Coffee retail is a textbook example of how seemingly ordinary products can be elevated and marketed beyond their actual value.
Howard Schultz did it with Starbucks and paved the way for coffee to become nearly more popular than ordinary water – and with a much bigger markup. While Starbucks has recently struggled with over-exposure and saturation, the world of mass consumption coffee shows no signs of slowing down. So now that everyone believes they’re a coffee connoisseur, what else could there possibly be to do with coffee besides sell it in a can or a café?
Make them a barista in the comfort of their own home or office. The single-serve coffee market is now the next frontier for coffee brands, and last year even Starbucks threw its hat in the ring with their Verismo machine.
According to Euromonitor International, a marketing firm that focuses on industry and consumer lifestyle research, single-serve machines accounted for 20 percent of total coffee-maker sales in 2011, and that’s up four percent in just five years. In the same period, retail sales of the machines increased by about 523 percent.
Which is why Nespresso, arguably the most deluxe of all the single-serve machine vendors, has fast-tracked its retail rollout of its “boutique bars,” with the newest one in San Francisco’s Union Square – a stone’s throw from Hermès, Emporio Armani, and DeBeers Diamonds.
As Frederic Levy, president of Nespresso’s USA explained to us in a recent interview, Nespresso’s strategy is to be at the top of the coffee pyramid, and that means opening luxury shops in high streets like this one, all over the world.
“Our Boutiques around the country and the world are a key part of the Nespresso experience,” says Levy. “And they will continue to be as we expand further into the U.S. market. In fall 2013 we will open our sixth U.S. Boutique in Los Angeles.”
The San Francisco boutique, located on the corner of Grant and Geary streets, is 7,400 square feet and spread out over two levels. Expensive? Absolutely. But this is not a casual investment in prime real estate. The emphasis here is on creating a highly calibrated brand experience, with a lavish space that encourages one to look and linger rather than grab and go.
Top: the Boutique Bar serves sixteen of the brand’s “grand cru” coffees, as well as a breakfast and lunch menu. Below: the staircase to the second floor retail and tasting bar.
“We don’t serve coffee to-go at our boutiques,” says Levy. “We invite our consumers to come in, sit down, and take a moment to enjoy a premium coffee experience in a contemporary environment.”
These boutiques are no small part of the Nespresso strategy; if anything, they are pivotal in the brand’s persuasive marketing. Nespresso hired Italian architect Aldo Parisotto and Futurebrand Paris to develop the multi-faceted retail concept, one which is strategically designed to inform and engage both the novice and the “club member” with a menu of in-store experiences and interactions. A “club member,” by the way, is basically anyone who has purchased a Nespresso machine. But the name speaks volumes about how Nespresso wants the customer to feel.
The ground floor includes a reception area, bar where coffees can be ordered, a “discovery ring” where the entire product family is introduced in an intimate, sit-down setting, and lounge spaces featuring complimentary ipad stations, and coffee-colored Eero Saarinen Egg chairs.
The vortex of the Nespresso experience continues downstairs, where there is the full range of machines and what they call the “Tasting Piano Bar” (all that was missing was an actual piano.) Off to the side is the “Self-Selection Room,” a mini-supermarket for the brand’s coffee pods. Like the rest of the store, nothing was overlooked in its design, with boxes of pods arranged in perfect column’s, dispensed with military precision from a specially designed wall unit. Self-check-out technology allows members to complete their purchase with the swipe of a card. If God is in the details, then he must really like coffee.
T0p: The lounge area is as much about experiencing the coffee as it is about showcasing the brand’s lifestyle to the outside world. Below: The downstairs “Self-Select Room” is the first in the U.S., allowing Nespresso members to shop independently for coffees.
“The Self Selection Room is unique to the San Francisco Boutique,” says Levy. “It’s dedicated to Club Members who are already familiar with the brand and who are looking for a shopping experience at their own pace, all while discovering the individual nuances of each Grand Cru.”
Yes, you read correctly: Grand Cru. Nespresso’s brand strategy echoes many of the signatures and terminology of luxury brands, including the rarefied world of wine connoisseurship. This strategy is key, especially since the market is fast becoming crowded with other single-serving machine manufacturers and distributors. Nespresso needs to be aggressive in owning the premium coffee pod market. Creating limited editions and “grand crus” is very much a part of how they’re doing that.
“Last fall we released our limited edition Hawaii Kona Special Reserve,” says Levy, speaking of Nespresso’s first Kona blend, considered to be one of the world’s most premium coffees. “Our coffee experts spent two years developing this Grand Cru.”
Perceived luxury, of course, is key to the success of any luxury brand (even if it’s not), and some argue that single-serving machines can’t possibly offer the level of taste and aroma found in traditional brewing and extraction. Nevertheless, Nespresso’s brand image of technology, premium quality, and customer service, coupled with the boutique stores, has managed to drive it to the top in customer awareness — and in a relatively short amount of time.
A display of Nespresso machines, which retail from $129 – $699. The brand’s retail strategy uses the machines to create loyalists and ambassadors. “By purchasing a machine,” says Frederic Levy, president of Nespresso USA, “Consumers become part of our elite.”
