Mr. Burberry Campaign

In April of 2016, Burberry became the first luxury brand to run a Snapchat- Discover- channel advertisement. Burberry ran a twenty- four-hour campaign to promote the company’s new Mr. Burberry fragrance. It featured exclusive content including style and fragrance content, tailoring and grooming tips, and a promotional short film directed by Steve McQueen. Since the film’s release, it has received nearly six hundred thousand views on YouTube. Although the Snapchat campaign only lasted twenty-four- hours, fans could still unlock content by scanning “Burberry Snapcodes” for the next two months at select Burberry retailers. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jd5Yuq_qt28

    

            As Snapchat users know, the app makes short videos and pictures that you can upload to the app. However, they only last for about 10 seconds. This gives users an urgent, yet fleeting feeling which is much like the characters in the Burberry campaign. Lily Croll from Wire Stone says “Marketers feel pressured to extend the lifetime for every piece of content, but by making some pieces exclusive to a window in time, brands are able to elevate the value of their content.” This was not the first time Burberry teamed up with Snapchat. During London Fashion Week, Burberry used the platform to air a live showcase of its collection.

            Burberry has been a pioneer in social media since 2009 when they made a decision to invest in it. Burberry has also become one of the first brands to use Twitter’s “Buy now” button, put advertisements on Instagram, and publish the first Apple Music branded channel. Burberry has a clear understanding of how to use various platforms to their advantage and how to link them all together. The brand Burberry has become a digital world leader. They top the L2 Digital IQ Index as one of the two brands labeled as Genius category. This means they have embraces a wide variety of social media platforms including Snapchat, Vine, Google+, Pinterest, and Periscope.

            Other brands such as LaMercatique have said that Snapchat’s signature ten second video clips and photographs will never beat searchable content, even with millennials. Although, Burberry is using Snapchat to pull customers to other social media platforms and their website. By offering exclusive content on their various pages they attract these viewers to their stores. Burberry’s snapcodes are used in stores to unlock content and by bringing viewers and customers into their store it gives them tremendous selling potential. I think It is a wonderful way to keep the interest of their customers.  It keeps the brand constantly on the minds of consumers and is a quick way to advertise new products.

Original reports: http://www.cio.com/article/3062615/social-networking/10-top-social-media-marketing-success-stories.html#slide9

http://www.forbes.com/sites/sarahwu/2016/04/04/burberry-partners-with-snapchat-on-mr-burberry-launch/#798a95984a1c

Authors: James A. Martin and Sarah Wu

-Elizabeth B.