Marketing transformation sounds like slides and consultants. In a fashion house with more than 140 years of history, it is above all a question of people: how do you change an organisation that has been successful for a long time without losing what made it strong?
I spent many years in such a house. First, as Creative Director Digital with a team of 10, I worked on the digital transformation together with Bain & Company. Later I led three divisions, marketing, content and production, with 37 people. We rebuilt a marketing organisation that worked in separate channels into a shared, brand-led model.
- Marketing transformation starts with a clear reason, not with an org chart.
- Tradition is an advantage if you treat it as an attitude.
- Bringing separate channels together means redistributing responsibility.
- Visible early wins keep the change alive.
Table of contents
Why marketing transformation starts with the reason
A house with a long history has little reason to change as long as the numbers are right. That is why many changes fail at the very beginning. In Harvard Business Review, John P. Kotter describes eight typical mistakes, and the first is not establishing a great enough sense of urgency (see here: John P. Kotter, Leading Change: Why Transformation Efforts Fail, Harvard Business Review).
For us, the reason was clear: customers moved between store, online shop and social media, while our marketing still planned in separate channels. Only when this gap became visible to everyone was there a willingness for marketing transformation.
It helped to show the reason not only in numbers but in examples. A campaign that looked different in the store than in the online shop convinces any management team faster than a spreadsheet. These examples turned into a shared story that every division could tell.
Tradition as an attitude
Tradition can slow you down if you treat it as a rulebook. It helps if you treat it as an attitude: quality, hospitality, a feel for fashion. We did not abolish these values but translated them into new formats, from the magazine to the campaign in the online shop.
How to use heritage as capital instead of just managing it is something I describe in more detail in my article Leading a heritage brand.
This includes respect for the people who shaped the house over decades. Many colleagues knew customers, suppliers and processes better than any new system. A marketing transformation that ignores this knowledge loses exactly the people it needs most.
Bringing channels together
The hardest part was not the technology but the responsibility. When online, print and store plan separately, each division has its own goal and its own budget. Shared marketing needs a shared goal, joint campaign planning and clear ownership across all channels.
This meant reshaping teams: creative, content and production work on one idea that then runs in every channel. More on this in my article Digital transformation in marketing.
Measurability was just as important. Shared marketing needs shared metrics that apply to all channels: reach, store footfall, online revenue and brand values. Only when everyone looks at the same numbers does the argument about which channel delivered the success stop.
Making early wins visible
Every marketing transformation needs proof. Early on, we chose campaigns where the new model could show what it can do, and we shared the results openly. Every successful campaign convinced more people than any presentation.
You should be just as open about setbacks. Not every new way of working succeeds the first time. Those who name mistakes early and adjust the process gain trust. Those who hide them hand the sceptics the arguments they have been waiting for.
My conclusion: marketing transformation in a house rich in tradition succeeds when you make the reason clear, carry tradition forward as an attitude and redistribute responsibility. History is not an obstacle but the reason the work is worth it.