Pop up sales are cool. I mean, that's not entirely true. Sometimes they suck because you go all the way to somewhere out of the way and they don't have anything in your size or the prices aren't nearly as cheap as you were expecting (because the ad lied - don't do that - it's just poor practice).
Aside from that, pop up sales are cool. The problem lies in how they're sometimes advertised. When it's a day before or morning-of email, often you're checking it on your iPhone/BlackBerry/alternate mobile device and when you do, you sometimes have to go through a bit of clutter to know where to click. Not only that, sometimes it just won't work on your phone.
For brands this means less customers at sale events and arguably, less product sold. Optimising for mobile users is a simple theory that may pose some tech complications but for impromptu sales/events is likely to benefit brands. Just think of a group of people coffeeing and one checks their phones and says, "Hey, Sass & Bide are having a sale ...". All of a sudden the whole group are going to the sale, some of whom tell their other friends and then more people sign up to that same email list. More exposure for the brand. But sometimes not if that email can't be seen on your iPhone.
I win for using the word business the most times in a title.
For an Australian comparison, Country Road is a good example. Not too long ago they were a tired brand, in need of serious market repositioning and along came Ian Moir and things changed for the better.
I read Valet Mag's interview with J Crew's CEO Mickey Drexler - I think part of their success has been an ability to branch out and collaborate with other brands on items such as luggage, shoes, and other accessories. Ultimately, the customer benefits from this because they get to buy well-made products without paying the same premium as some other luxury brands. Done properly, it helps the host company's bottom line as is the case with J Crew.
On the whole though, for those in the fashion business as designers or those who have an interest in it - it's imperative that you understand the importance of proper management. The idea that clothes will sell themselves and making what you want and selling just that is one that can have mixed results. For example, Tom Ford calling himself his "muse" and designing clothes solely for himself has worked a treat. There are now 21 freestanding stores and shops-in-shops worldwide. Meanwhile, Thom Browne who popularised the shrunken suit aesthetic and decided to sell it widely "because it's what he likes to wear" was rumoured to be filing for bankruptcy last year.
In the end, he didn't but his business has hardly had the sort of phenomenal growth that MR. Ford's has (news is that he is seeking financing for a women's line). Though Tom Ford may talk at length about how he designs what he likes, his previous experience at Gucci and Yves Saint Laurent work in his favour. Similar to what Ralph Lauren has done, Tom Ford has created a world around his brand that invites the buyer into it. This is not easy to do and a good management team can often help guide the process from an often overlooked perspective.
Just making shit you think looks good or that you like is not always going to work. Ksubi knows this now. A little bit of insight into your consumers never goes astray.
Mr. Tom FORD: Marketing Right
P.S. As Jay-Z raps, "I ain't a business man; I'm a business, man/ So let me handle my business, damn"
I work at Herringbone. As is the case with a lot of stores, company policy requires that when working we wear Herringbone stock at all times, preferably current season too. Admittedly, I don't always do this. I always wear a Herringbone shirt/tie/sweater/blazer, etc. but am often wearing my own jeans from Nudie or shorts from American Apparel/Herringbone shorts altered to fit differently.
I've never had anyone express anything negative about me wearing jeans and sometimes people have liked the idea and said they would wear their Herringbone shirts more casually, too. However, the other day when I was at Country Road, a customer asked the sales assistant about her belt. She blushed, said it was from Kinki Gerlinki and proceeded to tell the customer all about how good their stuff is and how much she LOVES shopping there. Great, but what favours does that do your own brand?
More important than just wearing current season stock for POS staff is, in my view, being able to show how those items fit into other people's wardrobes but always re-emphasising the features + benefits of your own brand's items. Finishing a sale with how good the other brand is means potentially losing future sales. Instead, after the transaction is the best time to reaffirm the customer/sales assistant/brand relationship.
The above was just a thought. What do you think?
I've never had anyone express anything negative about me wearing jeans and sometimes people have liked the idea and said they would wear their Herringbone shirts more casually, too. However, the other day when I was at Country Road, a customer asked the sales assistant about her belt. She blushed, said it was from Kinki Gerlinki and proceeded to tell the customer all about how good their stuff is and how much she LOVES shopping there. Great, but what favours does that do your own brand?
