The Bond Avenue tube station on the London Underground was briefly renamed “Burberry Avenue” as a part of a London Vogue Week advertising and marketing marketing campaign for the British luxurious model, resulting in confusion amongst Londoners and vacationers alike.
The indicators, heralding the opening of Burberry’s redesigned flagship store on Bond Street, had been in place from Friday till late Monday and early Tuesday, and led to quite a few complaints from disoriented prospects, in keeping with Transport for London employees members.
A number of uniformed employees members, who declined to provide their names as a result of they weren’t approved to talk to the information media, mentioned prospects had reported lacking their stops due to the indicators, which had been within the shade of Burberry’s new shiny blue.
“I heard all various things, to be sincere, however nothing optimistic, sadly,” one employees member mentioned. “Individuals had been saying, ‘Why is it like this? It’s confused us. We noticed ‘Burberry Avenue’ so thought we had been on the mistaken place.’”
Transport for London mentioned that this marketing campaign was one among a number of lately which have concerned briefly renaming tube stations.
“Whereas the station is branded ‘Burberry Avenue’, in-train bulletins, bulletins throughout the stations and employees on platforms will assist prospects ought to they require it,” an announcement 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 are 5 % increased than final 12 months, in keeping with its newest monetary report, published in July. Passenger journeys are at 89 % of prepandemic ranges, it mentioned.
A 2013 report, written by Conservative Get together members of the London Meeting, prompt renaming London Underground strains and stations through sponsorship deals as a technique to increase income for Transport for London.
Burberry didn’t reply to a request for remark.
Natascha Radclyffe-Thomas, a advertising and marketing professor on the British Faculty of Vogue, noticed the indicators on Monday as she rode into the Bond Avenue station on the Elizabeth Line. The placement of the adverts struck her as probably 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 Avenue 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 sort 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 possibly there was a barely totally different means they might’ve executed 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 most likely took under consideration that some folks had been going to be confused or probably misplaced, however individuals 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 shoppers. She added that the marketing campaign was “Instagrammable,” with folks eager to take selfies subsequent to the “Burberry Avenue” indicators, which may assist rejuvenate the 167-year-old model.
