Burberry Street Fashion Week Ad Sows Confusion in London

The Bond Road tube station on the London Underground was quickly renamed “Burberry Road” as a part of a London Vogue Week advertising marketing campaign for the British luxurious model, resulting in confusion amongst Londoners and vacationers alike.

The indicators, put in place to herald the opening of Burberry’s redesigned, flagship store on Bond Street, have been in place from Friday till late Monday and early Tuesday, and led to quite a few complaints from disoriented clients, in accordance with Transport for London employees members.

A number of uniformed employees members, who declined to present their names as a result of they weren’t licensed to talk to the information media, mentioned clients had reported lacking their stops due to the indicators, which have been within the coloration of Burberry’s new brilliant blue.

“I heard all various things, to be sincere, however nothing optimistic, sadly,” one employees member mentioned. “Individuals have been saying, ‘Why is it like this? It’s confused us. We noticed ‘Burberry Road’ so thought we have been on the flawed place.’”

Transport for London mentioned that this marketing campaign was considered one of a number of lately which have concerned quickly renaming tube stations.

“Whereas the station is branded ‘Burberry Road’, in-train bulletins, bulletins inside the stations and employees on platforms will assist clients ought to they require it,” a press release mentioned.

A Transport for London spokesman declined to touch upon how a lot Burberry paid for the advert marketing campaign, however mentioned that proceeds could be reinvested into London’s transportation system. Transport for London has struggled with growing inflation and working prices which might be 5 p.c greater than final 12 months, in accordance with its newest monetary report, published in July. Passenger journeys are at 89 p.c of prepandemic ranges, it mentioned.

A 2013 report, written by Conservative Social gathering members of the London Meeting, urged renaming London Underground strains and stations through sponsorship deals as a strategy to increase income for Transport for London.

Burberry didn’t reply to a request for remark.

Natascha Radclyffe-Thomas, a advertising professor on the British Faculty of Vogue, noticed the indicators on Monday as she rode into the Bond Road station on the Elizabeth Line. The situation of the adverts struck her as presumably complicated, she mentioned, as a result of the station is utilized by many guests going to and from London Heathrow Airport, and never all of them would know that Bond Road is related to excessive style manufacturers.

Nonetheless, the marketing campaign created a buzz for Burberry and for London Vogue Week, which has struggled within the years following the pandemic, she mentioned.

“Burberry linking themselves to different London icons is kind of a intelligent thought as a result of they do wish to promote themselves on British heritage and London-based as nicely,” she mentioned. “However perhaps there was a barely completely different means they might’ve achieved it.”

Silvia Bellezza, an affiliate professor of promoting at Columbia Enterprise Faculty who research luxurious style manufacturers, described the marketing campaign as a hit for Burberry.

“They in all probability took under consideration that some folks have been going to be confused or presumably misplaced, however persons are speaking about it, and for a lot of, that’s the aim,” she mentioned.

She mentioned that searches for “Burberry” spiked on Tuesday on Google Trends in Britain, one metric that manufacturers use to gauge success in reaching customers. She added that the marketing campaign was “Instagrammable,” with folks eager to take selfies subsequent to the “Burberry Road” indicators, which might assist rejuvenate the 167-year-old model.