“The success of our brand has been built on creating long-lasting customer relationships with our Club Members,” says Levy. “Our focus on developing these relationships is what drives the global brand community to be ambassadors for our coffees and machines. By purchasing a machine, consumers become part of our elite.”
Like the best luxury brands, becoming part of an “elite” is catnip for the young, upwardly mobile consumer. Indeed, on a recent weekday afternoon visit to the San Francisco boutique, fashionable young men and women browsed and lounged, many experiencing Nespresso for the first time, and poised to become brand ambassadors, one cup at a time.
Nespresso San Francisco Boutique Bar | 90 Grant Avenue | Mon. – Fri. 8:00a – 8:00p; Sat. – Sun. 9:00a – 7:00p. www.nespresso.com
>> Want more insight? Read analysis from T. Rowe Price on the growing single-serving coffee market. Click here.
Chinese New Year — the Year of the Snake, for those who care — begins on February 10 and finally at least one major U.S. retailer is waking up to the fact that they need a strategy in welcoming the Chinese tourist – and not just once a year.
Last year we told you about how we developed some relatively simple strategies for b. on brand client Saks Fifth Avenue in making their San Francisco store more attractive to Chinese tourists, with specific programs and mechanics.
In London, Chinese tourists take advantage of a relatively easier visa application process and spending on average a $1000 a day.
According to the U.S. Commerce Department, the average Chinese tourist spends about $6,000 while in the United States; yet most major retailers are sadly unprepared for what is increasingly becoming a critical customer market – even outside the CNY period.
Currently nearly all Chinese tourists are forced to wait up to four months compared to only a few days for most European visas, which means cities like Paris profit handsomely from Chinese tourist dollars. This month President Obama gave the State Department 60 days to come up with a way to decrease the wait time for visas to three weeks. That’s still far more than say Great Britain, which, while also bureaucratic takes about five days to turn around a visa.
Paris is still a top destination for Chinese tourists. For decades stores like Galleries Lafayette and Printemps have made major efforts to target Chinese customers with an army of Chinese-speaking sales associates, discount packages, and special open hours.
This year it is expected that 1.4million Chinese (along with a million Brazilians) will come to the U.S. to shop.
In New York, Bloomingdale’s launched a new initiative to make its store more approachable to the Chinese tourist by hiring more bilingual staff, marketing overseas with advertising campaigns, and increasing orders of iconic “American” brands like Ralph Lauren, with an emphasis on bold brand logos.
Still, one has to wonder why more stores haven’t made a bigger effort at understanding the Chinese customer and making some relatively cost-effective additions to their store experience in order to welcome them.
Here are a few things that nearly any medium to large-scale brand can do to make their store a destination for Chinese shoppers – all year around.
1) Signage. Make sure there is prominent signage in simplified Chinese at the entrance to the store. This includes store navigation. During the Chinese New Year period, put Chinese signage in the window and make sure visual merchandising themes are translated.
2) Speak Their Language. Have at least one employee who speaks Mandarin fluently and empower them with discount cards and/or Gifts-With-Purchase to incentivize them to shop.
3) Make them a VIP. Use the store’s member’s lounge or create a space where Chinese tourists can sit privately with a cup of tea, cookies, and receive one-on-one clienteling.
4) Partner with Hotels. Work closely with the concierges at the city’s key hotels and give them brochures and VIP cards to give to Chinese tourists and tour operators.
5) Explain the Value of Your Brand. The Chinese are still unfamiliar with many U.S. brands especially department stores. Make sure to tell your heritage story and underscore the fact that all of the brands you carry are guaranteed authentic. In China, some department stores sell fake or look-alike merchandise.
Despite the constant downpour, a small but eager group of Muji fans huddled in the doorway waiting for the brand’s newest U.S. store to open in San Francisco’s SoMa neighborhood.
The 7,250 square foot store is the brand’s first foray outside of New York, where the first U.S. store opened in 2004. “It took us that long to finally open here in San Francisco,” said Hiroyoshi Azami, president of Muji USA. The company plans to open another store in San Jose in March 2013.
The store’s first floor is largely devoted to the brand’s contemporary men’s and women’s wear, a strategy that may make sense in converting new customers.
The store faithfully showcases what Muji is known for around the world, beautiful and simply designed products. However there are still many in the West (coast, that is) who have never heard of the brand, and that is very much the point for this “showroom” of sorts; a place to convert new customers before the brand launches other pop ups, shop in shops, and “Muji To Go” corners such as the one at New York’s JFK.
That may be why customers are immediately greeted by a large sign reading, “WHAT IS MUJI” and then goes on to explain the brand’s philosophy. It’s a simple and direct way to define the brand experience in a retail setting.
Above, a store employee tidies a row of denim shirts, which are folded and stacked with military precision. Below, the paper goods and office supply section. In Asia, it’s not unusual to see students enjoying time here buying notebooks and pens.
Well over half of the first floor is devoted to men’s and women’s wear, a collection of straightforward contemporary clothing, Japanese interpretations of such classics as the duffle coat, denim shirts, khaki pants, and impeccable t-shirts. This is not a fashion destination, per se, because in the words of design guru Bruce Mau, Muji is “not an anti-brand, but a non-brand,” with no visible logos or names and a color palette that does not stray far from brown, beige, navy, and black. “We keep our color palette within the bounds of simplicity,” says Azami.
