When Creating Brands, Dress Rehearsals Help

New York Times, August 5, 2007 — CAN the selection of a showerhead make or break a hotel brand? Some hotel executives seem to think so.

Starwood is one of several hospitality companies developing hotel brands or rebranding old ones. Since 2005, some 31 brands have been announced, according to PricewaterhouseCoopers, more than at anytime since 1988-89, when 27 were introduced. And with this increased competition, identifying market segments and customer preferences has become essential to creating customer loyalty — which is where the showerhead, among other details, becomes crucial.

Holiday Inn chain gives itself a face-lift

USA Today, July 19, 2007 — The roadside Holiday Inns that became fixtures in towns across the USA beginning in the 1950s are disappearing. London-based InterContinental Hotels Group (IHG), current owner of the brand that pioneered franchised motor hotels, is in the process of shedding roughly half the nearly 1,100 properties that it had in 2004, mainly by ending franchise agreements with operators of substandard properties.

The Florsheims, Back in Their Own Shoes

New York Times, June 24, 2007 — IF a death notice had been drafted for the Florsheim Group in 2001, the year that the company went on life support, it might have read something like this: A well-known company, whose shoes outfitted generations of American boys and men for school, work, weddings and funerals for most of the 20th century, died yesterday.

The Boots That Kicked Off an Era Are Back†

Wall Street Journal, June 21, 2007 — One of Frye's most famous boots is called the Harness. If you're over 40, you know the one, even if you don't know you know. Rugged leather, squared toe, a simple belt around the ankle. It was created in the 19th century and became a huge fad in the late 1960s, but you needn't go to a museum to see this boot today: it's flying off the shelves of Nordstrom and Zappos

EBay Moves to Recharge Its Auctions

In making upgrades intended to make its site more friendly, eBay may endure criticism from more than 700,000 sellers who rely on it for their livelihoods.

New York Times, June 18, 2007 — At eBay, subtle change is about to become a thing of the past. Under pressure from analysts and investors to jump-start growth in its core auctions business, eBay is making a series of upgrades intended to make the site more friendly to buyers