Mid-Tier Retailers Try New Brands On for Size

Chains Look to Stand Out In Crowded Marketplace

Washington Post, August 28, 2008 — This back-to-school season will go down as the Battle of the Brands. Kohl's launched six new lines of clothing this summer with a star-studded advertising campaign featuring celebrities from Lenny Kravitz to Hayden Panettiere. JCPenney introduced another half-dozen labels, the department store's biggest crop of new brands, with looks including urban rock and all-American. And Dillard's is chasing soccer moms with a line designed by Sheryl Crow that hit stores this month.

Coke's New Design Direction

Five years ago, Coca-Cola's design chief was told: "We need to do more with design. Go figure it out." Now his labors are bearing fruit

BusinessWeek, August 25, 2008 — When David Butler joined Coca-Cola (KO) almost five years ago, he was given, as he tells it, "the Post-it Note mandate: We need to do more with design. Go figure it out." Butler, who had come from a gig as director of brand strategy at the interactive marketing and consulting firm Sapient, had soon written up a 30-page manifesto laying out a design strategy for the company. But if Butler, who's now vice-president for design, has made an impact at the beverage giant, it's not because of some heady proclamation. Instead it's because he has learned the most effective way to implement design strategy at a company as large and complex as Coca-Cola: avoid the word "design" as much as possible.

Interpublic Unveils New Lab Initiative, Backs Platform That Links Brands With Social Networks

MediaPost Publications, August 25, 2008 — Interpublic has quietly struck a deal to begin utilizing a promising new online marketing service that could finally enable Madison Avenue to unleash the power of social networks on behalf of their clients' brands. The deal, which is being officially announced today, involves a partnership between Interpublic's Emerging Media Lab and SocialVibe, a company that provides incentives for members of social networks to interact and endorse consumer brands.

P&G Takes Laundry Brands In New Directions†

Dry Cleaning, Youth-Oriented Products and Tim Gunn Figure in Latest Initiatives

Advertising Age, August 25, 2008 — Procter & Gamble Co.'s Tide is branching into dry cleaning, fashion and more as it looks to innovate in new areas amid an economic downturn and changing consumer demands regarding laundry. Tide has launched a three-store test of a dry cleaner under its brand name in Kansas City, Mo. The test includes construction of a new company-owned store and partnership in two other stores with a local dry cleaner, GreenEarth Cleaning, which uses a dry-cleaning solvent it says is environmentally safer than traditional chemicals.

The Newest Brands? Open for Business

Retailers Have Switched Gears, Marketing Their Stores and Labels and Strengthening Bonds With Shoppers

CMO Strategy by AdAge, August 25, 2008 — Many marketers are rapidly becoming more concerned with how retailers think. They want to know their concerns, objectives, equities and images and how they go about creating bonds with shoppers. That's because today's retailers are evolving far beyond their historical role as simple points of distribution for selling national brands.

Marketers get to us in more ways

USA Today, August 24, 2008 — It's marketing mayhem out there. It's subtle. It's subversive. And it's murky, says journalist Rob Walker, who writes the weekly "Consumed" column for The New York Times Magazine. And murky is a stealthy way to sell, he reveals in his new book, Buying In: The Secret Dialogue Between What We Buy and Who We Are.

More Than a Name: Japanese Super-brands Diversify

Brandchannel.com, August 22, 2008 — Before addressing these questions, let’s consider the way in which Japanese super-brands evolved. After World War II, Japan reinvented itself and developed into a global economic powerhouse. Some believe a primary reason for this growth was the Japanese keiretsu system. Essentially, keiretsu were major families of affiliated corporations that had ties to a key bank, which both controlled and provided security to the companies.

Retailing icon Mickey Drexler doubles down

J.Crew's CEO says that this is the worst retail environment he's seen in 40 years in the business. His strategy? Take J.Crew upscale and launch a new brand called Madewell.

FORTUNE, August 21, 2008 — Is now the time for a retailer to go upscale? The guru behind clothier J. Crew thinks that's the right strategy. J. Crew is relatively small - its entire retail square footage would fit into the space of just 13 Sam's Clubs - but CEO Mickey Drexler, the man who made Gap (GPS, Fortune 500) into a pop-culture phenomenon and reinvented retailing icon J.Crew, is closely watched in his industry.

The Second Coming of Khaki

New York Times, August 20, 2008 — ON Monday afternoon, as the ballyhooed new designs of Gap’s fall collection by Patrick Robinson began appearing at its store on Fifth Avenue and 54th Street, a line of customers stretched well around the corner — at Abercrombie & Fitch, that is, two blocks away.Fashion magazines have heralded the recent arrival of Mr. Robinson at Gap in reverential tones (he is actually called a “megabrand messiah” in the September issue of Elle), and the windows announce in big block letters that a “New Shape” is in store.