ITALIANS DO IT BETTER?

Last week, my agenda was full with some business related workshops... At the marketing and branding part, just while discussing what it meant to be a global brand, the following words came out of my mouth: " To be a strong one, the company's image must be recognized in the same way everywhere around the world; and the customers have more or less same expectations from the name..., this is the same for Gap, for Chanel, for Mercedes or simply McDonalds... ". The lecturer was noddding his head constantly as a proof of confirmation and boosting my confidence in my marketing skills... But was my theory really valid for the following case?...

In Continental Europe and also Japan; the clothing company Woolrich is an exclusive brand mainly sold in the corners of well-known department stores, boutiques or their own stores. The collection successfully combines the American vintage with a hint of European modernism; The result is amazing... For male customers, without travelling beyond the borders of the camp and highly feminine European style (i.e D&G aka "Dumb Girl" and the others); the brand positions itself for who enjoy luxury, some level of refinement with clean and nice details, and of course the vintage look reminding of its past in Pennsylvania since 19th century... Below are some of my favourite pieces from their AW 2009 collection.

Expecting to see more of the above on the online store of John Rich & Bros' company and keeping my Visa card in my hands for a probable online purchase; I simply looked at http://www.woolrich.com/; the US website. All that cool image of the name had left itself to a big frustration. It was nothing but a boring competitor of L.L.Bean, specialized in outdoor wear. Then, curiosity took over... While the Italian based European branch is so exclusive and right; what's wrong with the US guys?! Then few ideas came to my mind trying to justify this big difference... Maybe;

1- The management could be just fine with the US customer base and were ok to reach them with this collection using catalog, online store and some retailers as the channels... It could be nothing but a risk to re-launch the brand for a younger modern clientele same as in Europe; and do the same, as Abercrombie and Fitch did to revive from its ashes..

2- To launch the brand in Europe under a license agreement with an Italian company, they would have to push the envelope and market themselves with an exclusive and refined collection, of course using their American heritage... rather than the L.L. Bean style...

3- For the company, it might not matter how differently the customers across the world would see the brand; as long as it generates its revenue, that's fine...

Of course, whether smart or not; it is their own strategy.. but as a customer across the pond, I am surprised and the brand disappointed me by wasting their potential. In this case, I must say: "Yes, Italians do it better.".

To see the difference, check http://www.woolrich.com/ and http://www.woolrich.it/