The Marketing Mix of Alexander McQueen

Alexander McQueen’s current product portfolio includes clothing, jewellery, shoes, bags, and their iconic scarves which can mostly only be purchased in store, and their perfume extension is available through stockists. Their product life cycles are considered a fad, as new collections are frequently brought out however Alexander McQueen overall is a fashion.

Alexander McQueen is renowned for the brand’s skull print scarf, the iconic symbol scarcely used in fashion beforehand has trickled down into high street fashion stores. I would consider the skull scarves to be a ‘cash cow’ amongst the BCG matrix. Affordable, always on trend, and traditional it offers consumers a moderately priced Alexander McQueen experience.

The brand’s current star product are their shoes; through online research I discovered Alexander McQueen’s shoes (from high heels to trainers) are frequently favoured. The dog product of the brand remains their perfume. Kingdom, his first scent released in 2003 was, reported to be “a musky-oriental so heavy on the cumin that some hours after spraying, you could mistake it for body odour” by Vogue beauty and health director Nicola Moulton (2016). Although McQueen perfumes have been greeted with dismay, Moulton outlined that the brand’s newest perfume achieved “the grandeur of a huge oriental or a bold hyper” with “nothing sweet to cheapen it” suggesting this dog product could produce revenue in the future.

The question mark product of the brand, I would propose is the McQ brand as an entirety. Despite being introduced as a more affordable extension of Alexander McQueen, McQ sports exceptionally similar price tags, and substandard promotion. Upon McQ’s debute in London Fashion Week, Burton asserted “we have to define what it is and who she is. McQ should be about things that are very connected to the roots of early McQueen”: the LFW show proved true to McQueen roots, I found myself captivated by the familiar dark themes and engaging performance.

Price

Alexander McQueen pricing strategy falls under two categories: skimming pricing, and premium pricing. Their latest collections are set to premium pricing to indicate the exclusivity and offer it to a niche target market, however former collections are set to skimming pricing to make them available for a wider variety of markets, whilst still preserving exclusivity.

Promotion

Alexander McQueen promotes through mostly online campaigns released for new season collections; these are shared through various fashion magazines and fashion websites, on their website, and through their social media pages. The first stage of the AIDA promotion model is the cognitive stage: attention. McQueen’s campaigns are renowned for being visually arresting; the SS17 campaign is set in the “emotive and extreme landscape of Iceland”, it provides duality between “the rugged and the romantic” (McQueen website, 2018). The music is eerie and erratic, creating the campaign to be easily recognisable as an Alexander McQueen one; the themes correspond with the McQueen Instagram, online store, and previous campaigns. Once attention is gripped, interest must be secured. It is essential for campaigns to appear on brand from music, visuals, to content, and ensure their product is prominent. The young female model teamed with womenswear clothing filters through Alexander McQueen’s typical target market.

Alexander McQueen scarcely uses celebrity endorsements (the intense ‘Peeping Tom’ 2014 campaign with “classic” Kate Moss one of few), McQueen himself once stating: “I don’t court celebrities, they come to me”. Interest must build into desire to ignite the final stage: action. The SS17 campaign is promoting a new collection carrying new trends and a luxury stamp that reaches to customers psychologically (Alexander McQueen products are not a need, but a want), and they desire to achieve the esteem needs exclusive items offers.

The final stage of AIDA is action; the brand has convinced the consumer and communication a sense of urgency. The SS17 campaign is fast paced and unfocused: those who reach the action stage will have appreciation of the sporadic fashion industry, understanding trends swiftly change. Action is not always achieved for luxury brands, however campaigns such as SS17, and Peeping Tom, and keeping an up-to-date Instagram attract attention, fabricate interest, and keep the brand relevant.