Marketing and age recognition: a balancing act

Time article “Who’s Holding the Handbag” discusses the growing trend of women shopping with the mothers as a way for fashion sense to move from daughter to parent.

Unlike their mothers, boomer women don’t want to adopt the ladies-who-lunch look, but at the same time they want to avoid that mutton-dressed-as-lamb look.

“What we hear women say,” says Doug Harrison of the Harrison Group, a research firm that conducts surveys for LVMH, Neiman Marcus and others, “is they want clothes that ‘make me feel like I’ve still got it but acknowledge that I’m mature and I’ve accomplished something.’”

I’m a bit surprised by the Harrison’s remarks since any age recognition can tank a brand. In 2006, Gap launched 19 Forth & Towne locations, “created for a new generation of grown-up women, Forth & Towne inspires and encourages women to look as fabulous as they feel.” The new retailer crashed and burned in under a year. Women simply were not willing to be seen shopping in a store dedicated to the 35+ market.

Fast Company blogger Adam Hanft shared his thoughts on the chain’s failure

A 42-year old woman who walks into a department store isn’t making a public branding statement about her being 42, as she does when she walks into Forth & Towne. Hence the plug-pulling.

The Gap’s flop with female boomers mirrors a larger challenge. Marketers are salivating over the buying power of this market, but don’t quite know how to target them without turning their brands into Centrum Silver. Even more progressive marketers, like Fidelity, who are trotting out boomer icons, are running a risk. Because the more obvious your messaging becomes, the more obvious your failures will be.

As long as 60 is the new 40 or 40 is the new 30, consumers are going to seek to turn the clock back and not fully embrace the person their years have granted them.  When is American consumer culture going to embrace life as a cycle, not a linear experience, and focus on putting quality in our years, instead of quantity in our years?

Just for fun: Safety shoes for dogs

Police officers in Duesseldorf Germany are taking care of their canine force of 20. In searching for a solution to high paw injury rate (it seems there’s a lot of broken glass in the street), the department discovered special shoes for sensitive puppy paws.

Zak’s Favorite Things of 2007

In an effort to back up my criticism of Oprah’s very lame Favorite Things of 2007, I offer you my take on great gifting this holiday season. Since I spend a lot of time researching great products for donation outreach for a variety of non-profit events, I’m always stumbling across great products. I offer you ten such items below, in no particular order.

1. As a tribute to Oprah’s obsession with kitchen products this year, I want to start with an enviroment-friendly shopping option. Reuseable grocery bags are growing in popularity since it’s finally sunk in that when asked “paper or plastic,” neither is a great option for the environment. I suggest Get Hip Get Green as a stylish reusable bag option, even better that the bag itself is made of recycled plastic.
2. Dogearred created the Make-A-Wish necklace which would be a sweet gift for girlfriends or daughters. You simply make your wish and wear the string necklace with a tiny wishbone charm until the necklace falls off, bringing your wish to fruition.

   

3. Speaking of dogs, Cloudstar makes Organic Buddy Biscuits that are sure to be a winner around the water bowl. The little smiling , gingerman-shaped treats come in flavors like roasted chicken, sweet potato madness and bacon and cheese. You can also choose between chewy or crunchy biscuit options. . . be sure to pick up a few “Wag More, Bark Less” bumper stickers for the people in your life.

   

4. Threadless T-Shirts are a great opportunity to buy a friend a limited edition tee that won’t be found on the racks of any retailer. Threadless runs an ongoing “contest,” inviting people to submit tee designs. The winners are printed up and sold on the site with a portion of the profits kicked back to the designer. The tees are sold in a variety of cuts and colors for men, women and children. Sport sayings such as “Movies: Ruining The Book Since 1920,” or images like “Tragedy Struck” (see below) all in good fun.

   

5. I’m a self-proclaimed foodie. Who doesn’t love discovering unusual gourmet treats to try. I was delighted to run across San Diego restaurant Spread’s array of peanut and almond butters. Handmixed, they come in small plastic jars with enough of the treat for 4 sandwiches. I thoroughly enjoyed the dark chocolate almond; with flavors like cinnamon cherry peanut, dark chocolate lavender peanut, and sexual chocolate almond I’ll be ordering again. Running from about $8 to upwards of $35 per jar; these spreads make a great hostess gift.
   

   

6. Scent a room or your body k.hall designs’s almond cocoa-scented products for bath, body and home. This company has mastered the art of less is more, with a fragrance just strong enough to faintly linger, but not so much as to be overwhelming. From shower pastes and gels to shea butter creams to candles and linen sprays, k.hall designs can cover gifts for the girls or make for a great hostess gift

   

7. Corazonas Tortilla chips are made from oats, plant sterols and soybeans. Ok, so maybe that wasn’t the best opener for Zak’s favorite thing #7. Plant sterols have been shown to lower cholesterol, and the chip is chock full of complex carbohydrates, so it’s healthy junkfood. And you know what, those chips are darn tasty too. I got to sample them at the recent California Governor’s Conference for Women. So encourage healthy snacking, and look for yummy flavors like Salsa Picante, Margarita Lime, Jalapeno Jack and Baja Bean dip at a grocery store near you!

   

8. Let’s face it. Letter writing is a lost art in the age of e-mail. But now and again, a person note adds a special touch that will make you stand head and shoulders above the crowd. Help friends and family make that gesture a memorable one. I suggest Bella Bella Co. They provide stylish and, alternately, elegant couture note cards that can be bought in singles or in sets. Yes, there is more than one way to leave a lasting impression. Why not personalize a set as a gift?

