Dior Brand Case Study
Transcript of Dior Brand Case Study
• Incident time: February 24th, 2011
• Place of incident: Paris Café
• Scene: Galliano in a Paris café, drinking, felt insulted, spoke out obscenities to Geraldine Bloch and Philippe Virgitti
• Accusation: insulting a couple about their Jewish and Asian heritage and praising the notorious Adalf Hitler
"I love Hitler," Galliano said in a video obtained by Britain's Sun newspaper. "Your mother, your forefathers would be f---ing gassed and f---ing dead."
"I only have myself to blame and I know that I must face up to my own failures and that I must work hard to gain people's understanding and compassion," Galliano said in a statement. "Anti-Semitism and racism have no part in our society.” John G.
French law prohibits the incitement of racial discrimination, hatred or violence based on a person's origin or their membership -- or nonmembership -- in an ethic, national, racial or religious group.
• Convicted: Guilty of making public insults based on origin, religious affiliation, race or ethnicity.
• Not only accused of this but a previous occurrence where he through a chair in a bar in rage a few months prior
- Pay a 4,000-euro($5,620) But that was lifted so their ended up being no penalty
- Could have served up to six months in jail and fined for 22,500 euros($32,410)
Dior No More.
• Galliano, who has been Dior's acclaimed creative director for 14 years, has been suspended from all duties during a police inquiry into the altercation in a bar in the Marais district of Paris.
"The House of Dior declares with the greatest firmness its policy of zero tolerance with regard to any anti-Semitic or racist statement or attitude," the head of Dior, Sidney Toledano, said in a statement.
sources
http://www.cnn.com/2011/WORLD/europe/09/08/france.designer.trial/
http://fashion.telegraph.co.uk/article/TMG8590892/John-Galliano-timeline-of-a-scandal.html
http://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2011/feb/25/john-galliano-suspended-by-dior
Press ExposureGalliano
Keisha Burr
Press Exposure
• Any one who could type covered the “Bad Boy” of fashion latest craziness.
• After one week Galliano is dismissed from the House of Dior after anti-Semitic comments.
• The event went viral after it was recorded when the designer was having dinner.
• This incident even makes the pages of “Vogueipedia”
Television
Newspapers
Gossip Coloums
Bloggers partook in slamming Galliano his choice words.This image is from humorchic.blogspot.com
Blogs
Celebrity Reponses
Fashion blogger
I'm furious, if you want to know…I'm furious with him because of the harm he did to LVMH and Bernard Arnault, who is a friend, and who supported him more than he supported any other designer in his group, because Dior is his favourite label. It's as if he had his child hurt." Karl Lagerfeld
"This is all so tragic.”Anna Wintour
Celebrity Reponses
"Everything he has done has not revealed someone who is racist -- quite to the contrary....With recordings, people can be made to say things that they did not say. They pronounce some words, but what is the context? The person (speaking to Galliano) seems very assured, knowing very well what she is doing." –Gaultier to AFP
The pressure from fast fashion and from the instant Internet age to create new things constantly has worn down other famous names. Marc Jacobs, design director of Louis Vuitton, ended a wild streak in rehab. Calvin Klein famously rambled across a sports pitch and admitted to substance abuse. And the late Yves Saint Laurent spent a lifetime fighting his demons. " –Suzy Menkes NY Times
Actions Taken to Date
• February 2011- Christian Dior CEO Sidney Toledano and Owner Bernard Arnault suspended the designer until a full investigation of the incident was completed.
• Video released on website; Arnault and Toledano forced to immediately fire Galliano to show separation of the Dior brand from the designer.
Actions Taken to Date
• Paris Fashion Week- Toledano made an appearance and spoke to the audience, never mentioning Galliano by name, but expressing shame and disapproval of the remarks made.
• Focused on praising the work of seamstresses and artisans who brought the collection to life.
Actions Taken to Date
• These individuals took to the runway at the end of the show, which typically would have been Galliano’s moment.
Sidney Toledano Statement
• “I condemn most firmly the statements made by John Galliano which are a total contradiction with the essential values that have always been defended by the House of Christian Dior” (Real Style Network, 2011)
PR Firm’s Opinion on Handling the Situation
• Initially suspending him was fair based on accusations, but when tangible evidence was brought forward, firing him was essential, despite the difficulty in doing so.
• “Since 1996, Galliano was Dior. Galliano helped revitalize Dior after he joined the company as creative director. His designs increased sales and made Dior a fashion staple with celebrities. Dior and Galliano had become synonymous.”
The Parson’s Incident
• April 22, 2103- Galliano will teach the three-day workshop and the final critique will reportedly be given by Galliano and Parsons dean Simon Collins.
