As Olivier Bron, the chief executive officer of Bloomingdale’s, sees it, the retailer and Burberry are on similar journeys — and they’re coming together in a major way at the store’s 59th Street flagship in Manhattan.
For its holiday campaign, Bloomingdale’s overarching theme is “Happy Together,” which Bron says is quite appropriate given the state of the world and all its turmoil. For the campaign, “We have many activations and partnerships with some of the brands,” such as the Alice + Olivia festive takeover of Bloomingdale’s famed 40 Carrots café and a Canada Goose holiday pop-up, to name just a few.
“But Burberry is actually the main anchor here. Burberry is included in this campaign in a big, big way,” Bron pointed out. And it’s most evident at the Bloomingdale’s 59th Street flagship, the CEO added, saying, “It’s a very strong takeover from Burberry.”
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Here’s what the collaboration largely entails:
- On the Bloomingdale’s flagship facade, a giant, crowd-stopping, illuminated Burberry scarf in the brand’s signature check plus holiday windows along Lexington Avenue.
- A presentation of all that’s Burberry at The Carousel, the retailer’s revolving pop-up shop on the main floor of the Bloomingdale’s flagship, reflecting Burberry’s craftsmanship and British sensibility.
- An exclusive Post red-check capsule collection across the women’s, men’s, kids’, fragrance and home categories.
- Two collectible holiday bears dressed in Burberry — one in the exclusive red sweater; the other sporting the signature cashmere check scarf — benefiting the Child Mind Institute.
- A digital campaign for Bloomingdale’s x Burberry with a homepage takeover, out-of-home ads, and an email series celebrating Burberry’s heritage and holiday storytelling.
- Aside from the flagship, 12 other Bloomingdale’s stores have pop-ups and special Burberry merchandise.
“We really think the values of Burberry and Bloomingdale’s are very much aligned,” said Bron. They’re both iconic brands, and in a state of transformation, he said.
“When you look at the positioning, the values of these two brands coming together for celebrating this holiday season, the biggest moment of the year, that make a lot of sense.”
Bron, citing other reasons for spotlighting Burberry, said the strategy that Josh Schulman, Burberry’s CEO, is now pushing at the brand is “very exciting” and that the collaboration is a culmination of the 70-year partnership the two companies have enjoyed. “It’s great to show customers that we’ve had a very, very long, lasting partnership,” said Bron.
“The collaboration with Bloomingdale’s is super exciting, and truly a 360-degree activation enveloping the Bloomingdale’s customer — and frankly, all of New York City — in the spirit of Burberry for the festive season,” said Schulman.
Asked why Burberry is working more closely with Bloomingdale’s this season, Schulman said: “We were discussing with Olivier and his team ways we could tell the Burberry story at Bloomingdale’s. We had this great meeting of the minds around wrapping the flagship with an extraordinary, glittering Burberry scarf. And so the idea really started with that element, and then permeated the overall store, including the windows and the facade. The Burberry scarf is made of 126,000 light bulbs. It’s actually six miles of Christmas lights and covers nearly 5,000 square feet of area.”
The giant scarf might or might not rival the soaring Louis Vuitton travel trunk covering the facade of the Vuitton flagship under construction on Fifth Avenue, but it could be a crowd-stopper still.
“We’re going to bring a bit of newness, for sure,” said Bron. “It’s the first time a brand has taken over of the facade of the iconic Bloomingdale’s building, and we think that’s really bringing something different and new to the Upper East Side, and recreating a destination for our customers.”
Shulman expects that half a million people will experience the facade, windows and what’s inside Bloomingdale’s. “We’ll have activations throughout the 59th Street store and in selected branches as well. We also have an exclusive capsule in a bright postbox red,” said Schulman, referring to the vibrant color of Britain’s mailboxes.
The Burberry Bloomingdale’s takeover “is really for the whole family, for men, women, children. We even have two exclusive teddy bears, and one that’s dressed in a Burberry check scarf,” said Schulman.
The collaboration, he said, “represents a unique opportunity for us to speak to a broad luxury audience across America, and it’s a great canvas for us to tell the story of Burberry, and to welcome people to our brand. We have devotees of Burberry who always shop in our stores or on our website, but there is a world of customers who may not be aware of the evolution of our brand expression and the evolution of our products, so we were thrilled to have this opportunity to collaborate in New York City.”
The collaboration couldn’t have been timed better considering Burberry is showing signs of rebounding and regaining relevance, after years of false starts. As reported, in the second quarter like-for-like retail sales grew 2 percent, outstripping analysts’ expectations of flat year-on-year performance. It was also an improvement on the first quarter, when retail sales were down 1 percent. In the first half, like-for-like retail sales were flat at 854 million pounds. But it was still a win for Burberry, which had reported a 20 percent decline in the corresponding period last year.
Denise Magid, Bloomingdale’s chief merchant, recalled that when Shulman was in his early innings at Burberry (he joined the London-based brand in July 2024) the Bloomingdale’s team met him in Paris.
“He shared the vision of the brand, and some of the early marketing materials. We were inspired by where he was taking the brand. And we thought about our rich history together, and obviously Burberry is the ultimate gift giver with a lot of the categories they play in. They play across all our families of business — children’s, men’s, women’s, beauty. So it just felt like the right partner for us to celebrate with our ‘Happy Together’ campaign,” Magid said.
As part of the collaboration, “We went through all the iconic pieces we wanted to have, and they came up with an exclusive red colorway for us that would be a comprehensive capsule touching every family of business. It was a lot of back-and-forth with their teams to come up with something special for us. And then we surrounded that exclusive capsule with iconic gifting items within their collection…It was a really cross-functional, collaborative experience to bring the very best of Burberry, in partnership with Bloomingdale’s, to life,” she added.
Exclusive items are in each family of business, Magid said, citing “very accessible price points with cold weather scarves and beanies and gloves, sunglasses, childrenswear, headbands.” But there are also luxury pieces, Magid added, including exclusive outerwear around $3,000.
Asked how Burberry is evolving, Magid said, “They’re very focused on their DNA. They’re really maximizing key categories particularly outerwear and taking very iconic items and creating greater storytelling around them.
“They’re also creating an assortment architecture that allows more people more access, which is a critical piece of their path forward,” Magid said, noting that much of Bloomingdale’s Burberry assortment falls in the $300 to $3,000 range. “But I think it’s really about homing in on the categories they’re really strong in, and greater storytelling.”
