It's not every Australian brand that can afford to enlist one of the world's most in-demand models for a seasonal campaign. At 73 years old, Oroton has done just that. Twice. The Sydney-headquartered brand has just released its autumn/winter 2011 creative starring 27-year-old Ukrainian-Canadian model Daria Werbowy. Dressed in Oroton lingerie and clutching at cream leather totes and silver mesh bags, the photos represent the second time Werbowy has fronted an Oroton collection, but more significantly, a new direction in Oroton's marketing decisions: Werbowy is the first known personality the brand has ever hired to front its collections.
The brand's creative director, Ana-Maria Escobar, insists it was an organic process.
“In Oroton, believe it or not, it seems to happen very organically,” she says. “We never sit down and create a plan, 'OK, we're going to do this so people react this way...’ Everyone asks me 'what are you going to do next season?' or 'what's going to be the next model?' You don't know. Maybe it's going to be all about just the bags, or maybe it's going to be about an amazing photographer... It's depending what the season is telling you. Anyone can go in and pick up an amazing model but if you don't have the story behind it, it just doesn't make sense, it doesn't quite fit.”
Making everything “fit” is exactly what Escobar and Oroton's managing director and CEO, Sally Macdonald, have concentrated on for the last four years. Both women joined the publicly listed company in 2006, the year Oroton Group commenced a major restructure. On the back of advice from Macdonald and external advisors, the company shed the Marcs and Morrissey brands as well as the local licence for Aldo. Operating costs were trimmed as was Oroton Group's board. Macdonald's key influence, Escobar says, has been to give Oroton “one voice”.
“I think it's definitely what has rejuvenated the brand, that we make sure everything is designed in-house,” she says. “We have a team of eight designers now and it varies from industrial designers to fashion designers, textile designers, graphic designers. We do everything in-house from designing the website to the store fixtures, our campaign, our product.”
The decision to reclaim control of all brand extensions – including bringing the licence for Oroton lingerie back in-house – appears to have allowed the business to dabble confidently in other product categories. Knitwear, shoes and accessories have all been incorporated into Oroton's business in recent years.
“I would say from my side, as a creative person, it's not something that we added to the brand, it's more the brand has asked for it,” Escobar says. “We were getting to the point where the stores were having bags and the bags were beautiful and soft and gorgeous, but I think we needed that extra softness to the stores and the extra softness to the actual brand.
“I wouldn't say we're wanting to give a head-to-toe approach or put the Oroton brand on anything that comes our way. We focus on transeasonal pieces so having a cashmere wrap for our customer to travel in was something that needed to happen and organically happened.”
Of all the new product that has been trialled and tested in Oroton stores over the last 24 months, it is knitwear that has been the most ravished by customers. “Knitwear is a category that I would say will actually just get bigger because the customer has definitely responded to it, responded to the quality, the look, the colours. It's been something really nice for us to play with.”
Lingerie, meanwhile, is something else Escobar is working to establish a “louder voice” for in the market. The company is supporting her efforts, having just debuted a dedicated 'lingerie boutique' on the Oroton website.
“Oroton now is known by the handbags. That's our core business and the part we pay more attention to. But we would love, one day, for lingerie to have exactly the same voice, or to be as strong as any other side of our business. We're definitely working towards that.”
The key challenge for the business in 2011, however, looks set to be staged in a totally new realm: Asia. Oroton opened its first international boutique in September 2010 in Hong Kong, as well as two new stores in Singapore in January this year. An additional two sites are due to open in Malaysia in the final quarter of 2010/2011. Speaking at the brand's annual general meeting in December last year, Macdonald explained why the company was exploring new territories.
“This is a natural next step for us and one we researched and discussed for a long time prior,” she said. “The depth and size of the Asian market is vast compared with Australia and their love of accessories far outweighs that of the average Australian consumer. So it is a very good market for Oroton to be in.
“So far our Hong Kong store is trading very well... We are studying results very closely every day and early signs are very positive. Over 80 per cent of customers are new to the brand and yet happy to purchase at a rate that is triple our Australian customer average.”
The retail model Oroton is deploying in Asia is not terribly different from its strategy in Australia, with converse seasons the only reason why international boutiques look a little different from those on-shore. Escobar says the overarching presence of Oroton's online store means there are few variances in product across the multiple markets.
“They will get some limited edition pieces that are for Hong Kong only, but then we have a core of the brand that will be sold here and sold there as well. We have to always keep in mind that we have a website as well, so we have to make sure every point that we touch and everything that we do, the customer is seeing the same and reading the same.”
The limited edition product that has debuted in Hong Kong thus far has featured mesh elements, harking back to Oroton's original mesh bag designs from the 1940s. The aim, Escobar explains, is to give Chinese consumers a lesson in Oroton's 73-year history.
“But in saying that though, we had an Oroton store in Hong Kong in the 1980s and people still recall that store and they come back and talk to us about it. So it's been a very warm welcome into the Hong Kong market with people bringing stories ... of mesh bags they used to own. That makes it so much easier for us.”
When pushed to reveal what product the market can expect to see from Oroton in upcoming seasons, Escobar is tight-lipped. So too when asked about new store locations in Australia, or the ongoing heavy investment in the website. With hawk-eyed shareholders hanging out for scraps of news, the company is careful never to give too much away. What Escobar will say is that all impending changes are about making “an iconic brand better” and trying to “live up to the customer's expectations”.
“I think the customer is going back to 'I want to know where it comes from' and 'what I feel comfortable with'. Brands with a story are getting more and more important.”