More important than just wearing current season stock for POS staff is, in my view, being able to show how those items fit into other people's wardrobes but always re-emphasising the features + benefits of your own brand's items. Finishing a sale with how good the other brand is means potentially losing future sales. Instead, after the transaction is the best time to reaffirm the customer/sales assistant/brand relationship.
The above was just a thought. What do you think?
Never thought I would use the word 'instantaneity'. After I wrote it, I Googled it to make sure it was even a word. It is. Anyway.
News from a few days ago is that Twitter plans to search results by order of popularity, rather than the newest first. I read about it in the mX but if you wanna know more check here. The arguments raised in the mX in favour of this were that ranking by popularity would lower the reach of spambots that automatically retweet messages, and would afford regular users more reach.
I've only been on Twitter for about five (human) days, e.g. 120 hours. so feel ill-advised to comment, BUT on the face I think it's a bit alienating. Part of the beauty of Twitter is that regular/occasional users can tweet something and it's instantly made available for everyone. Here, people who already have reach may get more just by becoming increasingly popular. It might become harder for the newer users looking to establish their online presence.
Just a final point, the Gen Y Marketing podcast were saying that Facebook may institute two forms of status update in the near future; one which goes public to everyone on Facebook, and the other which goes only to your friends/people you want it too. Whilst it won't replace Twitter, it enroaches upon its territory a bit and may damage it. What do you guys think?
P.S. Just remembered another argument raised for the Twitter change was "the popularity of similar measures being implemented on Facebook's NewsFeed" - it seems that ever since MySpace became so mid-2000s no-one considers themselves able to go against Facebook, but just a supplement to it.
Today I joined The Thinkers show on SYN 90.7 FM. With L'Oreal Melbourne Fashion Festival on the girls (Tash and Mary) were keen to talk about ... fashion!
Apart from the usual 'worst fashion trends', etc. I talked about just how many fashion blogs have taken off. Scott Schuman of The Sartorialist is for most the first foray into fashion blogging and was even named one of TIME Magazine's Top 100 design influencers. Yet, on a smaller scale the world over fashion and blogging are often synonymous with each other for so many people.
It's been used as a way of helping the underprivileged (The Uniform Project) or just to document fashion in one's own city (Melbourne Street Fashion). Just the other day a girl who studies at Uni stopped me to take a photo. Check out her blog at Koh & Co.
As elementary as it sounds, it's great that blogs and "social media" are giving people an avenue to express their creativity in something they're genuinely passionate about, while even benefitting others.
P.S. I'll be on SYN Radio soon in a regular position with a friend of mine (Rob White). I'll keep you all posted and help support community radio!
My buns are suffering from a little muffin top action, but that doesn't reduce their overall chocolatey gooeyness.
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I wish I had some statistics to back this back up but I'm just going to go with my gut feeling on this one ...
That's it. That's my question.
How often do marketers now rely on an instinctive/gut feeling of what they think will work? I mean, with the huge range of online and other means of studying consumers and what they want, sometimes for whatever reason you can't put all of that into action or you don't want to 'cause it may prove to be a waste of resources. When this happens, do any of you ever wing it?
I doubt this guy is selling a product or a service and even if he is, I'm sure most of us probably don't need it ...
But, if you're going to make yourself a billboard for istreak.com - why not put something there? I get that he's just a streaker and it's probably a laugh and the 'i' prefix quite possibly refers to Apple, but in broader terms - it's happened to me before where brands tell you to check out their website and spend so much time/money/energy/resources getting you there only to leave you feeling really disappointed.
AdNews is running a poll asking, "At agencies, who are the most overpaid?" At present, the results are as follows:
Creatives - 31%
Digital Gurus - 15%
Planners - 11%
Account Management - 10%
The Bosses - 33%
It's no surprise to anyone that bosses rank the highest, but as I've been thinking lately about thought vs action I'm framing a lot of things I see through that lens. I think for a lot of people, the Creatives must be the ones who 'just come up an idea' and so many people, both within agencies and the general public (when they see a good TVC or a clever concept) immediately think, "I could have done that!" or whatever. Meanwhile, I think the Planners and such terms are perceived to be more real, more tangible, and less concerned with abstractions and more with delivering results.
As for 'Account Management' - well, in my limited experience of the industry, I've seen that many business cards/job titles/self references to everyone being some kind of account manager/executive/etc. that it was never going to be the case they'd all vote against themselves. I mean, who wants LESS money?