• The Parsons appearance marks the second time that the fashion industry has shown some forgiveness towards Galliano. Fellow designer Oscar de la Renta had invited Galliano into his studio prior to his show during New York Fashion Week earlier this year to help prepare for the show (bizjournals.com)
The Parson’s Incident
• April 25, 2013- “It doesn't matter if its for three months or three days, hiring someone who has made such horrific comments shows that the school values Galliano over their entire Jewish student body. It shows they value him over their students' respect, peace of mind, and heritage.
• The Fashion Spot points out that it is a bit odd, considering the history of the New School's University in Exile, which was "a graduate division founded in 1933 as a haven for Jewish academics and writers fleeing the Nazi regime.”
The Parson’s Incident
• May 7, 2013- Workshop cancelled• “It was a condition of our agreeing to host Mr.
Galliano that we also hold a larger forum, which would include a frank discussion of his career. Ultimately, an agreement could not be reached with Mr. Galliano regarding the details of that forum, and so the program will not move forward.”
References
• http://upstart.bizjournals.com/entrepreneurs/hot-shots/2013/04/22/john-galliano-to-teach-parsons-workshop.html)
• http://ny.racked.com/archives/2013/04/25/students_petition_john_gallianos_new_teaching_gig_at_parsons.php
• http://nymag.com/thecut/2013/05/gallianos-parsons-workshop-abruptly-canceled.html
Sidney ToledanoChairman and Chief Executive Officer
• In 1993, invited by Bernard Arnault to join Christian Dior Couture, in order to develop the leather.
• In 1998 he became the President and CEO and is now CEO of the Christian Dior Group CEO John Galliano France and President of the company Fendi .
• His father is the former industrial and President of the Jewish Community of Casablanca.
Bernard ArnaultGroup Managing Director
• CEO of LVMH
• In 1984, with the help of Antoine Bernheim, a senior partner of Lazard Frères et Cie., Bernard Arnault acquired the Financière Agache, a luxury goods company.
• He became the CEO of Financière Agache, and therefore took control of Boussac, a textile company in turmoil.
• Boussac owned Christian Dior, the department store Le Bon Marché, the retail shop Conforama and the diapers industrial Peaudouce.
• Bernard Arnault sold nearly all the company's assets, keeping only the prestigious Christian Dior brand, and Le Bon Marché department store.
Has DIOR brand architecture influenced the crisis communication in the Galliano case?
“The brand revolves around certain core values which are never compromised for augmenting sales or achieving better brand mileage.
The Dior core values underline the continued performance and appreciation for its quality and content at the highest levels and thus the luxury brand is a
mega success today.”
• Toledano did not have much direct contact with Galliano, “Sometimes, yes, it bothers me, because I want to be sure of things.” He adds, “I understand his genius but I still don’t know him personally.”
• Towards the end of Galliano’s reign at Dior it was impossible for Bernard and Toledo to talk to John Galliano. He wouldn’t listen to anyone.
• Sidney Toledano had been concerned with Galliano’s drug and alcohol problem in recent years leading up to the scandal.
• They had staged many interventions and warnings towards Galliano’s dependency, along with absences from work, “There were concerns, and we warned him officially. I’ve talked to the lawyers for years.”
"What has happened over the last week has been a terrible and wrenching ordeal for us all. It has
been deeply painful to see the Dior name associated with the disgraceful statements
attributed to its designer - however brilliant he may be. Such statements are intolerable because
of our collective duty to never forget the Holocaust and its victims, and because of the respect for human dignity that is owed to each
person and to all its peoples.”
• Toledano explained that Galliano's conduct had hit people at Dior particularly hard as Christian Dior's own sister had been imprisoned in Buchenwald, one of the Nazi's infamous death camps.
• He went on to say that the values of Christian Dior, who created the Dior label just after the war, in 1947, are still being propagated today by a diverse and talented team working to create Dior fashion and haute couture.
• Sidney was surprised revenues actually increased after Galliano’s dismissal.
• But Toledano concedes, perhaps with the label's new - much less outwardly exuberant - creative director Raf Simons in mind, that not all designers have to be the face of the brand.
• "If it works for the designer, then fine," he told the Financial Times, "and if it feels natural. But if not, it can be counterproductive, and it is better to avoid it. In the end, luxury is judged not by whether a designer's face is on X number of posters, but by their work."
"I always thought we absolutely needed an artistic director. Their image and charisma, are what create breakthroughs. But you make choices about how you use that… The role of artistic director for a lifestyle brand - one that implies all the aspects of life such as vacation, sports, and so on - is different from the role of artistic director in a luxury brand. They are a shorthand to help consumers
understand the brand, and to embody it.”
"I'm sorry, but designers are not artists. They may have the talent of one, but if they want to work in that way they should paint or sculpt. Here
they're working in business and they need a brief. That's what my father does so well. I've witnessed him do it countless times and I'm really
inspired by that," he said, before explaining that in the lead up to Galliano's disastrous drunken rant, the communication between his father and the
designer had broken down completely. -Antoine Arnault
“Star designers can come and go. A good product,” Arnault says, “Can last forever.”