GIORGIO ARMANI - brand differentiation and positioning

Giorgio Armani is a fashion house founded by Giorgio Armani in 1975, which designs and manufactures haute couture, ready-to-wear, shoes, leather products, jewellery, watches, accessories, cosmetics and home interiors.

The name Giorgio Armani is associated with high fashion and couture, style and luxury and is one of the most prestigious brands in the fashion industry. Armani products are exclusive to Giorgio Armani boutiques and selected prestigious department stores.

Logo:

The logo is a curved "G" combined with a curved "A", shaped in a circle.

Positioning:

Giorgio Armani positioned itself to focus on products of high-class, sophistication, style and of the finest quality. Armani's target market includes celebrities, high-earning individuals and business class, placing itself in a very high class category.

Giorgio Armani positioned their product through celebrity approval and preference. They placed and focused their sights on Hollywood to ensure easy access to high-earning and well-known celebrities which made them one of the preferred fashion houses.

Differentiation:

Competition:

Armani products are unique from its competitors because of the label that comes with wearing clothing and accessories exclusive to Giorgio Armani and association with elegance, style and products of high quality. Because they are a high class brand, they are able to make their products pricey. They use high quality and one-of-a-kind materials which differentiates them from their competitors.

Their competition includes Calvin Klein, Versace, Chanel, Dior, Prada and Gucci.

Points of parity:

Points of parity are those elements which can be compared to those of other brands in the same market to be considered as a competitor in that specific category.

Armani is a luxurious brand and includes building the brand around the designer like Chanel, Burberry, Calvin Klein and Louis Vuitton. Today, people see it as one of the most luxurious and prestigious brands in the fashion industry.

Points of difference:

Points of difference are those elements which makes the brand unique and makes it stand out.

Armani is known for their one-of-a-kind designs and their products of high quality material is what makes them unique and stand out. Even though celebrities tend to wear clothes from a wide variety of fashion brands, every time they wear an outfit exclusively designed by Armani, the brand gains recognition and brownie points.

Giorgio Armani has further differentiated themselves by following certain steps to expand the brand.

Armani's target market was originally classy, high earning people, but later decided to develop sub-divisions to cater for other class groups.

Emporio Armani - targeted at young professional individuals aged 25-35.

Armani Collezioni - they ventured into a slightly lower market segment.

Armani Jeans - this is the lowest range of Armani's clothing line.

A / X Armani Exchange - this is a chain of retail outlets of the fashion house.

Giorgio Armani's charity project, Acqua for Life, in partnership with Green Cross International is a campaign which provides about 530 million liters of safe drinking water to communities that live off about 10 liters of water per day in countries on four continents - Africa, Asia and the Americas. 

This campaign also makes a huge contribution to the brand's positioning and differentiation.

Giorgio Armani says, "remain true to yourself and your philosophy" and it's clear that he uses this as his mantra and guideline to maintain his success.

"Elegance is not about being noticed. It's about being remembered"

-Giorgio Armani

Bibliography

Brand Analysis of EMPORIO ARMANI ,Louis Vuitton CALVIN KLEIN. (2015, April 12). Retrieved November 28, 2017, from SlideShare: https://www.slideshare.net/iwanrtutor/brand-analysis-of-emporio-armanilouis-vuitton-calvin-klein

Brand positioning. (2015, June 12). Retrieved November 28, 2017, from Blogger: http://intbrandreview.blogspot.co.za/

Emporio Armani. (n.d.). Retrieved November 28, 2017, from Armani: https://www.armani.com/us/armanicom/unisex/giorgio-armani/cross_section

Giorgio Armani – The Iconic Global Fashion Brand. (2016, November). Retrieved November 28, 2017, from Martin Roll Business and Brand Leadership: https://martinroll.com/resources/articles/branding/giorgio-armani-the-iconic-fashion-brand/