Like humans, brands must develop with time, come up with fresh ideas and innovative ways to communicate. Even for major companies like Gucci, striking the right balance in the fashion industry is challenging because the relationship between novelty and heritage is still viewed as some sort of alchemical equation. The company led by Alessandro Michele has practically always been at the top of the fashion food chain. The scandals and crises of the 1980s and 1990s are a distant memory, and its spectacular shows bring in millions of dollars on average — 18.8 million during the most recent Milan Fashion Week alone. No less importantly, brand strategies must adapt to the times. Gucci’s strategy appears to be updating in order to restore the brand to the turbulent and exponential growth it had between 2016 and 2018. Gucci’s brand strategy appears to be in the process of updating, with the aim of returning the brand to the turbulent and exponential growth it experienced between 2016 and 2018. Brand strategies must not only keep up with the changes. If Louis Vuitton or Hermès have kept up with or sped up their pace (by 24% in the third quarter for Hermès, for example), the lockdown’s impact is still felt by Gucci, whose revenues increased by 9% in the third quarter of 2022, which is 1% less than analysts had projected. François-Henri Pinault had said at the time, “In an increasingly difficult climate In order to maintain our profitability and our financial commitments to all of our houses, Gucci foremost among them, we “keep the necessary flexibility.” . The brand has implemented a number of measures in reaction to this downturn in sales, including expanding into the U.S. market, investing in more conventional and classic categories and items, hiring a new director to focus on the brand’s Chinese market, and bolstering menswear.
The most significant of Gucci’s many investments is unquestionably the one in traditional values. In truth, the brand’s advertisements seem more straightforward after the Kubrick-inspired Exquisite Gucci campaigns and the one for the third iteration of the partnership with The North Face: The campaigns starring reassuring Hollywood stars like Ryan Gosling, Jessica Chastain, or Idris Elba, to the series of shots dedicated to handbags co-created with Dazed, to the latest HA HA HA campaign with Harry Styles, the brand’s kaleidoscope of colors and logos seem to have receded in fad. This is evident in the shots for Vogue signed Joshua Woods and focused on tailoring a new vision. However, the trademark panache that we had become accustomed to from the company has not vanished, in large part because to partnerships and events like the Gucci Pet campaign launch and the one with Palace. With a stronger emphasis on ultra-luxurious categories including high jewelry, extra-luxury perfumes, luggage, and watches, the concentration is mostly on handbags and tailoring. According to BoF’s reporting, which quotes RBC Capital Markets analyst Piral Dadhania: “The number of bags priced at under £1,500 pounds dropped by 30%, marking a shift away from Gucci’s pre-pandemic assortment of bestsellers, which more heavily featured items like the Soho Disco crossbody (at the time, priced at $1,190).” All of these individualized, extravagant, couture-like services not only enhance the brand’s reputation by increasing consumer appeal and status, but they also boost sales in the most accessible and marketable product categories.
On a deeper level, the business then intends to improve the menswear offering by dropping the two-show structure introduced during the epidemic and reverting to the five-show schedule, which will include two shows for men, two for women, and a mixed-gender Cruise show. CEO Marco Bizzarri discussed the choice during the recent Milan Global Fashion Summit, saying, “We have committed to two displays per year but together with Alessandro [Michele] we chose to place a bigger emphasis on menswear, after presenting coed shows for several seasons.”Many of today’s top fashion brands are currently following the trend of separating men’s and women’s collections, which generally reflects a desire across the board to give menswear its own distinct dimension. Carlo Capasa of the CNMI remarked, “Men’s is quite an essential part of the business and exhibiting it separately is bringing it back under the spotlight, avoiding the possibility that womenswear consumes its identity,” when speaking about the topic of show separation. In order to further improve performance, a number of new individuals have been appointed to various managerial positions. These individuals range from the appointment of Laurent Cathala as the new president of the Chinese division, who will be tasked with the delicate task of creating a more regionalized business network, to the arrival of Maria Cristina Lomanto in the dual roles of Executive Vice President and Brand General Manager. In order to boost the category while the brand is opening more stores in America due to its success in that market, the watch and jewelry department will also be managed directly by the Milan headquarters in China.
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