October, 15th, 2013

LONDON | CHIEF CREATIVE EXECUTIVE OFFICER ! | BURBERRY

Burberry Chairman Sir John Peace discusses with Angela Ahrendts and Christopher Bailey the news that Angela will step down as Chief Executive Officer by mid-2014, with Christopher assuming the role of Chief Creative and Chief Executive Officer ..

Why? After Yves Saint Laurent’s Ceo Paul Deneve, Nike’s designer Ben Shaffer, Apple taps Angela Ahrendts from Burberry as as a senior vice president with oversight of retail and online stores, reporting directly to CEO Tim Cook.

Ahrendts will be looking to do better than John Browett who quit Dixons to lead the iPad and iPhone maker’s global retail expansion in 2012. He left six months later.

Yet, Burberry still innovates by naming Christopher Bailey CEO, a position that is time consuming and requires very different skill sets from a being Chief Creative ..

The experience is the brand. The digital can make or break the experience. By dedicating 40% of its marketing budget to digital, Burberry have paved the way.

Angela Ahrendts and Christopher Bailey have transformed the way Burberry engages with the world, from its consumers to its associates, leveraging disruptive technology to share its pure brand vision through content-rich, compelling storytelling. Blurring the lines of physical and digital–with a flagship store that mirrors the website and a website that shares live experiences from concerts to runway shows–Burberry constantly challenges itself to keep pace with society.

Now Burberry is calibrating the same experience in a bold illogical move. By naming a 13 years-in-force Chief Creative as Chief Executive Officer, Burberry might anticipate a new creed in fashion, but certainly not in corporate management. Time will tell. We anticipate some (investor) concerns but not any regarding effective targeting of millennials or engaging global audiences through digitally-led authentic and emotive storytelling.

What about Angela Ahrendts + Apple? Well, it’s AAA ! S&P’s, Moody’s, Fitch and DBRS agree ..

L’ÉDITOR

PS: The Burberry Prorsum Womenswear Spring Summer 2014 shot entirely with iPhone 5s !