Above, Muji’s sturdy modular shelving with optional drawer units on the second floor of the new store. Below, the brand’s sturdy and lightweight polycarbonate suitcases.
Also on the first floor is the brand’s popular selection of office supplies, all in plain brown paper, clear lucite storage containers, and scores of pens and pencils, many in neat, tidy cardboard cylinders.
Upstairs is Muji’s “Real Furniture” collection, an exclusive to San Francisco, which includes minimalist oak tables, chairs, benches, and beds. With so many Japanese forced to live in extremely small quarters, its no wonder they have managed to devise such stylish and simple ways of storing and ordering a tiny home. Muji is celebrated for affordable style that is not only pure of design, but honest in its integrity. Unlike that other brand from Sweden, Muji’s products do not pretend to be anything other than what they are, both sensibly designed and priced to boot.
> BUY the definitive book about the brand | Muji, Rizzoli Publishers, 2010. $65. VISIT the store | Muji SOMA. 540 9th Street, San Francisco, California. www.muji.us.
We always keep an eye on the fast-moving world of men’s retail, which shows no signs of slowing down. While the trend for authenticity and heritage certainly got us through the worst part of the recession, it also became cliché and boring.
Sean Couey, b. on brand’s project coordinator and a student at UC San Diego asks, what’s next in the evolution of contemporary menswear?
Ever since I started my personal blog on student campus looks, I have become increasingly fascinated with how young men are diving deep into trying to find their own sense of cool – even if they end up looking like everyone else.
In just the first part of 2012, the men’s category as a whole is proving to continue its momentum. Cites the New York Times: “Some forecasters predict sales growth for men’s clothing and accessories during the first three months of this year will set a 20-year high.” Cautious optimism indeed, but why not?
“Men are just waking up to the beauty of being dressed well, and beauty is not the only reason. In a recession economy, competition is measured as much by one’s polish as by one’s professionalism.”
It’s hard to remember that back in 2009, retail saw a glimmer of hope with a peculiar renaissance in menswear, thanks largely to a handful of boutiques in cities like Austin, Seattle, New York, and San Francisco, all boasting a handful of shops brimming with preppy outdoor gear. Back then, the “hipster” was barely a target market but already some major retailers like J. Crew and Coach were taking notice and calibrating their men’s offer. J. Crew for one went whole hog with a major push and filling their shops with so-called heritage brands.
In a recent Reuters report, Hugo Boss is said to be targeting sales gains of 50-percent to 3 billion Euros by 2015, which they credit to a “cultural shift around the world that has led more men to be interested in fashion and invest in their appearance.”
“Men are just waking up to the beauty of being dressed well,” says Hugo Boss Chief Executive Claus-Dietrich Lahrs. Beauty is not the only reason. In a recession economy, competition is measured as much by one’s polish as by one’s professionalism, which is why more and more men are seeing the trend in tailored menswear as more than just a passing fad.
All Aboard the Heritage Bandwagon
Much of what helped ignite the fire in men’s wear was the stealth and sleuthing of hipsters and men craving a brand with a good story. Of course, that cable television juggernaut known as “Mad Men” more than helped fuel the fire.
Stores like Black Fleece (and its parent, Brooks Brothers), Freeman’s Sporting Club (FSC), and Union Made Goods in San Francisco (as well as many, many others) have all helped lead the way towards a new men’s aesthetic geared towards American classics and heritage brands. These stores made their mark early on by offering a manly fashion-forward perspective to their customer while deviating from the mass-produced feeling that is traditionally present in the traditional men’s departments.
“I think men have been spoken down to in the past,” said Todd Barket, owner of Union Made. Union Made is a store that has become something of a benchmark and WWD darling for new men’s retail. “Mass retailers are finally realizing that guys are smarter than ever before and care about what they look like. Social networking has much to do with it as well as a revolt to all the poor mass quality that exists in the world. I credit big players like J. Crew and Ralph Lauren for bringing it to the masses.”
“Stores and brands that have shifted with the consumer and provide an assortment of recognizable brands and better quality merchandise are the ones that have posted growth.”
In some cases, brands are doing more than just dipping their toe in the water, taking complete and utter wholesale inspiration from boutique retailers. A recent Bloomberg article, “Where J. Crew Shops for Ideas,” even goes so far as to suggest that J. Crew’s recently evolved merchandise offering and retail design has come to resemble New York’s Freeman’s Sporting Club a bit too much, causing suspicion from some quarters – including FSC.
“Unmistakable elements of Freemans’s aesthetic, as well as that of other boutique brands, have cropped up in J. Crew outlets across the country.” Alex Young, director of sales at FSC, laments “they copied us down to the shade of the paint colors”.
Nevertheless, as the saying goes, imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, but a little credit never hurt.
Not one to quibble is Banana Republic, which has been quite transparent in their desire to bring a fresh point of view into their stable of merchandisers. The brand has recently launched a collaboration project with San Francisco’s Taylor Stitch, a local brand that was early to the scene of design based on classics and heritage wares.
“Our goal with the Banana Republic/Taylor Stitch partnership was really to celebrate our San Francisco roots with another San Franciscan brand that works at a completely different scale and niche in the market,” says says Tom Girard, senior men’s merchandiser with Banana Republic.
