Posts Tagged ‘peter-singline’

04.25.13

Kill Off The Department Store Label – Our March article for The Melbourne Review

retail brand agency

The challenging future of department stores in Australia.

April 2013
Peter Singline & David Ansett

There is much written about the challenging future of department stores in Australia. Both David Jones and Myer are household names with a rich heritage in retailing, but for many years their relevance in an ever-changing retail landscape is being questioned. In more recent years, the impact of the GFC, combined with enhanced competition from online players and strong international fashion retailers opening stores in Australia, means Myer and David Jones are facing significant head winds.

But it is a phenomenon that is not limited to Australia. Around the world the department store concept is being challenged. In March the Financial Review quoted the chief executive of Paris based department store Galeries Lafayette as saying that he was convinced that the department store format faces extinction. What is instead being proclaimed as the future for Galeries Lafayette is to position itself as a ‘multi-specialist lifestyle retailer’. Their aim is to build a house of brands under one roof that offers the best of French and international premium and luxury goods.

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04.16.13

Brand strategy on social media needs a dose of consumer self-interest

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There is evidence to suggest that when brand managers are steering their social media activities they need to operate in the shoes of their customers, with the view to satisfying their self interest. The motivation for a lot of consumers connecting to brands on social media is not ‘social’, rather it is what is in it for me.

These are the findings from New York based strategy consulting firm Vivaldi Partners, who towards the end of 2012 conducted research with 1,004 adults from Ipsos’ U.S. online panel. Participants were interviewed to understand the drivers that have them connect and disconnect from brands on social media.

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03.05.13

Brand Ownership and Distribution Wars

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In Australia we are forever hearing the cries of foul play about the way the major supermarkets play the game. The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) has declared war on their behaviour with a recently announced inquiry into how the major supermarkets are using their muscle to demand lower prices, bigger promotional spends and new line fees, and provide private label alternatives to supplier branded products. Read the rest of this entry »

02.19.13

Diffusion brand strategy can only be one way

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More and more we are seeing references to the strategies of diffusion branding within the fashion industry. Diffusion branding may be a newish term in marketing lexicon, but its practice has been with us a long time. For decades the strategy of launching a new offering to appeal to a different segment of the market under the umbrella of an established brand was referenced as creating a ‘sub-brand’ or a form of ‘brand extension’. The degree to which the strategy draws endorsement directly from the original brand is always a delicate one.

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02.05.13

Artisan design minds – Creating beautiful products through upcycling

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Upcycling is an artisanal approach to textile waste that sees the design mind truly at work. What is being thrown away into landfill is often beautiful and usable for designers who can approach such materials in a creative and transformational manner.
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01.29.13

Porsche’s targeted brand presence

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While attending one of our global E3 agency network meetings in Boston USA in the later part of 2012, I was exposed to a really targeted brand presence initiative by Porsche. During a post afternoon session I was out for a quick walk and happened past a bustling Four Seasons hotel. A busy doorman working the car traffic and keeping people happy. But sitting along the action was three brand new Porsche cars. All stunning beasts, the sporty 911 Carrera, the rather exotic looking Panamera and the masculine Cayenne.

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01.11.13

Women’s Shoe Retailing Hero the Shoe

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Towards the end of last year, Sally my wife and I spent a luxurious 15 nights in NYC. It was a delightful stay and one of the things we did from a research perspective was to have a focus on how women’s shoes were being retailed in the big apple. I was keen to see if there were any silver bullets we could bring back to the Australian market.

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12.18.12

Retailer Restaurant Brands Problematic

Business Week recently reported that before we get to cheer in the new year, shoppers at the new Tommy Bahama flagship store on Manhattan’s Fifth Avenue will be able to buy one of the brand’s signature tropical-print shirts before grabbing a drink at the Marlin Bar, next to the selling floor. Later they can head upstairs to order macadamia nut-encrusted snapper at a restaurant perched above the retailing space. Its 13 combination restaurant-stores generate two and a half times the sales per square foot of the apparel chain’s 97 regular locations worldwide. And the push into restaurant style food is not going to stop there with plans to open another Island store in Tokyo next year. The company says its restaurants generate about 12 percent of its $452 million in annual revenue.

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11.20.12

Catholic Church Brand Faltering

In so many ways and for centuries, the Catholic Church has been master of the full branding toolkit. It has understood the value of creating a lighthouse identity with magnificent Cathedrals, often constructed at the highest point of the land where it resides. The Catholicc church has (along with with other faiths) the most recognised brand device in the world – the crucifix in all its many guises.

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