Some weeks ago,
I was walking through Serrano Street, Madrid’s most luxurious shopping area.
During my walk Loewe’s spring collection piqued my interest. The Madrilenian purveyor of luxury leather
goods did an outstanding job through its global campaign, displaying its
Spanish heritage and more than 168 years in business. Within this article I’ll delve
into a study of Loewe’s strategy, its campaign’s implementation and I’ll write
about the importance of heritage branding and how it affects consumers’
purchase decision processes.
Loewe is different
from the rest because of its long lasting tradition and expertise producing the
best leatherwear articles. The prestige brand stands for a type of elegance
without ostentation. Its core values are being proud of our traditions and to be free and do what we please. Moreover, its consumers also stand up for these values.
This psychographic segmentation allows the brand to deeply connect with its
target market. The brand objective in the upcoming years is to keep up
increasing sales, raise awareness among consumers and to open new stores in
different countries around the globe. Mostly, in the Asian market.
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The brand did a
superb job translating its business strategy into market implementation at the
point of sale and within its communication campaign. The former is an immersing
experience into the Spanish and Madrilenians’ lifestyle. The store’s shop
windows expose images reinforcing the artisanal work behind each product. Some pieces
are inspired on traditional Spanish footwear, accessories and clothing such as
“alpargatas”, fans and “shawls”. On the other hand, Loewe aims to target
generation Y (i.e. 70’s and 80’s), it focused most of its communication efforts
in a digital campaign using tools such as social media platforms, its webpage,
and live stream events. The advertising face and brand ambassador of the
campaign is Penélope Cruz. Loewe’s marketers said that she fits perfectly with
the brand because, nowadays, she is the most famous woman and personality in
Spain.
Loewe Spanish
heritage campaign makes sense because of the socio-cultural context and the
unwavering commitment of the brand to achieve its purpose. Currently, we live in a world of uncertainty,
where consumers more than ever distrust firms and give more importance to
aspects such as consistency, quality, craftsmanship, authenticity and familiarity.
Embracing these elements allows brands to build a competitive advantage, ameliorate
the depth of consumers’ awareness and their perceived value of the brand. This allows
firms to set a higher price point for its products/services.
In light of the
above, Loewe’s long-lasting history exhibits stability, as well as consistency
of its mission, vision and values. The correct bounding of the elements mentioned
before permits brand custodians to elaborate a convincing story. This helps the
brand to emotionally connect with consumers, enhance trust, build customer
loyalty and reputation - in a nutshell it helps building stronger brand
equity.
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I’ll like to
state the fact that I’m a great believer in brand heritage, which is the
connection of a brand to its past (i.e. people, places, and purpose at the
beginning). I consider heritage branding as a long-term business objective
compass point. Brands’ legacy not only helps identifying firms’ strengths, also
it pinpoints previous successes and mistakes and educates us for future
decisions. Moreover, through cues and tales marketers can enhance customers and
employees admiration and pride for the brand. As discussed, Loewe is a perfect
example of this. The Spring Collection shows employees’ understanding of the
soul & spirit of the brand and how to interconnect the present with its past.
To wrap up, I’d
like to say that every brand should work in its own storytelling, based in a
consistent and unique mission, values and purpose. If a brand does this
correctly, it will experience the benefits of heritage branding!