Unlike J. Crew, Banana Republic has played nice and made the adoption of Taylor Stitch’s “cool” a team effort. Taylor Stitch designed and built a custom-tailoring alcove that went into Banana Republic’s flagship store along with a custom line of heritage-inspired ready to wear shirts. When asked if he was aware of bigger brands gleaning inspiration from his store, Michael Maher, cofounder of Taylor Stitch, doesn’t hesitate.
“They absolutely look to us for inspiration,” says Maher. “They want the cachet of a small company. You have these big companies caring about appearing small and adding that into their repertoire. It might not be the most profitable part of their business but it’s great for them, and frankly it’s great for us.”
NPD Chief Industry Analyst Marshal Cohen agrees that innovation and product evolution has helped grow the men’s category. “The growth of dollar sales in the men’s apparel market led the way in the adult apparel market with an increase of 4 percent. This is a marked improvement over the prior years,” says Cohen, in a report published in March. “Stores and brands that have shifted with the consumer and provide an assortment of recognizable brands and better quality merchandise… are the ones that have posted growth.”
The story of heritage and authenticity has indeed been overplayed, but it has awakened retailers and consumers to the art and innovation of traditional menswear.
Which is a big reason why Banana Republic took the time and effort to explore a way to reinvigorate their men’s experience at retail. “What we’ve always known is that our customer is looking to wear clothing that suits him perfectly,” says Girard. “Custom shirting has definitely piqued his interest in that regard.”
Taylor Stitch’s in-store pop up is not only a visual juxtaposition to Banana’s usual visual merchandising, it also pushes forward a new “story” about craftsmanship and quality. “This evolving mindset has huge implications on what range and what types of fits we offer throughout all of our categories at Banana Republic — not just shirts,” says Girard.
That Heritage Look: Stores Dress the Part
J. Crew’s August “Style Guide” seems to underscore that point, with a smartly edited collection of clothes and accessories worn by models in an old warehouse, conveniently equipped with exposed wood-and-iron beams, the paint artistically peeling off its stucco walls. Unable — or perhaps unwilling — to shake off the success generated from their “heritage” mantle, the brand showcases page after page of garments allegedly made “in collaboration “ with “authentic” craftsmen, and “specially designed for J. Crew.”
Department stores haven’t shied away from the heritage bandwagon either. A quick stroll through Macy’s, Barneys and even Saks Fifth Avenue reveals a similar adoption of the current reclaimed/vintage/industrial visual theme. Merchandise is folded and propped atop fixtures made of reclaimed barn wood, galvanized pipes, and weathered and rusting iron. At Saks, we saw a 750-pound vintage piece of factory machinery (probably used on the Ford Model-T production line) repurposed as a tie rack. However, the juxtapositions do not always work: at Barneys, a set of vintage cabinet-maker’s clamps was displayed alongside pajamas.
What Next: Evolving Classics and Contemporary
The important question is: what is the next logical evolution of this trend? The fashion industry is in constant flux and the time machine that seems to have taken us back to the days of the industrial revolution will inevitably slingshot us back to the something more compelling and durable.
Industry insiders agree that while the trend of “heritage and authenticity” has been successful, it is beginning to feel more than a little stale. “After awhile so-called work wear, and all that raw denim can become kind of ‘one note,’” says Ken Jennings, VP Fashion Director Men’s at Saks. “Woolrich Woolen Mills, Rag and Bone, they’ve done a great job of it of being inspired by the heritage trend without going overboard. The fact is, there needs to be innovation with this trend, and personally, I am getting a bit wary of it because it doesn’t say anything new. You have to ask yourself, ‘How does it relate to now?’”
Fashion, by nature, tells a story, and there is no better defining characteristic to what makes a great brand. Case in point, whenever I find a new clothing company online I go straight to the “about” page because I want to know the story behind the brand. It is the story that makes or breaks my decision to go deeper into connecting with a particular brand.
The story of heritage and authenticity, like so much popular music on the radio, has indeed been overplayed, but it has awakened retailers and consumers to the art and innovation of traditional menswear and allowed new visions in contemporary men’s fashion design to find an audience.
Sean Couey is a graduating senior at UC San Diego and project coordinator at b. on brand.
This Sunday (May 6), Target Corp. will launch “The Shops at Target,” a curated collection of boutiques from around the country. Participating shops include such trendsetting boutique retailers as the Webster in Miami, Privet House in Connecticut, and The Candy Store in San Francisco.
The shop-in-shop concept will bow in over 1700 Target retailers and feature exclusive products from each of the five participating boutiques.
The trend for curating products from other retailer’s and incorporating them into one’s own store is certainly not new, but after the pop-up store phenomenon, it has been one of the strongest marketing trends and has brought positive results for such High Street stores as Barneys, Lane Crawford, and Colette.
In the past few years Target has enjoyed considerable marketing success from their collaborations with designers like Missoni, Jason Wu, and Proenza Schouler, among many others. But this is not just about marketing.
“With the launch of The Shops at Target, we’re able to create an ongoing sense of discovery and excitement for our guest,” says Jamie Bastian, a spokesperson for Target. “We were looking for shops with a compelling point of view and shop owners who could help us create collections that reflect our guests’ wants and needs.”
