February 23, 2012

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Retail Marketing

Be the Bartender of Your Brand

February 10, 2012 By 6 Comments
Ted Danson as Sam Malone on Cheers

I waitressed for two summers during college and met some pretty interesting people.  The first summer I worked the counter of a Bloomingdale’s restaurant in Hackensack, New Jersey.  I served two Secret Service agents who were trailing Pat Nixon and her daughter Tricia who were eating in the dining room of the restaurant.  Nice guys, easy going, and tipped well.

Prior to my sophomore year I worked at a 24-hour diner called The Forum.  The Saturday night shift went from 5 pm to 4:30 am.  As you could imagine, the crowd here differed from Bloomingdale’s.

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Filed Under: Browse Posts, Marketing Thought Provokers, Retail Marketing, Smart, Innovative & Inexpensive Marketing

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.

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

Delivering Happiness at the Toll Booths

November 23, 2011 By Leave a Comment
Massachusetts toll booth with Fast Lane

Today is the day before Thanksgiving and I have the pleasure this year of NOT traveling.

With family in New Jersey though, I have spent many hours sitting in traffic on this day in the past.  Thanksgiving-volume car travel jams highways on the Massachusetts-New York corridor, particularly around toll plazas.  One year my usual 3 3/4 hour ride to my parents’ house took 8 hours!  Now if I go, I leave on Tuesday.

Traffic jams of these epic proportions often bring consumers’ wrath upon the Department of Transportation (DOT). 

In recent years though, the Massachusetts DOT has engaged some smart, inexpensive, and innovative marketing to proactively combat this problem.

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Filed Under: Browse Posts, Front page, Retail Marketing, Smart, Innovative & Inexpensive Marketing

The $2.99 Retail Traffic Booster

October 26, 2011 By 2 Comments
Charles River Coffee House Dog Bowl Outside 7-22-11

On days when I feel restless and distracted in my office, I work elsewhere.  One place I like to go is the Charles River Coffee House (CRCH) in South Natick.  It’s independently owned, has a homey, non-institutional feel and serves great tea (tea-aholic that I am).  Their front windows frame a beautiful view of the historic Bacon Free Library and the South Natick waterfall across the way, helpful when my eyes need a break from the screen.

Not only is their tea good, but their marketing is smart, innovative and inexpensive to implement.  Two of their marketing efforts grabbed my attention.

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Filed Under: Browse Posts, Retail Marketing, Smart, Innovative & Inexpensive Marketing

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.

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