Ch. 15- Marketing Communications

Givenchy is a brand establish upon the idea of high luxury, elegance, precision and extravagance. Being that most of their customer has already known or heard of their amazing quality, feedback is unnecessary. Their way of sending the message that their products are only the best quality is by their unique advertisements. Givenchy's advertisement only appear in high end fashion magazines as well as websites. Some customer may not know of Givenchy's superb quality through these avant-garde ads. As to how the retailers communicate with the customer is pretty straight forward. Since Givenchy is a high end brand, it is only right that all of their clothing being put out are sold in luxurious stores. If you have ever been to Bergdorf Goodman or even Mr.Porters in NYC, you will see that their customer service is in par with the items they sell, elegant and finesse. This goes for a lot of the stores that carry high end clothing. Their workers are expected to communicate well with the customers.

Givenchy F/W 2015 Ad

Chapter 10: Product Concepts

Givenchy is one of the worlds leading high end fashion brand. Loyal customers are always willing to drop a lot of cash in order to get the product. Givenchy’s target audience is mostly younger customers who seek the most pioneering fashion design. Although Givenchy products aren't limited, they are special. The special part about them is the quality they put into their items. Their authentic items can never be replicated due to the details and patchwork. One thing that gray market producers have trouble making is the logo "GIVENCHY" on the tag of all products. Which is just one of many way to differentiated fake and real. Clothing is just one of the many things that Givenchy produce. They range from cosmetics, perfumes, and many different accessories. These things are often packaged into a glossy box emblem-ed with the Givenchy logo, different from the logo on the tags of clothing.

Top is AUTHENTIC, bottom is FAKE

The infamous logo

Ch. 17 - Personal Selling and Sales Management

Givenchy was not always as famous as it was today. The founder Hubert de Givenchy had to work with Cristobal Balenciaga, the founder of the luxurious brand Balenciaga. Together they presented their collection in New York during a charity gala. In those days, the selling process mattered more than the product itself, but with all the changes and innovations, things have changed.But those days are long gone when consumers had to visit these shows to purchase a piece. Personal selling and sales management are crucial to a companies success but in the luxury market things operate a little differently. Givenchy is a luxury apparel brand, so their approach to sales and sales management will be a bit modified to fit their particular target consumer. 

As far as the sales management go, luxury brands like Givenchy usually depend on media publications to make allow their consumers to do their own research before even making a final decision. So as a result consumers value things more than they value service, making management a lot easier. The people want nice things more than they want nice service. Luxury products, like other products are part of the media many consumers consume, which is where people learn about and decide what they want to buy. That is why many luxury brands are working with the internet’s best retailers.

Ch. 16 - Advertising, Public Relations and Sales Promotion

Givenchy is a company known not only for their amazing quality in fabrics, but also a unique avant garde style. Which translate to new and unusual experimental ideas. This is applied to their clothing as well as their fashion shows. To promote their sales they do the most extraordinary things. For their Fall/Winter 2014 collection, Riccardo Tisci used a full basketball court as a runway to present his collection. The collections theme was sportswear but not only that, some of the pieces were made from high quality basketball skins. Givenchy implements a mix of advertising strategies to boost their company image. Their ads can be found in fashion blogs or any fashion related news topic. Their unique sales lies in the fact that many famous celebrity wear their clothing. Some like Beyonce and Jay Z would get their pieces custom made to fit the occasion.

Givenchy F/W 2014 Basketball Themed Showcase

Beyonce and Jay Z in Givenchy

Ch. 14 - Marketing Channels and Retailing

Givenchy is a high end maison that prides itself on being the ultra-luxurious high end fashion company. Which means that their item can only bought through authorized Givenchy dealers, boutiques, their main website, and sometimes popup shops. They currently have 37 authorized Givenchy stores worldwide, most of them being in China. This type of retailing makes them a direct channel, where as the producer "Givenchy" directly sells to the consumer. However, as of today the Haute couture has expanded into a retailer channel. Who is their middleman? Well the biggest one so far is Barney's. Barney's not only carry Givenchy, they are known for the department store that carries countless other high end clothing. Other retailers for Givenchy can be found through many websites that carry high end clothing. Few big ones being Ssenses, Saks 5th Ave, and Bergdorf Goodman. Just don't expect these retailers to carry EVERYTHING that Givenchy produces.

Givenchy flagship store in Paris

Givenchy flagship store in CheongDam Korea

Ch. 6 - Consumer Decision Making

Givenchy's concept is to produce fashion, lead fashion, and explain fashion. They have made thousands of creative clothes for its specific target market, people who seek the most avant-garde fashion design. Givenchy designs today apparently considers more of the younger audiences taste. Large graphic prints like the rottweiler was a huge money cow for them. With the rottweiler design, they set out to design more patterns. Designs include birds of paradise, religous pattern and even more rottweilers. The brand just keep on its track to please the customers who want the most fashionable clothing. What other way is there is lead fashion than pleasing the younger customers? It is hard to believe but the younger generation promote the trends. If one person wear something that catches another persons eye a chain starts. Givenchy needs the younger audience to to promote its brand and new creative products.

A$AP Rocky in the Birds of Paradise tee

Ch. 5 - Developing a Global Vision

Givenchy the great maison of haute couture history isn't just what they claim they are; luxury goods and jewelry. They are way more than that. Starting from 1969, Hubert de Givenchy launched his fashion line for men "Gentleman Givenchy". Things began to snowball from there. Givenchy was known for many things in the 1960s including shoes, jewelry, ties, tableware, upholstery and kimonos. Product designs were a work of art. They were so successful at one point Hubert de Givenchy became passionate about interior design that he was the one to design the interiors of the Hilton Hotels around the world. In addition to that in 1977 they worked with Lincoln to produce a Luxurous car, the Lincoln Continental Mark V, which of course sold out instantly. In 1988 the house of Givenchy then joined LVMH (Moët Hennessy Louis Vuitton), which also owns the fashion houses of Dior, Lacroix and Kenzo.

The Lincoln Continental Mark V

As of today the fashion house is still rapidly growing. The CEO of Givenchy, Sebastian Suhl has spoken about the brand's constant development since the beginning of LVMH. He stated that to continue this rapid growth LVHM and himself are planning to open 26 new boutiques. This can happen because Givenchy post 2013 revenue at almost $234 million, market sources predicts that it will be reaching half a billion within the next few years. And of course Suhl gave most of the credit to the creative designer, Riccardo Tisci, as it is he who made the products very much desired.

Sebastian Suhl