Target found one of those shops tucked away on Vallejo Street in San Francisco’s Russian Hill. The Candy Store has offered a remarkable assortment of classic and esoteric candies since 2007, and was a fairly local discovery – until along came Target.
“Target has been canvassing the globe to uncover distinctive shops –stores with a story –that offer something surprising and unexpected for our guests,” says Bastian.
“The partnership with Target has brought more awareness of our brand on a national level,” says Diane Campbell, the store’s co-owner along with her husband Brian. “I think Target was attracted to our carefully curated collection of sweets as well as our modern aesthetic and passion that we have for our business.”
That passion and ability to source unique candies made it that much easier for Target to collaborate with Campbell in developing new products for Target.
“The collaboration with Target was fantastic from minute one,” says Campbell. “They really worked hard to understand our brand and capture the feel of our store.”
Target’s strategy of co-opting someone else’s cool is a smart move and a primary reason for why big brands are courting small ones like The Candy Store. A short-run marketing program like “The Shops at Target” helps energize the over-arching brand and generate footfall and press. Even more importantly, it helps leverage new insights on the future of the brand. Target Corp. officially calls it a “design partnership program.”
“We most definitely leverage past merchandise collections and experiences when planning,” confirms Bastian.
Which is precisely the point here: a marketing “exercise” should not be designed to simply push product, but to act as a benchmark for the future of the brand, broadening its relevance in the mind of the consumer.
As more and more products become ubiquitous and available virtually everywhere, big brands will be wise to seek out the authentic little retailers who can bring cachet and coolness to their otherwise big box image, and in turn discover new approaches in product development, packaging, and customer service.
The first flight of “The Shops at Target” launches May 6 and features The Candy Store (San Francisco), Cos Bar (Aspen), Polka Dog Bakery (Massachusetts), Privet House (Connecticut) and The Webster (Miami). At select Target stores. www.target.com.
At last week’s opening event for an Alice+Olivia store in San Francisco, the star of the party wasn’t the designers or their new collections, but a sweetly humble blogger named Blair Eadie.
If you’ve been living under a pile of clothes from Old Navy then you might not know that Eadie is the vaguely 20-something year old Gap merchandiser who’s blog, Atlantic-Pacific, has become something of a phenomenon in the world of people who take pictures of themselves and post them.
Here we were at a party chock-a-block with women with names like Piper and Christy and Jenn, all 5’9” of them in heels and a halo of bottle blonde hair.
Rising above all of them was Eadie herself, a more polished and expensive-looking blonde beacon in a chartreuse blouse and purple palazzo pants (furnished by Alice+Olivia.) The roomful of women gazed at her over their glasses of pink champagne —- and yes, even admiringly.
This is very much the success of Blair Eadie. She is the big sister-best friend who is instantly approachable and who’s style is fresh without being too daring or too “edgy.” Eadie, who could easily be mistaken for Lauren Conrad or Blake Lively, has that wholesome gleam of America’s sweetheart, the girl who would never steal your boyfriend and might even let you borrow her Celine bag.
“Omigod I’m like, just so obsessed with her,” gushed one guest. “Do you work for her?” I asked, suspiciously. “God no, I just work down the street but I just think she has such amazing style.”
That “style” rests somewhere between Greenwich, Connecticut, New York’s SoHo, and that short block of Santa Monica in front of Fred Segal. Which is probably why the young women of San Francisco felt so in awe of her super stylishness (in this circle, “super” is added in front of many words. Super-fun. Super-cool. Super-cute.)
“I’m just so like, touched that they’re here and that they read my blog,” said Eadie, gazing at the crowd. But what’s next? “I really don’t know what’s next, you know I’d love to get in the magazine space or styling…” Her voice trails, as though to leave her options open. And why not?
In the meantime, outside her role at the Gap, Eadie has had stints as a host for a Macy’s New York party for Fashion’s Night Out, model for Cover Girl makeup, and been featured in a legion of posts from other fashion bloggers who in some cases, grudgingly commend her for her style.
For now, though, Eadie could easily just stick with hosting store openings and still turn a profit. Brands are indeed keeping their eye on bloggers like Eadie because for that wildly important Millenial demographic, the fashion blogger can have far more credibility than a Suzy Menkes or Sally Singer. Already Eadie’s blog has racked up a healthy handful of advertisers, and it’s no wonder.
Why? Simply because bloggers like Eadie are “real” people who are inventing their own style and discovering brands and ways of dressing that has less to do with the runway, and more to do with their mood or pop culture references.
They effortlessly mix and match, high and low. Never mind that the majority of these “it’s just me and my daily looks” bloggers are so frighteningly on-trend that one can’t help but wonder how many brands are sending boxes of clothes to them. By and large, they are the People’s Fashion Editor, sifting and culling looks obsessively and efficiently. Their narcissism has turned them into a commodifiable product — they’re selling clothes, and themselves.
Alice + Olivia is a brand so perfectly suited to the “girly-girl,” that urban ingénue in search of her self — a description which not-so-coincidentally describes Blair Eadie. Here in just one night, several dozen girls drained four cases of pink champagne and raided the store’s clothing racks, thanks in large part to the pull of a blogger named Blair Eadie, who made it all seem so effortless and so very, super-fun.
