Louboutin is a great example of BRAIN-DING
How is it possible that one single brand manages to patent an entire color in the fashion industry? Check out this great article about one of the biggest names in fashion and how they came to create their unique trademark sign, red-soled shoes.
Photo via:
http://www.thebrandingjournal.com/2014/08/christian-louboutin-enters-make-industry-nail-polish-line
If you follow women’s fashion, specifically shoe designers, there is no chance that the name Christian Louboutin is not already in your vocabulary. Louboutin is most famous for his red-sole pumps that can range anywhere from $500 to $22,000 a pair. With income like walking around, there’s no questioning a need for influential trademarking.
Louboutin won his trademark for the red-sole heels in 2008. The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office states that Louboutin has the exclusive right to make red-soled shoes for “women’s high fashion designer footwear. “ In just three years’ time, this patent for one-of-a-kind, Italian-made, hand-crafted footwear has actually lead to a $1 million lawsuit with competing designer, Yves Saint Laurent (YSL)
YSL contested the patent by stating that no one designer could claim an entire color in the fashion industry. YSL began making monochromatic shoes, blue with blue soles, yellow with yellow soles, and most controversial, red with red soles. According to the Telegraph, the first ruling in this patent trail in 2011 aligned with YSL stating that no designer could monopolize an entire color. In an immediate rebuttal, Louboutin’s team of lawyers appealed the case and won in their own way. After further consideration, the federal appeals court rejected the earlier ruling, stating that Louboutin is entitled to its trademark on red soles, except when the entire shoe is red. YSL’s shoe is entirely red and therefore is in compliance with the patent as it stands today.
So, what does all this mean for the marketing world? Louboutin is the king of brand strategy. When we think of creative marketing, we think fancy, sexy, flashy and too often that bigger is better. 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 even dare copy the concept, especially now that it’s legally trademarked. 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.
When you see a woman wearing one of these classic red-sole shoes walking down the streets of Manhattan or any office, a statement of power is conveyed. This woman is instantly associated as being classy and fashion savvy. It’s undeniable that the product itself sells the shoes, but there’s more to a good product than just quality. The difference lies in the simple and strategic marketing campaign behind the brand.
Red-sole shoes have sky rocketed Christian Louboutin’s success in the fashion world to the point that it requires a patent. Wouldn’t all of us marketers out there be so lucky to invent such a simple idea rocketing a product from premium to platinum.
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