Does Burberry deserve the death penalty?
Why Burberry's latest festival campaign is not a flex and why no amount of Alexa Chung can distract from its tragic identity crisis.
Burberry’s latest festival campaign is not a flex.
I was a Glastonbury-obsessed Tumblr addict in 2013, so I get it. Alexa Chung is British royalty, as far as I’m concerned. But, it’s easy to ignore the glaring missteps in the face of nostalgia, Nova Check for days, and (of course) Liam Gallagher.
There’s a lot to like here:
Casting of iconic English talent (musicians, models, etc.)
Tapping into a distinctly UK cultural moment
Focus on outerwear (their true USP)
But not a lot to LOVE. It felt like a missed opportunity.
Where was Kate Moss—the queen of Glastonbury? What about Sienna Miller, Poppy Delevingne, or Daisy Lowe? These women defined an entire era of British festival style. If this campaign was meant to celebrate the intersection of Burberry and Glasto culture, it barely scratched the surface.
More importantly…imagine this campaign without the Nova Check. It’s featured in 29 of the 31 images that make up this campaign. Without it, would anyone know it was Burberry? No, and that’s a problem.
The brand has become too reliant on a single pattern to do the heavy lifting, to the point of extreme oversaturation. Hell, I have a Burberry Nova Check bag that I’m almost embarrassed to wear out, because of HOW inundated I’ve been with the pattern over the past 10 years.
Burberry recently experienced a 12% drop in retail sales, with plans to cut around 1,700 jobs. Yikes. These creative decisions aren’t just #aesthetic—they’re strategic. And right now, I feel that Burberry needs serious help if it wishes to fall back into the good graces of luxury consumers.
Does Burberry deserve the death penalty? How could they POSSIBLY turn things around?
As a marketer myself, an avid follower of fashion, and an observer of consumer trends, I thought I’d put together a plan for Burberry. Here is what I think they (the team) need to do/not do to reclaim their status as a serious British heritage brand, worth investing in.
1. Use Nova Check strategically, not as a crutch
Yeah, it’s iconic, but it’s tired. They should reintroduce the Nova Check in thoughtful, strategic ways, so it becomes something people notice again, not just something they expect in mass from every single collection. It’s comical how much they rely on it.
They don’t even offer this rubber boot (or most items at all) in a regular color way.
Surprise! It only comes in Nova Check. What a missed opportunity to appeal to a luxury customer that maybe doesn’t want to dress, dare I say: “so damn loud?” It feels like they are shooting themselves in the (rubber) foot. Using the Nova Check as an subtle accent or in the inside lining on a piece is totally fine. We just need a break from the overwhelming, all-over print designs.
2. Recenter the trench coat as a must-have wardrobe staple
The trench coat is Burberry’s crown jewel. It was designed during World War I for British military officers that were (quite literally) in the trenches. It later became a popular fashion item for men and women, alike.
Need we forget a Burberry trench was featured in many iconic movies, as well?
Casablanca (1942)
The Pink Panther Returns (1975)
Paris Blues (1961)
The Way We Were (1973)
Breakfast at Tiffany’s (1961)
Kramer vs Kramer (1979)
The trench should be the centerpiece of every campaign, reimagined seasonally in cut, styling, and context. Give me an entire collection with a repurposed trench as the blueprint for every look. Burberry should be constantly iterating on the classic piece and updating for modern consumers. The possibilities are endless.
It’s a British tragedy that luxury brands like The Row are creating more sought after trench coats than Burberry. How did they let this happen? It’s embarrassing. People should crave a Burberry trench the way they crave a Chanel bag or Hermès scarf.
3. Ditch the streetwear association
Sorry, but Riccardo Tisci’s reign at Burberry diluted the brand’s POV. The huge focus on streetwear turned Burberry from a classic British heritage brand to a trendy, oversaturated hype-beast-esque mess.
I genuinely believe he was a millimeter away from doing irreversible damage to the entire brand image.
The pivot to streetwear (logo jackets, chunky sneakers, oversized branding) blurred the British heritage identity. Burberry started competing with trend-driven brands like Off-White, Supreme, and Balenciaga, which felt ridiculously out of their lane.
Burberry leaned heavily into maximalism: full-check puffer coats, baseball caps, and graphic hoodies. That saturation (especially in resale and outlet markets) made the Nova Check feel more accessible and overexposed. I also blame the heavy association with streetwear for the influx of fast fashion Burberry dupes being churned out left and right. Every cheap, horrible fashion company had Nova Check bucket hats and nylon bags, which is one of the reasons the pattern feels SO overplayed.
4. Stop prioritizing red carpet moments
Celebrity dressing may earn headlines, but it rarely drives product affinity or retail conversion. Who is their target audience?
How is creating strange, off-brand gowns for the Met Gala going to help their bottom line? Burberry’s legacy isn’t in gowns…or weird bright blue, floral ensembles—it’s in outerwear. They need to shift focus toward styling ready-to-wear to reestablish relevance and wearability.
And with their red carpet looks, there is absolutely no through line. Yes, they dabble in the Burberry blue and sometimes velvet (?), which typically makes for an ugly display…but other than that, they seemingly express zero house codes or cohesion.
Would you be able to tell the following 4 looks are all from the same brand? Not me.
5. Burberry should be to the UK what Ralph Lauren is to the USA
Ralph Lauren built a global lifestyle empire by selling aspirational Americana. Burberry has the bones to do the same for modern British culture. Hell, Christopher Bailey was literally doing it from 2004-2017. Burberry was THE coolest brand ever to me in high school—when Cara Delevingne was on every billboard.
It needs to refocus and tell one cohesive story through every product, campaign, and customer touchpoint. They need to create a lifestyle consumers want to be a part of.
Burberry’s festival campaign was an inking of “something.” But if they want a real revival, it needs to be less about nostalgic faces and more about total reinvention from the current chaos. Back to formula, as Norman Osborn would say.
What are your thoughts? Do you think Burberry has the chance to pick things back up? Or should it be off with their (Nova Check bucket hat wearing) head?
I’ll leave you with some bittersweet photos of the Burberry I know (and love). Positively British, totally aspirational, and intriguingly provocative.
This is the end. Thanks for reading. If you can’t get enough of “whatever this is:”
For any business inquiries, email me at: emileerussell1998@gmail.com
Ok the association between Ralph Lauren (US) and Burberry (UK) is brilliant!! And I feel like RL is having a resurgence in the US so they literally have a roadmap to follow should they want to. Imagine if they opened a vintage shop just like RL did!!
That ad campaign made me furious they’re just so confused… couldn’t agree more that they need to go back to their roots and imagine a collection of reworked deadstock trenches!