The young woman standing in a queue is a walking billboard for about a half-dozen luxury brands, from her LV belt to her Gucci bag, not to mention a couple of barrettes in her hair that probably don’t come from Chanel but have the double-C logo. She’s not waiting in line to buy another luxury handbag, though, she’s actually waiting to buy a ticket to see a fashion exhibition on the late Alexander McQueen.
Only a few years ago, boosting attendance at museums was a heady challenge for curators, faced with a generation less accustomed to going to museums to “see a bunch of old paintings,” as one friend characterized it.
Until now.
Museums around the world are suddenly reaping the benefits of major funding from some of the world’s top fashion brands and developing flashy exhibitions designed to showcase their heritage. Last year’s McQueen show was a phenomenon all its own, drawing over 5 million visitors. On its last night the Metropolitan Museum, which mounted the exhibition, stayed open until midnight.
In Beijing, Louis Vuitton’s exhibition, “Voyages” at the National Museum in Tiananmen Square drew throngs who stood in line for hours to see iconic pieces from the archives, as well as some of the more sensationalistic concepts dreamed up for the brand’s nouveau riche clientele.
Quick on their heels are nearly a dozen other brands who have or will soon mount major exhibitions, including Ferragamo, Van Cleef and Arpels, Prada, Valentino, Jean Paul Gaultier, Dior, and Vivienne Westwood — all eager to boast of their esteemed heritage of craft and design. Many of these very same brands are opening their own museums. Louis Vuitton, for instance, is currently building a massive space designed by Frank Gehry in the Bois de Boulogne and slated to open in 2013.
So how did fashion become such a sure bet for museums?
Thank technology and the Internet for bringing fashion to the masses, not to mention the scores of magazines that carefully note what each celebrity is wearing. Now more than ever, there is a hungry and educated audience for what once was the rarefied world of the very rich. The craft of haute couture and bespoke accessories has captured the imaginations of a public which now is even more keenly aware that the humble craftsman has become nearly obsolete. Ah, but luxury marketing tells us it is alive and well, with magical things seemingly made by magical elves. All for a less than magical price. More importantly, now everyone knows that the ultimate status symbol is a something from one of the big 4 luxury brands: Gucci, Louis Vuitton, Chanel, and Hermes.
Fashion exhibitions are essentially marketing exercises masquerading as high art — which is not to say that fashion is not art, however it is an art specifically designed with commerce in mind. Monet and Van Gogh didn’t paint pictures and think about how an exhibition might help extend their brand into tote bags and dentist office posters.
In the retail business, we call them “heritage” exhibitions, which is a more dignified way of saying “we need a new vehicle to build our audience.” Exhibitions not only help communicate the brand story, they also showcase the signatures and trademarks that signify authenticity. In a world of counterfeits and knockoffs, that’s important.
“It is a way of speaking about the savoir faire, the creator, the house and its history,” explains Sydney Toledano, CEO of Christian Dior, in a recent New York Times article. The Dior exhibition in Russia was a huge hit with record-breaking attendance. “The 150,000 people who go to the Pushkin understand that Mr. Dior was an artist and that there is a way of contemplating the dresses with fine art.”
Fashion exhibitions also grant the hoi-polloi temporary access to a world they probably will never come in contact with while elevating the modest purchase of, say, a bottle of Chanel No. 5. It’s no secret that fragrance and cosmetic sales are key sales drivers for luxury brands, garnering more profit share than the sale of a dozen or so haute couture gowns.
More importantly though, these exhibitions bolster the image of luxury brands which tend to come under attack in harsh economic times – hence the sudden flurry of exhibitions in the past two years. An exhibition removes the context of social class and instead displays the more benign image of craftsman and designer.
But when is it “art” and when is it just a glorified advertisement? Who is truly the curator with such an exhibition and at what point is a commercial brand subject to the same scrutiny and criticism as any other retrospective exhibition of fine art?
It’s hard not to point fingers at Louis Vuitton, which has taken the heritage exhibition model and made it a major part of how it gathers its disciples together to worship — and shop — in its temples of luxury. Nowhere have they done that more than in China, but the rest of the world is just as much of a target.
A Vuitton exhibition of trunks and bespoke mallerie at Paris’s Carnavelet Museum drew over 60,000 visitors while one at the Shanghai World Expo saw an estimated 11 million visitors. Consider what the conversion rate might be for that oh-so-important Chinese customer — imagine how many ended up buying a bag or wallet after seeing that exhibition.
“Exhibitions give us the possibility to invent innovative ways of storytelling,” says Pietro Beccari, executive vice president at Louis Vuitton, quoted in a story for WWD. Storytelling, as many of you who read my blog know, is the foundation to great branding.
I would concur. An exhibition must have integrity and highlight a clearly defined focus that has weight regardless of who the designer or brand might be, and offer a view into the world of creativity, purposeful design, and the visionary mind of an artist and his material.
Read More: “Fashion’s Exhibitionist Streak,”WWD, 5/27/11; “Is Fashion Really Museum Art?” New York Times 07/05/2011.
