May 20, 2012

Posts Comments

Brands In Adolescence

Ugg Me, Ugg Me Not

January 12, 2012 By 4 Comments
uggs and northface with girl

Walk into any public middle school or high school on a winter day, and you’ll notice the girls’ cool weather uniform.  Not a mandated uniform, but a voluntarily adopted one.  It consists of a Northface fleece jacket and a pair of Ugg boots.

In September 2010, as my now 11-year-old daughter Fiona was entering the fifth grade, she developed an acute desire for these items.  I wasn’t entirely surprised as my neighbor’s 14-year-old daughter had expressed the same desires a couple of years before.

But I didn’t realize how widespread the girls’ conformity went.

Click to continue

Filed Under: Brands In Adolescence, Browse Posts, Marketing Thought Provokers, Retail Marketing

Is Your Brand In Adolescence?

July 14, 2011 By Leave a Comment
Adolescents can be unpredictable

It happens to the savviest business owners and brand champions. One day you wake up and that little darling brand that you have nurtured since birth or early brand-hood has grown into an entity you barely recognize.

The brand that you knew and loved and that bore the markings of your careful stewardship has suddenly developed a mind of its own and is performing erratically. When did this happen? How could this happen? Why is it happening to me?

It could be that you have a Brand in Adolescence on your hands.

Click to continue

Filed Under: Brands In Adolescence, Browse Posts, Marketing Thought Provokers

An Abercrummy Experience

March 1, 2011 By Leave a Comment
abercrombie logo with small moose

A Brand that Needs to Get Unstuck

Last week was school vacation week here.  My children and I took a trip to New Jersey to visit my parents.  In close proximity to Paramus, the original shopping mall mecca, my 10-year-old daughter and I also took the opportunity to shop.

My daughter had been eyeing a sweater at abercrombie (the kids’ division of Abercrombie & Fitch) at the mall near our home in Massachusetts.  She had her heart set on finding it in Paramus.  We spotted the sweater prominently displayed on a couple of mannequins as soon as we entered the store.

Click to continue

Filed Under: Brands In Adolescence, Browse Posts, Marketing Blunders, Retail Marketing