The Epidemic Changed Chanel'S Plan, But The Brand'S Confidence In Connecting Consumers Remained Unchanged.

In December last year, Virginie Viard hosted her first hand workshop series as a creative director of Chanel. She designed the show as a tribute to the tradition and founder of the brand.

The show was designed by Oscar winning film maker Sofia Coppola, reappearing Coco Chanel's apartment at 31 Kang Po Street and the high definition salon with crystal chandeliers. Gigi Hadid, Kaia Gerber and other supermodels are coming out along the repeated stairs. They are dressed in attractive black suits, gold embroidery belts, strong shoulder profiles and sportfeel umbilical outfits. All the designs are aimed at highlighting the skills and skills of Chanel's professional handcrafts.

This summer, Chanel planned to repeat the same two big shows in Beijing and London in late May and early June respectively. This is a large-scale marketing campaign undertaken by the brand to reach the local market at different levels.

This is a classic trick that has brought dividends to the brand in the past, improving its participation and sales. However, due to the growing concern about the outbreak of the new coronavirus in China, the company had to reduce its ambitious plan. At present, its plan to hold a fashion show in Beijing is temporarily shelved, because many parts of China are still in a state of blockade, and there is no conclusion on how the situation will develop in the coming months.

"Taking into account the current situation and following the guidance of relevant departments in China, Chanel decided to postpone the Beijing conference at the advanced handcraft workshop 31" Paris Kang Peng Street "No. 2019/20, which was originally planned for the end of May, to the appropriate time," in an e-mail request to comment, "the brand responded," Chanel is closely monitoring the progress of the epidemic and putting the safety and health of employees and customers in the first place. "

Meanwhile, Chanel also confirmed to BoF that the brand decided to donate RMB ten million yuan to help prevent and control the epidemic. "This donation will be divided into two stages to help the affected population: the first stage is to provide emergency support to Hubei immediately; the second phase is aimed at developing medium and long-term projects to enhance the carrying capacity and resilience of the Chinese medical field to cope with the crisis in the future. We will donate the above funds to the Shanghai Song Qingling foundation and the China Women's development foundation, "the mail said.

Despite a temporary change in China, Chanel is still pushing ahead with London's plan.

The strategy of re carving is still a recognition of the new demand for fashion. As brands aim at increasingly globalized and experiential oriented markets, local contacts become more and more important, so that brands can cater for valuable international customers, keep up with the greedy demand of social media for new content, and adapt to the fact that consumers no longer buy new world of clothing according to strict seasonal conditions.

In order to further promote participation, the fashion show is usually accompanied by a series of other activities, including parties, store activities, extra training for boutique fashion consultants, contacts with local celebrities, and a series of professional content on WeChat and other local channels. The participants are mainly local media and customers. They may not have the chance to take part in Chanel's fashion show in Paris.

This is very effective for Chanel. Last year, the brand reproduced the 2018 advanced handwork Series in Seoul. It was originally held in Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, and was also the last show of Lagerfeld. Chanel said: as a result, the company has ushered in the best clothing sales performance ever made in Korea. Its last year's global tour exhibition in Shanghai, "Mademoiselle Priv e", produced nearly 4 billion digital contact points. Its early spring replay in Chengdu in 2017 was marked 560 million times on micro-blog.

In January of this year, Chanel Bruno Pavlovsky, the president of its boutique department, told BoF in the background of a temporary fashion show that "this has created a series of special moments that allow us to establish contacts with the people we are going to visit."

Chanel itself is an old hand to make such a special moment. The brand is famous for its remarkable activities and the ability to create differentiated marketing moments in crowded spaces. Under the leadership of the late Karl Lagerfeld, the company started a well planned non seasonal fashion show, led the series of handcrafts and early spring holidays around the world, and was quickly followed by other luxury brands.

These sensational activities are part of the Lagerfeld's reinvention of fashion models. Brands sell their dreams to consumers through ambitious activities. In many cases, consumers only connect with brands through more popular products such as perfumes and cosmetics.

For decades, despite the attempts of others to copy this pattern, it has proved that it is still the secret of the astonishing success of the brand.

"We are the first to launch these series," Pavlosky said. "When you see these numbers, when you see these successes, I'm not sure other people are the same. I'm not sure."

Chanel is by far the world's best-selling super brand. Although it doesn't have the scale of luxury group such as Kering and LVMH, its performance is still surpassing its peers. In 2018, the company, which is privately owned by the mysterious Wertheimer family, first announced its results, revealing that its global sales in 2017 were close to $10 billion. In 2018, the figure rose to $11 billion.

Critics are worried about the brand's conflict with e-commerce (currently it sells beauty products and glasses online only), and worried about how traditional luxury goods keep up with today's more egalitarian and value oriented Z generation consumers. But Pavlosky says he doesn't see any reason to deviate from the Chanel's strategy.

"This is our fashion. This is our way, "Pavlovsky said." I don't know if this is old-fashioned, but it still seems quite successful.

Chanel's big show in London, in June 4th, will reappear in this year's advanced handcraft Series in the center of London, the old building of the old BILLIN gate in Vitoria. At the same time, it is paying close attention to the development of China's epidemic situation. Other brands and agencies are also working hard to deal with this situation. In February 10th, Shanghai's fashion week, the most famous fashion event in China, announced that it would postpone the plan originally scheduled for March 26th, but did not say when the event will be held, or even whether it will be rescheduled again. Meanwhile, Kering, the parent company of Gucci, has said that it has closed half its stores in China and has postponed its new store opening and advertising campaign in China.

But for Chanel, this is the second setback that it has faced in 6 months of conducting major events in China's most important market. Last year, due to persistent political turmoil, the brand postponed the plan for a series of early spring holidays in Hongkong in 2020.

"These decisions are based on events that we can't control," wrote the brand in an email. "Our overseas exhibitions are to show our special experience to our local customers. "The brand said: the decision to postpone activities was made in close consultation with the local team and full solidarity, and expressed positive optimism for the future.

In London, it is the other side of the coin. The city has just emerged from the political turmoil caused by Britain's departure from Europe, though it has not affected the luxury market in London. As Britain becomes clearer and clearer, Chanel is seeking to establish links with London's huge consumer base.

"We haven't been to London for a while," Pavlovsky said. "I think at this point, it's reasonable to join Virginie Viard to bring the brand handcraft DNA series to London."

The different circumstances of the two markets reflect the complexity of the operation of brands in a fragmented and volatile global market, amid geopolitical and environmental upheaval. , This may even mean that brands need to adapt to the situation that the company can not control as quickly as possible.

No doubt, despite the fact that the Chinese epidemic has had to postpone its marketing activities, Chanel's attention to the market will not change in the future. Chanel opened a boutique store in Beijing the year before last. "China is still a growing market for us," Pavlovsky said in an interview before the show. We are more and more focused on China, and our Chinese customers and businesses are also increasing. "Brand is still trying to adjust its network and its relationship with partners." Our idea is that even if we have been in Beijing for 15 years, we need to think more deeply about this brand. "

In the face of the changing world situation, Pavlovsky said, "we have business in many countries around the world. From the political and economic point of view, the situation has been changing. We should not concentrate on this. We pay more attention to how to provide customers with the best brand.