Purpose: The purpose of this study is to critically examine the marketing strategy and marketing communication within a luxury fashion SME, the case of Mary Katrantzou. Methodology: This report has been conducted in a qualitative approach and six employees at the case study company have been interviewed. Three of the respondents are a part of the marketing department at the company, two are a part of the sales department and one member of the ecommerce team was interviewed. Moreover the interview approach was semi-structured interviews, and one on one interviews were conducted as well as written ones. Due to the access in the company the written interviews could be followed up by additional questions. Findings: Mary Katrantzou works with the appropriate traditional tools for luxury fashion brands, apart from advertisement, as well as working with the digital channels most suitable. Accordingly the theory a cohesive brand identity is vital when it comes to luxury fashion firms, and the findings in this area showed that the company does not have a coherent brand identity that permeates the whole organization. Instead the opinions of the six respondents differed. Moreover the empirical findings showed that collaborating with other companies could increase brand awareness. Conclusion: Mary Katrantzou’s marketing strategy is, accordingly the theory collected, in line with how luxury fashion brands should work with marketing. For the future however the company could invest in one more traditional tool in the form of advertisement. Figuring out the true brand identity of the company is also of importance. Moreover collaborations have according to this study the ability to increase brand awareness and should therefore be of interest to research further in the near future. Value/originality: The intimate access in the case study company in this report should be of high interest due to its rareness. From the inside examined fashion luxury brands are seldom researched, which adds value and originality to this study. / Program: Textilekonomutbildningen

The purpose of this study is to create a deeper understanding on how brands today arepart of culture, creating meaning and effects, persuading customers through hidden messages and cultural communication codes. The starting point for my studies has been a European approach, with a German brand as empirical material. As a visual communicator it is especially important to critically understand how each element in an advertising campaigncreates meaning and therewith influences consumers unconsciously. My study has the ambition to research how luxury products are portrayed by examining visual markers for taste and exclusivity that indicate that the Jil Sander advertising campaign (2018) is directed towards members of a higher social strata. This has been done by using a qualitative visual image analysis based on social semiotics. Representation, taste, status and social milieus are the theoretical key terms in this study which are linked to my image analysis which shows that the characters are members of the same scene belonging tothe same social milieu, were they share social norms, dress codes, linguistic codes such assigns and symbols. All of them are visual markers of a higher social class, taste and capital.