There's increasingly a lot of talk about thought vs action in the marketing industry. Whether it's at an agency level about putting a creative idea into practice and making it reality, or at the receiving end where the consumer/recipient of the message is compelled to act and "do" something. NAKED's Ask Richard Campaign is one example of consumer action. It happens in other ways too, when social media leverages the power of consumers to cuss out a brand, for example.
It got me thinking though about the education of Media & Communications at tertiary level. At Melbourne Uni the focus is very much on academic thought, not action, with the course taught under the School of Culture and Communication. The majority of the action is figuring out the Dewey Decimal system to write the best academic essay. Even in subjects such as Asian Public Relations, Marketing Communications, Lifestyle & Consumer Culture or Popular Culture, students are expected to engage foremost with theory and critically analyse this, and a raft of ethical concerns impede efforts to complete tangible case studies. I say it like it's a bad thing, and in some sense - I think it is.
However, after talking to a friend about it, he said it was great that we do get exposure to different kinds of theory and academic thought across different fields. I do think the academic grounding is good at helping to encourage ideas that can later be put into action. However overall, I think it's important students have a range of practical real-life knowledge, over and above simply critiquing what others have said.
For an idea of the Media & Communications program at Melbourne Uni, but mainly for you all to have an idea of my research interests over the past few years, I'm placing some of my academic essays on here. Have a read and share your thoughts on the education of communication at University.
It got me thinking though about the education of Media & Communications at tertiary level. At Melbourne Uni the focus is very much on academic thought, not action, with the course taught under the School of Culture and Communication. The majority of the action is figuring out the Dewey Decimal system to write the best academic essay. Even in subjects such as Asian Public Relations, Marketing Communications, Lifestyle & Consumer Culture or Popular Culture, students are expected to engage foremost with theory and critically analyse this, and a raft of ethical concerns impede efforts to complete tangible case studies. I say it like it's a bad thing, and in some sense - I think it is.
However, after talking to a friend about it, he said it was great that we do get exposure to different kinds of theory and academic thought across different fields. I do think the academic grounding is good at helping to encourage ideas that can later be put into action. However overall, I think it's important students have a range of practical real-life knowledge, over and above simply critiquing what others have said.
For an idea of the Media & Communications program at Melbourne Uni, but mainly for you all to have an idea of my research interests over the past few years, I'm placing some of my academic essays on here. Have a read and share your thoughts on the education of communication at University.
What with the shift from watching television (so 2004) to on-demand, ad-free entertainment, most of us don't get to see good old-fashioned television commercials. Nonetheless, while watching The Departed last night on commercial (read: ad-infested) television, I found this pretty funny. It's by Melbourne agency SMART.
First off, the Gen Y Marketing podcast is great. Only listened to my first one tonight and I can't wait for the next one.
They were discussing the problems faced when marketing smaller sized condoms and said the best idea wins a CD. As long as it's not the Best of Motown which they played all over their last podcast, I want in.
Here's my entry:
Basically, it's a print advert for a men's lifestyle magazine. The whole point of it is to offer a custom product without alluding to smaller penis size, but rather focusing on the "right fit". Secondly, the "whatreallymatters" (doesn't exist ... yet) would be a good way for the condom manufacturer to get on board health issues relating to condom use, with user engagement through forums, etc. for talking about the "doing" part. Lastly, the tag line coming from a famous woman is a nice way of making men feel a little more comfortable.
Anyway, lawyers for Halle Berry and Durex - please don't sue me. Thanks.
I have neglected this little place of my own Internet goodness for far too long. For no reason either. It doesn't do me any favours and I like having the blog so from now on, I'm going to write on it.
It's weird the things you learn by NOT writing or acting. I've keenly read Zac Martin's blog for many months and he's partly responsible for me wanting to start one in the first place. Though I've never met you, well done on your new position Zac. Really good stuff! Then there's the advice and support of a really good friend.
Oddly enough though, it's a guy I went to school with who popped into my work at Herringbone and asked why I wasn't posting anymore. The guy confessed to having minimal interest in marketing/advertising/communication/blogs and lived for engineering or whatever other more accepted brown person thing he's doing, but said he genuinely liked the fact that someone he knew had started up a blog.
So, I'm back. And planning to stay =)
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