Upcoming Exhibitions: “Louis Vuitton – Marc Jacobs,” 9 March – 16 September 2012. Musee des Arts Decoratifs, Paris.”The Fashion World of Jean-Paul Gaultier:From the Sidewalk to the Catwalk,” 24 March – 19 August 2012. De Young Museum San Francisco. “Van Cleef & Arpels: l’Art de la Haute Joallerie,” 20 September – 10 February 2013. Musee des Arts Decoratifs, Paris.
It’s been almost a decade now that the financial services sector has looked to balance their online brand strategy with a more robust retail strategy. After years of telling consumers to do everything online, it was time to bring them back into the “store” (the word “bank” is rarely used anymore.)
Bank of America is one mega-corporation that saw early on the opportunity to capitalize on their branch experience.
A few years ago I worked with the firm to develop a retail prototype that would maximize not only the perception of the B of A brand but showcase the different products and services the bank offered in a compelling, interactive bricks-and-mortar environment (to learn more about this project see the case study on our portfolio page, or click here.)
Similarly, Charles Schwab capitalized on the idea of demystifying investment banking by creating clean and modern environments where clients can go to “Talk to Chuck.” The more relaxed approach has paid off.
In a brief dated July 8, 2011, Bain and Company described the firm’s turnaround as “a dramatic recovery” after several years of negative losses in customer retention.
What are they doing right? They have fortified their online experience and a relatively ordinary portfolio of services with a robust and dedicated retail strategy that exponentially elevates the customer experience and in turn, the perception of the brand.
ING Direct is arguably, younger, hipper, and bolder in how it markets its products. For the past 12 years the brand has invested heavily in creating what they call “cafés,” casual spaces that are open to the public and which less overtly market their products and services.
The newly opened San Francisco café at 101 Post Street features conference rooms that can be booked for any purpose, free of charge, and a children’s area where they can be taught the fundamentals of saving and investing. Equally important, though, is its location directly across the street from Schwab’s flagship.
To view them side by side, the casual observer might think ING’s space is an art gallery or event space, and depending on your age and demographic, you might be drawn to one over the other. ING is betting their concept will win on innovation alone, not to mention the fact that they offer a vastly different approach to talking about money.
On our visit, it was a largely post-boomer generation who were using the space — as well as business start-up kids who were using the cafe as their office. While not all of them were engaging directly with the brand, they were soaking in it: signage, digital dashboard monitors, books by ING founder and CEO Arkadi Kuhlmann, and miscellaneous freebies were everywhere.
“We believe banking shouldn’t have to be complex and intimidating,” says Jeff Mirabello, spokesperson for ING. “It should be simple — like having a cup of coffee. The idea [of the café] married well with our mission and our brand message.”
The ING café features lots of open space and natural light, polished concrete floors, casual seating, and bursts of ING’s signature orange. The espresso bar anchors the entire ground floor and offers sandwiches, and healthy snacks (ING has subcontracted the F&B to Peet’s Coffee.)
We saw a half-dozen or so visitors who were using the space as if it was an ordinary café, surfing the internet (thanks to the free WiFi), and even having meetings. ING Direct staffers float around casually, using the open space plan as their office. Corner areas equipped with computers and informational material offer staff a place to talk about products with prospective clients.
Does it bring them more business? “It’s a different approach but it’s one we feel has really paid off,” says Mirabello.
Zachary Beattie, the San Francisco café manager, agrees. “Most of our products are pretty transparent, so the issue of a traditional environment doesn’t really apply. That’s what this open space is about.”
Virtually everyone working in the café — that includes the baristas — is able to talk about ING’s services. “If someone’s paying with a Bank of America card, we might ask them ‘how is the bank treating you?’ ” says Charles Heston, the café’s assistant manager and head of business development.
At 17,000 square feet, the cafe is a major commitment. The building has three floors, one of which will eventually operate as an art gallery. The San Francisco location is the company’s eighth in the United States, and it’s largest cafe to date.
“As more and more financial business is conducted online, people need a place to help anchor their belief in the institution,” says Mirabello. “The cafes were created as a means to provide first-hand experience of the ING Direct culture.”.
Indeed, “Culture” is the very essence of what any brand hopes it can impart on consumers, which is why they spend millions of dollars a year on advertising and marketing to communicate their distinct brand experience — and while the cost of a retail space isn’t cheap, it has the power to function as a three-dimensional controlled environment of total brand purity.
Still, consumer advocates have charged that ING’s café strategy is more an effort to avoid federal regulatory requirements under the Community Reinvestment Act, a law that requires banks to lend money to low and moderate-income borrowers. The cafés actually bypass that law by allowing the cafés to act as “agency offices” — in other words, they’re not officially operating as a bank — which is why ING likes to underscore the words “cafe” and “community” when they talk about these spaces.
Either way, ING’s café is an innovative approach to brand marketing that redefines how financial and brokerage services are sold to the consumer, and a sign of how the services sector will more than likely transition into the lifestyle sector with retail spaces that are hyphenated and function beyond their actual intent.
ODE Magazine in partnership with ING Direct presents, “Financial Innovation 2.0” featuring ING founder and CEO Arkadi Kuhlmann. February 1, 2012, 5-8 P.M. at Fort Mason’s Cowell Theatre in San Francisco. To register, click here.
