Ch. 16 – Advertising and Public Relations and Sales Promotion

If you follow woman’s fashions, and at this point men’s as well, there is no way you have not heard the name Christian Louboutin. Christian Louboutin is most famous for his red bottom shoes, ranging from $1,000 – $22,000 there’s no questioning he’s had some influential marketing in this era. He has not only established longevity, he’s established identity not only for himself but for the wearer too.

Chritian Louboutin offers his customers unbeatable quality, extremely high price, but a very controlled distribution. Supply reined just behind demand. As stated by the designer himself “the designs both sexualise and empower the wearer. The brand empathises with its customers' intimate desires, making them an object of desire while staying firmly in control.”

And in deed, firm control, is was Louboutin has on his brand image. However, you will never see a Christian Louboutin billboard, the brand does not entertain direct response advertising, nor is he interested in interactive marketing. So you might ask yourself how does he does he do it? The answer is design. In fact, Louboutin won his trademark for the red sole heels in 2008. The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office states “Louboutin has the exclusive right to make red soled shoes for "women’s high fashion designer footwear. “ Just three years after, this patent for one of a kind, Italian-made, hand crafted footwear actually lead to a $1 million lawsuit with his competing designer Yves Saint Laurent.

Basically, as many will put it, Louboutin is the king of brand strategy. When we think of creative marketing, we can easily think fancy, sexy, flashy and many times  bigger is better. Yet, Christian Louboutin interpreted creative marketing as, “less is more.” A single red-sole pair of shoes that sells for five figures has become an image so highly associated with fashion status that no other competitor can copy his concept, since it’s trademarke. Red sole shoes will forever be associated with Christian Louboutin’s brand identity. It’s the next most brilliant fashion invention since the classic Louis Vuitton pattern of 1854. The difference lies in the simple and strategic marketing campaign behind the brand.

Louboutin has aimed to provide his customers with an unbeatable experience - basically for every collection that he produced for “his” stores, he seeks out artisans with particular skills, he insists that it is important to have his shoes made by skilled craftspeople instead of modern, mass-production, factory machines.

It’s in his unique designs and signature red-soled, high-heeled shoes that make the Christian Louboutin brand such a success, particularly with celebrities. For example, as Claire magazine states “in a notably indulgent paternal gesture, Tom Cruise, was reported to have spent $3000 on a custom-made pair of Louboutins for his daughter Siri - just one-and-a-half years old at the time.” The impact of fashion, brands, and celebrity culture on society is a very well researched field, and the rise of this empire is just another fact to the subject.

Since its foundation in 1992, the Christian Louboutin brand has remained independently owned. The company continues to grow and diversify: this year it opened the first Christian Louboutin Men boutique store, on Rue Jean-Jacques Rousseau in Paris. Influential marketing indeed!!