Online Marketing

BRAND AND IDENTITY MANAGEMENT IN FASHION COMPANIES By Stefania Saviolo 1 BRAND AND IDENTITY MANAGEMENT IN FASHION COMPANIES Stefania Saviolo (*) Abstract This paper aims at analysing what are the peculiar aspect of brand management for fashion ready to wear firms. We define the brand identity as a system of attributes. For fashion companies particular importance is assumed by three kind of brand attributes: corporate and brand history and core competencies, stylistic identity and visual identity. The article illustrates this issue with the supporting evidence of one case history: fashion designer Giorgio Armani. KEY Words: brand management, identity, positioning, communication. JEL Codes: L67, M1. (*) STEFANIA SAVIOLO, Ph.D., is a Lecturer in Strategic Management and Co-Director on the Master in Fashion Management (MFM) at SDA Bocconi - Bocconi University School of Management, Via Bocconi 8-20136 Milano-Italy. Tel.++390258366304 Fax ++390258366892 . She has published several books and articles on fashion and brand management. E-mail: [e-mail].2 1. What is branding? Brand building and brand management have become a critical issue for firms competing within heterogeneous industries. Over the last decades, the brand evolved from a simple product attribute to the role of value creator for the entire firm. Today brand management represents a very sophisticated business process whose aim is to assembly and maintain over the time the unique mix of physical attributes and intangible values that distinguish one brand identity from other’s. A better understanding of the brand role starts from the right definition of brand and branding. The most quoted definition is that proposed by Kotler (1988) from an older definition proposed in 1960 from the American Association Committee on Definitions according to which the brand is " a

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