A fashion director with a major U.S. department store once advised me to mark the passing of a decade and one’s advanced years (how “advanced” am I?) with an “important” and luxurious gift.
He had already “gifted” himself a massive black Kelly bag that seemed to enter the room before he did.
At a recent Hermès men’s event at the retailer’s San Francisco store, there were more than a few young men who clearly weren’t waiting for their later years to carry a coveted Kelly or Birkin. The event was clearly targeted to San Francisco’s affluent gay demographic — or at least those who aren’t shy about carrying a handbag.
The bronzed, buffed, and polished boyish-types entered as casually as they could, but were oh-so-keenly aware that all eyes were on the luxury bag slung in the crook of their arm.
With a starting price of roughly $7,000 (and upwards to $100K or more), you would think one bag would probably be enough. However, tonight raised doubts in the minds of many.
There were two new arrivals at the store on this balmy evening— a 40cm “Kelly” in olive-brown and a 50cm Birkin in deep Indigo. Within forty minutes, three contenders came forward to claim the bags, each gravitating from one to the other.
With white cotton gloves, the sales associate carefully removed the giant Birkin from the vitrine, and one rather sweaty man pawed it and then put it on his arm. It appeared the sale was done. Nevertheless, after wearing it in the store for almost 25 minutes, the bag returned to the counter. Other less likely candidates took the bags out for a spin on the floor, enjoying the attention from admirers.
Largely ignored in the center of the store was the in-house leather craftsman, Dominique Michaux, who was in the process of assembling a fuchsia-pink Kelly. He carefully sewed each piece, fusing the leather seams with a heat-rod, and then painting them with matching dye. It was a strangely mesmerizing process.
“This is only for demonstration, “ explained Michaux. “Because Hermès bags are only made in France.” This “Theatre of Manufacturing” was for me, the real highlight of the evening, watching the zen-like simplicity of how two hands and a handful of tools can slowly materialize an object that is so sublimely beautiful — and deceptively simple.
Alas, most at the event were transfixed by a different kind of theatre, the “Theatre of the Purchase.”
The two bags continued to make their way around the room from one sales associate to another, each hoping that their customer would follow through on closing the sale.
Enter contender No. 2, a tall, slender Asian man wearing head-to-toe Hermes (and already carrying an Hermès Evelyne shoulder bag) came forward and murmured to the associate that he wished to purchase the 40” Kelly.
Contender No. 3 quickly replaced him; a young man in a checkered shirt (and Hermes loafers) with dyed red hair and a face powdered an opaque white. He made it very clear he was definitely going to buy the giant Birkin — once his mother wired the money to his account.
“His mother is also my client,” confided the associate. The man spent the better part of the night on the phone. Like a stock trader, he paced about the store and spoke quietly behind a cupped hand; on his wrist, a diamond bracelet studded with perhaps twenty large baguettes that sparkled as he gestured, in time with the giant diamond studs in his ears.
Meanwhile others hovered over the Kelly, caressing it gently as if it were a newborn baby.
Across the room, two nearly identical men in beards tried on matching Alligator coats, at approximately $100,000 each. They paused to sip their champagne and admire one another.
At last, the young man in the checkered shirt was able to call the Birkin his own. One could only imagine his father in a boardroom somewhere, succumbing to a feverish campaign from his wife and son to allow the wiring of $11,500.
By evening’s end, there was little left but empty champagne glasses and two very empty spaces in the main vitrine where the two bags once sat. Through it, we could see Monsieur Michaux working away on a bag that would very likely never be finished.
Hermès San Francisco is located at 125 Grant Avenue. For inquiries please call (415)391 – 7200. www.hermès.com.
When Karl Lagerfeld collaborated with H&M in 2004, it was hailed as a marketing coup and both critics and consumers alike universally praised the collection. It was the dawn of the “designer collaboration” which by now has become nearly ubiquitous from virtually every name-brand designer.
Macy’s was late to the collaboration party but nonetheless, has churned out several in association with its Impulse department. You would have thought Macy’s would lead their efforts with Lagerfeld rather than with Matthew Williamson, who’s collection kicked off the Macy’s Impulse collaboration series. One had to wonder if the Macy’s customer was even remotely familiar with the designer.
At the launch of the Karl Lagerfeld for Impulse Collection, which will be available in 235 doors, it was hard to tell if the collaboration would make as much of an impact as it did when the designer famously launched a sold-out collection at H&M.
While pieces like the crisp, white blouse were instantly identifiable as a “Chanel-like” look, other pieces — like an extremely heavy coat dress with the texture of an oven mitt — did not seem to win anyone over.
You simply had to wonder what they were thinking when, with a simple LBD, a very Lagerfeld white collar was ruthlessly tacked down to the dress itself, instantly turning it into a See’s Candies uniform.
The winners were few but they went fast: a soft chiffon dress in a burnt brown with a starched white collar; a ruched black dress with a high neck; or one of several super-soft t-shirts and tanks with a sketch of Karl on the front.
And just in case you forgot you were shopping at Macy’s: racks were merchandised with the large sizes on the outside rather than on the inside. With price-points starting at $50 and hovering at $100, this will most likely be Macy’s most successful collaboration to date.