BRANDING - ASSIGNMENT 1 - FALL 2010

Ralph Lauren Case Study: The History Of A King

Case Study Source

Brand Story: Ralph, Vera, Johnny, Billy and Other Adventures in Fashion Branding.

Joseph Hancock.

New York: Fairchild Books,

2009.

What elements comprised the equity in the Ralph Lauren Brand?

Starting in 1967, Ralph Lauren brand is an example of how to build strong brand equity. He gave his brand his own name, reflecting the whole lifestyle marketing strategy he used. Furthermore, Ralph Lauren dedicated his entire life to his brand image control by learning early that brand image is everything.

Considering the CBBE model, we can retrace how this brand acquired its equity and what elements comprised it.

The salience of Ralph Lauren brand name starts when his creator decides to design the Polo Logo from “the opulent lifestyle associated with the sport” which lets the brand stands out from the crowd and be easily memorable by consumers. With “Every team has its colour – Polo has 24” advertising campaign Ralph Lauren clearly aimed at making his brand unique. Then, by fixing higher prices to his collection, Ralph Lauren wanted to position his product as luxury and high quality in the mind of consumers in term of meaningfulness. When thinking of Ralph Lauren, consumers can easily recall the brand horse logo that will appeal them with uniqueness, high standard classic style which, entire part of their life. The success of Ralph Lauren was to bring “practical garments in a luxury context”: he created a casual style but high end reputation which leads to make Ralph Lauren brand name being “aspirational and classically iconic” in the mind of consumers from all different generations. Therefore, Ralph Lauren brand is the perfect mix of the Western American style and the elegance of European outlook that the creator found in his wife ideal muse[1], Ricky Low-Beer; and that let him sell his product all over the globe better than any other US