Gucci’s New Collection, All Out India’s #StandByToughMoms and KFC minus C

Case 1: Gucci’s new collection under fire for using traditional Sikh turbans and hijabs/niqabs as fashion accessories[i]

While Gucci launched their new autumn/winter 2018 collection, their models walked down the runway wearing traditional Sikh turbans. Three models were seen dawning a blue Sikh turban. Hold on, this wasn’t just it.

The new accessories launched was also not lauded too well on social media. Is using a hijab/niqab acceptable as a fashion accessory?

While people on social media questioned as to why Gucci couldn’t find a hijabi model or a Sikh model, I believe this situation could simply have been avoided by a brand like Gucci. Why is it difficult to accept varied cultures across the world and uphold them to be as important as the others?

Key takeaway: International marketing is like balancing a thin rod. At one end of the rod, you have cultural values, customs and traditions and on the other you have the marketing purpose. A marketer who can truly learn the art of balancing this rod, is one who will be successful in the international market.

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Case 2: All Out India’s – #StandByToughMoms Campaign

Remember those times when your mother was extremely strict with you? Held you grounded at home and didn’t let you enjoy that cricket match with your friends in the building? Or worse – Stopped all your pocket money?

Well, if your mum didn’t do it back then – You wouldn’t be what you are today. Let’s celebrate having tough moms.

All Out India’s latest cause-related marketing campaign goes out to pick up the cause of tough moms. A tough mom protects her child at any cost, even when it comes to facing criticism from her own family.[ii]

All Out draws an analogy in the same way since it helps to keep a woman’s family safe from mosquitoes. All Out proudly stands by tough moms, because when a mother is being tough, she is protecting the next generation.

In my opinion, this campaign definitely connects well emotionally to the audience, but is a little far-fetched for a mosquito repellent. Does it go well with the brand personality of All Out?

Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vBAqly7WGWs

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Case 3: KFC minus C?

KFC’s most recent U.K. advertising slogan, from Mother London, is “The Whole Chicken, and Nothing but the Chicken.” However, things suddenly didn’t look too well. KFC had everything but the chicken. Thanks to their new supply chain partner, it led to a temporary closure of around 600 out of its 900 U.K. outlets. KFC was quick to pin the blame squarely on DHL.[iii]

A crisis like this must be handled well. KFC was quick enough to engage with the audience using some humorous tweets, such as:

“The chicken crossed the road, just not to our restaurants.“

When a few restaurants reopened, it tweeted: “Some chickens are now crossing the road, while others are waiting at the pelican crossing.“

KFC running out of chicken, turned out to be a true Public Relations (PR) nightmare.

Consumers called the local police about the closings and one harried, near-hysterical woman complained that she was forced to go to Burger King.[iv]

Amid its ongoing chicken crisis in the U.K., KFC took out a full-page ad on Friday morning featuring a KFC bucket with the letters rearranged to form “FCK.” [v]

Key takeaway: The product for a brand is like blood in the human body. You lack the product and your brand is set to be doomed. This KFC case explains how the domino effect takes place in the marketing function. The lack of your core or basic products can lead you to a terrible PR crisis.

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Definitions of some key terms in this post:

International Marketing:

According to the American Marketing Association (AMA),

“International marketing is the multinational process of planning and executing the conception, pricing, promotion and distribution of ideas, goods, and services to create exchanges between nations that satisfy individual and organizational objectives.”

Brand:

According to Philip Kotler,

“A brand is a company’s promise to deliver a specific set of features, benefits, services and experiences consistently to the buyers.”

Brand Personality:

According to Aaker (1996),

“Brand personality can be defined as the set of human characteristics associated with a given brand. Thus, it includes such characteristics as gender, age, and socio-economic class as well as such classic human personality traits as warmth, concern and sentimentality.”

Public Relations:

According to Marla Aaron,

“Public relations is communicating your organization’s messages at the right time and in the right place to the right audience. With the proliferation of tools and technologies, we can measure the value of those efforts and how they align with a business’ overall mission.”

Cause-related Marketing:

Cause-related Marketing is a mutually beneficial marketing strategy adopted by a company, where is works for a cause or the underprivileged. It is a process where a business organization works along with a non-profitable venture or a NGO by using its own expenses.[vi]

[i] http://www.dnaindia.com/lifestyle/report-gucci-s-new-collection-under-fire-for-appropriating-traditional-sikh-turbans-2587882 accessed as on 25/02/2018

[ii] http://www.allout.in/en-in/tough-moms accessed as on 25/02/2018

[iii] http://www.adageindia.in/others/misc/tuesday-wake-up-call-adage-a-list-is-out-and-kfc-runs-out-of-chicken/articleshow/62999672.cms accessed as on 25/02/2018

[iv] http://www.adageindia.in/others/misc/wednesday-wake-up-call-kfc-crisis-now-pr-nightmare-and-more/articleshow/63015299.cms accessed as on 25/02/2018

[v] http://www.adageindia.in/others/misc/friday-wake-up-call-kfc-gets-apology-right-jenner-tweet-decimates-snapchat-and-more/articleshow/63044856.cms accessed as on 25/02/2018

[vi] https://www.mbaskool.com/business-concepts/marketing-and-strategy-terms/10535-cause-related-marketing.html accessed as on 25/02/2018