Having kick-started her career in the financial services industry working for Prudential and Barclays, Milly jumped ship into fashion managing the launch of BrandAlley UK. Having subsequently completed a management buy-out and seen the business through eight consecutive years of growth, she decided it was time for a new challenge. Joining Johnstons of Elgin in 2018, Milly became responsible for building their brand identity, carefully crafting their brand positioning of Slow Luxury and taking the company back to its' Scottish roots and core values. She also oversees all aspects of Digital and Social media, Customer Retention, and PR.
Events this year have forced us to put our consumer mindset front and centre more than ever. Covid-19 and lockdown not only made us reappraise how we promoted our SS and AW20 collections, it also made us reassess our product range, promotions and pricing in a drive to optimise our digital success in reaction to what was happening around us.
What has been the biggest marcomms lesson you have learnt since March?
Be prepared to throw out your plans and react quickly if you want to keep the hearts and minds of your customers - and don’t be afraid to ask them what they want.
What do you believe are the ‘new marketing luxury rules’ for the ‘new normal’
Now more than ever we are falling back onto the core Johnstons' values that we know make us unique. Our work around keeping our craftsmanship alive, innovation and sustainability is more relevant than ever - particularly as people have realised during lockdown that they don’t need lots of everything. Whatever generation our customer, is they are truly interested in our story: what makes our product so special, and we love telling that story.
What can we look forward to hearing you discuss at the Festival of Luxury Marketing?
I will be focusing on the China opportunity: communicating our brand experience in China, sharing our approach and learnings within the region's social shopping channels, and how we have embraced working with KOLs.
www.johnstonsofelgin.com
