“Very recently, (ok so February, 2009 to be precise), the name recognized world over, for its high-end and suave shoes and bags, Jimmy Choo opened its first ever stand alone store in India.  According to a statement by Tamara Mellon, Founder & President of Jimmy Choo ltd, the company is planning around seven stores in India in the next five years!

For a line that generated record sales of £85.6million in the year 2007, in UK alone, its focus on an emerging market like India was well anticipated. Indian youth is extremely brand-conscious today. Courtesy fatter pay-packages and increasing shore hopping, luxury brands are finding their habitats and the launch of Jimmy Choo in India is a testimony to that.

So how well do we know this name anyway? What makes Jimmy Choo shoes (and bags), an absolute must have in your wardrobe?

For snapshot sake, here we go…

Jimmy Choo was born in a family of shoemakers. (Chip of the old block eh…) The genius designer started his career in a workshop in East London, which he opened in 1986 by renting an old building. His art found notice and soon enough, eight pages in a 1988 issue of Vogue magazine were purely dedicated to his line. Choo soon found a patron in Lady Diana! (Source: wiki) In 1996, he co-founded Jimmy Choo Ltd with British Vogue accessories editor Tamara Mellon. Since then, the line has found an extremely devoted clientele -- many of whom are a-list style icons like Nicole Kidman and Gwyneth Paltrow.

A pair of couture Jimmy Choo shoes does not come cheap though. Prices start at £650 a pair, and costs are directly in proportion to the elaboration of the shoe design. But his clients have not dwindled at all. Infact, these hand crafted shoes received a phenomenal response by the Indian A-listers when the store was inaugurated in Mumbai.

To tap a wider audience however, the brand needs to find a place in our day to day conversation.  As per a recent survey, while Facebook has close to 8 million, Orkut around 16 million and Twitter close to 1.4 million users in India (the third largest after Germany and the US), social media is clearly a huge canvas to paint an image that a brand like Jimmy Choo will need, to keep up with its ambition to grow in the Indian luxury market.  So we decided to take a tour. Hop on as we explore how the brand has registered itself in the Indian SMM scene.

1. Orkut presence: (Our reaction: YIKES!! SOS!!) There is major scope of improvement here.  A community of 142 members (as on November 8, 2009), the forum (err..ok not a forum exactly), has only two floated posts with no feedback or discussions. It is an attempt nevertheless, with one of the two posts, giving information on the new Jimmy Choo store in Mumbai. But given the amount of following it can generate, the community leaves us with no impression at all!!!
2. Facebook presence: (Our reaction: Finally some fresh air!!) The community was created on March 5, 2008 and has close to 55,000 fans! Its page shows us a glimpse of the Spring/Summer 2008 collection. An active fan stand makes it pretty impressive (435 thumbs up “likes” and 76 comments!!). However, there has not been much effort to connect with the Indian audience. Like no news about the new store in Mumbai.There  seems to be another busy facebook page by the name ‘Jimmy Choo fashion’. This page again has some 13000 odd fans. It seems more engaging than the earlier discussed, Jimmy Choo page. Customization lacking though.
3. Twitter presence: (Our reaction: Bingo!!) So now we have finally found a forum where the community is not only updating its 2411 followers (Group location: San Francisco) on the “70% off Jimmy Choo Heather patent boots”, but also discussing college football plans with one of its fans! Pretty amazing don’t you think? Another group based in the UK has a decent score of close to 2800 followers of the Jimmy Choo tweets.  The concern, however, is the same as we had while reviewing its facebook page. As before, no conscious attempt has been made to connect with the Indian customers. The brand sure needs a group based in India!!
4. Photo Sharing: (Our reaction: Umm…not quite) Picture this (almost literally in this case!) An official photo-stream devoted to the Spring-2009 collection! I know it sounds great. The brand however, seems content by using its website for the same purpose. We would definitely recommend a flickr photo-stream, in order to create more touch-points. Of course we do get search hits on Flickr, but an official photo-stream would have been incredible. And many can vouch for that I’m sure!
5. Video Sharing: (Our reaction: Atta boy!!)Yes, Jimmy Choo has an official Youtube Channel. You get a glimpse of the Mastermind’s collection which itself is stuff enough to engage the audience!

Overall, Jimmy Choo’s  social media presence is decent owing mainly to their fans, grabbing whatever chance they get to get in touch with their favorite brand. However, we are not very sure if Jimmy Choo is looking at an Indian customer base specific social media campaign. In order to extract full potential of the Indian luxury market, a lot of homework needs to be done.

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Update:

Jimmy Choo72: (Our reaction: Overwhelmed!) We just found a label with a heart as big as its name!! We, at microreviews, are extemely glad to have been updated by Jenny (Social Media Manager, Jimmy Choo 72) on Jimmy Choo’s first date with social media. The brand, along with the Elton John AIDS Foundation, has launched Project PEP. 25% of the sales generated from Project PEP, will be donated to the foundation. Anyone can be a part of the cause. All you need to do enter a photo competition; upload a photo based on the theme “’You, Your Shoes and 72′ and there will be a chance for you to win a prize!! This in turn, acts as their photo streaming medium too.

This is one campaign that takes our prize for sure! Project PEP has its presence on Twitter and Facebook too. Both the pages have managed to engage the customers pretty well, to say the least. Through this campaign, Jimmy Choo has managed to display compassion and sympathy for the people who have been loyal to the brand!