. During the 1950’s, Gucci had been experiencing incredible success as Hollywood stars and other wealthy travellers would start wearing their products, which would lead to increasing recognition for Gucci in the western world. Guccio Gucci passed away in 1953, however the business continued under the leadership of his three sons, Aldo, Vasco, and Rodolfo. In the mid-'60s, the brand introduced luxury accessories such as eyewear, watches, and jewellery to their product line. These items then became the face of the brand. “In 1983, Rodolfo Gucci Passed away, and control was passed to his son, Maurizio, who struggled to maintain Gucci’s success. During this period, the brand experienced numerous troubles owing to family disputes, tax evasion charges, assassinations and sales to foreign investors. Currently in 2019 Gucci is owned by the French Luxury group Kering. Kering also owns Yves Saint Laurent, Balenciaga and Alexander Mcqueen.

Description of the Campaign

Gucci’s promotional strategy as part of the marketing mix, (4P’s) has been very successful. Gucci makes themselves visible through advertisements, banners, look books, and social media. Their marketing campaigns features on various social media platforms like Facebook, Pinterest, YouTube, Instagram, Tumblr. They have hired various bloggers to promote their content on social media. Gucci also has an app in eight different languages called, Gucci style app. It acts as a magazine consisting of fashion, geographical location tips, interactive videos etc. Gucci has had many successful marketing campaigns throughout the years which has helped with their customer loyalty. However, it only takes one bad marketing campaign for that loyalty to disappear. Back in February of 2018 Gucci launched a new product called the “Indy full Turban”. This product got a lot of criticism, especially from the Sikh community. As seen on the image to the left, the blue Turban was going for $790 and described as a “gorgeously crafted turban” that will “turn heads while keeping you in comfort as well as trademark style”. A Lot of people on the social media platform, Twitter, were unhappy about this campaign. The Sikh Coalition tweeted, “The turban is not just an accessory to monetize; it's a religious article of faith that millions of Sikhs view as sacred. Many find this cultural appropriation inappropriate, since those wearing the turban just for fashion will not appreciate its deep religious significance” This marketing campaign advertised the turban through white male models. This caused a lot of political dispute as by using white male models to wear a turban that has religious value, it shows that Gucci was promoting the turban as just a fashionable head accessory.

Results of the Campaign

As a result of this marketing campaign, Gucci received a lot of criticism through social media platforms. This had a big impact on Gucci as everyone is on social media these days. A lot of Instagram influencers posted that they would not buy anymore Gucci and throw all their Gucci products away. This resulted in Gucci losing a lot of customer loyalty. Celebrities also spoke on the matter through their social media platforms. Celebrity rapper 50 cent posted a video of him burning his Gucci shirt onto his Instagram which has a total of 25 million followers.

Suggestions that the Company Could’ve Done to Improve the Campaign

Some suggestions that could have made this a sustainable marketing campaign would be to target the Sikh community and use the appropriate male models to promote the product. The appropriate models would be the Punjabi Sikh’s themselves as they represent the cultural and religious values of the turban. By doing this it ensures that the product is promoted the right way and all religious values are respected. The price of the product questions the marketing ethics. Pricing the product very high would not be the best option as people might question why this brand is profiting so much off a product that has religious values. The Sikh community may find it disrespectful and may not agree with it. Another suggestion would be to change the name that this turban was marketed as. On Gucci’s website, the turban was listed under “Indy full Turban”. The Sikh community found this name disrespectful as not all Indians wear a turban. As this marketing campaign was not viewed and organized from the consumer’s point of view, this campaign was not consumer-oriented marketing and customer values were not met.