The ultimate boss lady
Angela Ahrendts: An ode.
When you google Angela Ahrendts one of the first things you can see on the result page is “businesswoman”. Personally, I think the tittle “Businesswoman” falls short because she is not just a businesswoman, she is something bigger, more important, more influential…she is a powerhouse herself. Why is she the ultimate boss lady? Basically because of her work on two major brands, let’s see…
Burberry
Iconic British Luxury brand, fashion giant, trench coats galore. Founded in 1856 (159 years ago!) the brand wasn't always this cool. For quite a while the brand was stuck on the same image and consumer perception: absolutely English, somehow stiff, serious, traditional. When it came to find a way to infuse some energy and bring the brand into the 21st century, it was pretty obvious a change on the way they where communicating as a brand was needed.
Big questions were made for sure. How to make the brand more approachable? How to communicate the brand’s heritage? How to reach younger digital native luxury customers? Much creativity, a hard core strategy and an careful eye for business development was needed. The answer came along with the creative vision of Christopher Bailey and the business know-how of Angela Ahrendts.
What they accomplished marked a new era for the brand. Ahrendts refocused the business on digital innovation, making big investments on digital marketing, e-commerce and new technology to improve the customer’s experience in the stores. Bailey focused in creating a new language for the brand, new ways to advertise and implement digital tools to reach a bigger audience.
“Now, everybody is a digital customer, so doing things digitally is no longer a niche [play]. Doing things digitally is how the entire world communicates. That’s our language today. Digital is not an afterthought.” (A. Ahrendts for Business of Fashion. Sept. 3, 2013)
The new digital quest for Burberry involved interactive outdoor advertisement, a constant search for exceptional digital talent, the creation of tons of multimedia contents, new runway shows and a different take on social media channels. Apps, interactive in-store gadgets, a new digital storyline…Burberry is now everywhere, for everyone, trending: The Snapchat preview of the collection days before this year’s London Fashion Week and the innovating concept of “Art of the trench” are some examples of how the brand has evolved into digital culture.
“This whole ecosystem was being built and we just knew we had to go digital, but we also knew we didn’t have the money to play in traditional media. We knew every pound we spent digitally, we could potentially get ten times the reach that we could get physically.” (A. Ahrendts for Business of Fashion. Sept. 3, 2013)
Apple
After boosting the Burberry empire, Angela Ahrendts started working for Apple in 2014 as head of retail. Her pay-check is said to be $82.6 million dollars, making her the highest female executive in the United States. You go girl! (Oh, Tim Cook’s earnings are“only” USD $9 million)
She was a big part of the Apple Watch launch and has taken charge of assuring the entrance and penetration of Apple’s products in the Chinese market. The future of Apple’s retail worldwide is on her hands and it seems she has the confidence and the support from the other top executives at the company.
Apart from focusing on Chinese retail, Angela Ahrendts wants to reshape mobile payments and make an emphasis on the customer experience. Starting from the stores, she is making her way into the company culture, the technology giant she always admired.
Time will tell but we do have a big lesson to learn from her ongoing career:
“Ahrendts is a huge advocate of the power of positive energy and the benefits of team working. She believes in leading by example, and being a role model for the values of an organisation.” — Nicky Little, The Guardian. 2013.
From Fashion to Technology, she knows the importance of digital communication and how to take a brand to the next level using the right communication channels. Innovating is not a challenge for her. A role model not a lot of people in business know, an inspiration, a real Wonder Woman. Thanks Angela, keep rocking it out!
Interested on other digital practices made by Burberry and other Luxury brands? Check Figmenta’s insight “Lux and digital: The challenge”
