Bond Street tube station on the London Underground was temporarily renamed ‘Burberry Street’ as part of a London Fashion Week marketing campaign for the British luxury brand, causing confusion among Londoners and travelers alike. tourists.
Signs announcing the opening of Burberry’s redesigned flagship store on Bond Street were up from Friday until Monday evening and Tuesday morning, and led to numerous complaints from confused customers, according to Transport for Transport staff. London.
Several uniformed staff members, who declined to give their names because they were not authorized to speak to the media, said customers had reported missing their stops because of the signs, which were the color of new bright blue from Burberry.
“I’ve heard all kinds of different things, to be honest, but nothing positive, unfortunately,” one staff member said. “People were like, ‘Why is it like that?’ This confuses us. We saw ‘Burberry Street’ so we thought we were in the wrong place.
Transport for London said the campaign was one of several in recent years which involved temporarily renaming tube stations.
“Although the station is branded ‘Burberry Street’, on-train announcements, station announcements and staff on platforms will help customers if they need it,” a statement said.
A Transport for London spokesperson declined to comment on how much Burberry paid for the advertising campaign, but said the profits would be reinvested in London’s transport system. According to its latest financial report published in July, Transport for London is struggling with rising inflation and operating costs 5 per cent higher than last year. Passenger travel is at 89% of pre-pandemic levels, it says.
A 2013 report, by Conservative Party members of the London Assembly, suggested renaming London Underground lines and stations through sponsorship deals to increase revenue for Transport for London.
Burberry did not respond to a request for comment.
Natascha Radclyffe-Thomas, a professor of marketing at the British School of Fashion, saw the signs on Monday as she walked towards Bond Street station on the Elizabeth line. The location of the adverts was perhaps confusing to her, she said, because the station is used by many visitors going to and from London’s Heathrow Airport, and not everyone knows that Bond Street is associated with it. to high fashion brands.
Still, the campaign created buzz for Burberry and for London Fashion Week, which has struggled in the years since the pandemic, she said.
“Burberry teaming up with other London icons is a pretty smart idea because they want to sell themselves on their British and London-based heritage as well,” she said. “But maybe they could have done it in a slightly different way.”
Silvia Bellezza, an associate professor of marketing at Columbia Business School who studies luxury fashion brands, described the campaign as a success for Burberry.
“They probably took into account that some people were going to be confused or maybe lost, but people are talking about it, and for many, that’s the point,” she said.
She said searches for “Burberry” increased Tuesday on Google Trends in Britain, a metric that brands use to gauge their ability to reach consumers. She added that the campaign was “Instagrammable”, with people wanting to take selfies next to “Burberry Street” signs, which could help rejuvenate the 167-year-old brand.
nytimes