Which marketing strategy this luxury brand uses to raise on the international stage?

Named artistic director in 2011, Olivier Rousteing has changed the communication of the brand by building on the exposition on the social networks. Now, Balmain is on the top 10 of the favorite luxury brands of the internet users, behind Givenchy and above Louis Vuitton.

> What about Balmain?

Balmain is a fashion house that was founded by Pierre Balmain. In the period following World War II, Pierre Balmain was “a king of French fashion”.

In 1982: Pierre Balmain died and so the house was led by Erik Mortensen. Between 1993–2002: Oscar de la Renta led the house. Under Pierre Balmain, Mortensen, and de la Renta, the house was known for its classic, luxurious designs. Until 2011: the house was led by designer Christophe Decarnin. In April 2011: the fashion house announced that Decarnin was succeeded by Olivier Rousteing. Around 2008–2009: the clothing line became extremely popular both among fashion magazines, runways and celebrities.

The positioning of the brand’s offerings is around classic luxury styling with heavy attention to detail. The current creative director (Oliver Rousteing) of the house has made the lines of the brand more popular by integrating three key elements:

• More Asian influence (a large proportion of the brand’s buyers comes from Asia)
• Focus the lines to the very finer aspects of French couture
• Remove the flashy lines and expensive price tags introduced by the previous head designer

> How does this brand communicate and raise it on the international scene?

Massimo Piombini, the previous commercial director of Valentino said that: “Balmain shows an anomaly about its communication”.

Olivier Rousteing, the new artistic director decides to use the social networks as Instagram or Twitter where he is highly connected to communicate with their audience, their consumers. With the notoriety of Olivier Rousteing, Balmain uses this dependence with the artistic director, to transform this as a growth factor.

The idea is to reach the consumers with lots of supports of entertainment by creating different contents with many partners. Or by making collaborations with affordable brands like H&M, or with the ballet of “l’Opéra de Paris”, and others.

> Why using the social networks to raise on the international stage?

With millions of pictures posted every month, the luxury looks like a lucrative sector on Instagram. Luxury and fashion can be considered as arts, find perfectly their place on the social networks because magazines are less read. This is a strategy that Olivier Rousteing uses and which makes the communication and the image of the brand younger.

Lots of pop stars as Rihanna, Beyoncé, Robbie Williams have invested on the collection Balmain. For the artistic director, the secret to last is to be renewed in communication, because it is important for the young people to look at the fashion show on the social networks (Twitter, Instagram…). For him, it is a way to show the backstage of the fashion show or others by opening doors of the luxurious.

Thanks to this strategy who touches a much younger audience called the “new generation” who needs to identify themselves to dream, and this strategy who also touches their supports that Olivier Rousteing knew how to make the success of the brands, who had quadrupled its figure of business since its arrival.