This month, Burberry welcomes two new profiles key to revitalizing its desirability, against the backdrop of a slowdown in luxury and the House: Jonathan Kiman as Marketing Director and Laura Dubin-Wander as President of the Americas region. Both are experienced luxury talents, the former coming from Gucci, the latter from OTB Group.
In early September, Burberry announced the arrival of two new talents.
Officially ejected from the FTSE100 – the index of Britain’s most highly capitalized companies – following the erosion of 70% of its market value in one year, the icon of Britishness is clearly looking for a new lease of life. And it’s counting on newcomers from the Italian luxury lifestyle world to help it do just that.
After replacing its CEO, Jonathan Akeroyd, with Joshua Schulman this summer, with immediate effect, Burberry has just changed two managers in key positions.
Laura Dubin-Wander has been President of the Americas region since September 4, while Jonathan Kiman, the new Global Marketing Director, took up his post on September 9.
Marketing overhaul in sight
Jonathan Kiman has also joined Burberry’s Executive Committee, as head of the Group’s marketing department. Joshua Schulman, Managing Director of the British luxury brand, is his direct line manager.
Jonathan Kimanjoins Burberryfrom Gucci, where he held a number of senior positions over 12 years, most recently Marketing Director. Prior to that, he was Brand Director for Versace.
“Jonathan has a wealth of experience in rejuvenating brands and buildingdigitally savvy marketing organizations,” said Joshua Schulman, Burberry’s Chief Executive Officer.
The stated aim of this new appointment is, as the CEO reminds us, “toenhance [the] marketing capabilities and strengthen the Burberry brand.”
Indeed, as with Gucci,Burberry’s strategy of moving upmarket has not had the desired effect, challenged in recent months by a price cut. Kering has also applied a downward revision of labels at Saint Laurent.
American revival?
Based in New York, Laura Dubin-Wander is in charge of Burberry’s operations in the Americas. She replaces Rod Manley, who left the British company last May. Dubin-Wander is no stranger to this market, having studied it for three years as CEO of OTB North America.
The new President Americas has the advantage of having worked in a number of senior positions in the past, including that of President of Coach North America for two years. Laura Dubin-Wander has also held key positions within the Lvmh group, namely Vice-President of Christian Dior Couture (2 years) and President of Givenchy (3 years).
More to the point, her diverse experiences over almost ten years in the luxury goods industry have led her to develop skills that will be invaluable to Burberry’s relaunch, particularly in the field of distribution, with “achievements in retail, wholesale, point-of-sale and digital businesses across all sectors of the industry”, she explains on her Linkedin account.
For Joshua Schulman, “Laura is a dynamic, results-driven leader with a proven track record of building and developing winning teams.”
The US market is key to Burberry’s development, with a growing share of accessories sales. Penalized by a slowdown in demand in the same way as China, the United States recorded a 12% drop in the fourth quarter and in fiscal 2024. A fall that is still less than that recorded in the Middle Kingdom (-19%) in the fourth quarter of 2024.
Crucial arrivals
For almost a decade, Burberry set aside its British heritage in favor of its emblematic Nova Checktartan from the late 1990s, with a clear rise in popularity in the 2010s. With Riccardo Tisci as Creative Director, the British brand focused its efforts on this aristocratic motif that had become the embodiment of the hooligan counterculture (the chavs), offering a more streetwear and punk wardrobe. The trivialization of the tartan has tarnished the brand’s superb appearance and desirability, particularly among the younger generation. But over the past 18 months, the brand has been trying to reconnect with its outwear roots and its famous cotton gabardine trench coat.
In place since October 2022, Daniel Lee, who took over from Riccardo Tisci, has endeavored to elevate the brand through a logo revisited in antique letters and a modernized equestrian knight motif dyed blue.
This return to origins has also permeated the product offering, with an Autumn-Winter 2024-25 collection featuring trench coats, kilts, bags and shoes “inspired by the characters who wear Burberry, as well as the outdoors and landscapes that are part of the brand’s heritage”, according to Daniel Lee.
In a bid to regain market share, Burberry has also reduced the price of some of its accessories. The Wall Street Journal discovered at the end of August that the brand had reduced the price of its medium-sized Knight bag by 22%, as well as all the handbags made by the new artistic director since he took over, with an average reduction of 5%.
Where large luxury Houses like those in the Lvmh Group have succeeded in demonstrating their value to the market, mid-tier Houses like Burberry have been faced with a fragile brand value base, slow growth and constant transformation. At present, they do not have the brand equity to drive smooth price increases.
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Read also > Burberry to be dropped from FTSE 100
Featured Photo: © Burberry