   

9. Everyone has pictures of someone they care about. Now it’s easy to update and rotate your picture collection using a digital frame. Store your jpgs on an online account that your frame can access via Wi-Fi. Update your pictures from anywhere in the world and share them with friends and family for their own use.
10. Though I don’t personally own one, the Nintento Wii seems failsafe. Senior citizens in nursing homes are rediscovering past times like bowling that have been lost to arthritic joints. Kids are getting a workout while boxing and dancing along with their game. Given the family friendly game choices, it’s a piece of technology that could unite rather than further fragment family.

    

There you have it folks, 10 way more original suggestions than Oprah’s Favorite things. Could there be another installation next holiday season? You just never know.

 

I’m a Barbie Girl

I grew up on Barbies; I played with Barbies long after it was no longer cool to do so (and was made fun of accordingly). Once I aged out of playing with dolls, I upgraded to collecting them. It pains me now to think, if I had just kept my first Happy Holidays barbie in her box, I could put a dent in my debt just through the sale of one doll in MINT condition. Dolls are second to only stamps, as far as collector’s items are concerned.

This week Brandweek ran an article entitled “Mattel Introduces Barbie-Inspired Clothing Line.” I admit, that for a moment, I was very excited. Before clicking on the article, I thought Mattel would be bringing Barbie fashions to the clothing racks for women to wear. Isn’t fantasy part of being a Barbie collector? I’ve long dreamed of being as stylish as Trend Forecaster Barbier (1999, left) or as chic as Kate Spade Barbie (2004, right).

(credited to BarbieCollector.com)

Instead, Mattel was announcing an exclusive partnership with Patricia Field (the orange-haired costume designer from Sex & the City) that will yield a line of accessories, handbags and apparel that will be sold at Macy’s retailers on the East Coast (why the geographic discrimination? Anyone remember Malibu Barbie?) and Hot Topic stores, as well as at Field’s flagship NYC store. Iconic Barbie images will be included in the 4 basic prints carried across the line’s first offerings.

I’m just going to pull my Kate Spade Barbie out of her box for a moment of revelry, in lieu of spending several hundred dollars on a handbag I don’t need.

For your viewing pleasure,the video for “Barbie Girl” from Aqua’s 1997 album Aquarium. Laden with sexual innuendo, this Barbie Girl isn’t for children.

“Real Beauty” is just a marketing ploy

Dove is taking an interesting approach to branding their company. Here is the latest commercial in Dove’s attempt to get at real beauty via the global Campaign for Real Beauty.

Dove’s US research found that

75% of women agree that beauty does not come from a woman’s looks, but from her spirit and love of life…

The majority of women (78%) believe they are judged more harshly on their physical appearance than men. Moreover, 71% said they wish the media and advertising industry could appreciate the different physical types of women as beautiful. An even higher number (79%) wish a woman could be considered beautiful even if she is not “physically perfect.”

Clearly, women have a greater appreciation of beauty than a size-2 actress starving herself within an inch of her life because the camera adds 15 pounds. Dove is hoping to capitalize on that sentiment with their real beauty campaign. Dove is trying to set itself apart from the rest of the beauty industry by ascribing to the promotion of natural beauty and girlish charm in lieu of the hypersexualization of youth and the promotion of vamped out matchsticks.

Should they get credit for being well-intentioned when the impetus for this about face was likely to be market research that found women unhappy with their portrayal in the media?

Likewise, Anastasia Goodstein over at YPulse reported on Seventeen Magazine’s Body Peace Project, a year long campaign featuring articles and columns focusing on the conflicting depictions of women in the media and from girls’ social circles. Additionally, Seventeen hopes to sign one million girls to the Body Peace Treaty, encouraging young women to stop their unhealthy obsessing about their bodies compared to that of the unrealistic celebrity set.

Goodstein comments that

The last time I flipped through an issue or Seventeen or any teen magazine, it’s filled with ads that show idealized images of beauty, thin models and the same messages this campaign wants girls to make peace with… I’m all for these efforts, don’t get me wrong, but don’t you think teens will see this contradiction, too?…Why not also come out and make a pledge like, “We will no longer airbrush our cover models” or “We are actively engaging our advertisers in a discussion around creative that is more empowering to girls.”

These campaigns both feel like antics to profit off the current trend of promoting real beauty. Neither Dove nor Seventeen are leading the charge to shift the way their entire industries function. Dove is not calling on the beauty industry to promote their products responsibly, featuring realistic portrayals of women. Dove would no longer stand out in the crowd if other companies jumped on that bandwagon. Nor is Seventeen asking for all magazines sold to women to portray healthy women, rather than encourage an obsession with thinness in a nation plagued by obesity. That Seventeen is not choosing to fully embrace their own campaign by refusing to limit advertisements that contradict their encouragement of body peace, shows it to be nothing more than the marketing ploy it is.

Final thought of the day, how many women  can stack up to the models featured on and between magazine covers without the same team of beauty exports.  Check out last year’s Dove ad, Evolution, to see just what it takes to be a centerfold.

Drink Pouches Saved From Landfill

The Drink Pouch Brigade, a Terracycle program encourages people to collect their used drink pouches. “Every year over 30 billion kids drink containers are thrown out in North America. A large portion of these containers are juice pouches” You send 100 empty pouches at a time back to the company, which makes a charitable donation of 2 cents per Honest Kids branded pouch, and 1 cent per competitor. After the pouches are cleaned they are used as the raw materials for bags of various sizes that will ultimately be available for purchase.

Could you imagine the impact if elementary schools across America participated in this program? TerraCycle would be swimming in drink pouches.

I read  The Ecology of Commerce by Paul Hawken at least 5 years ago, but my discover of TerraCycle reminded me of what an inspirational book it is. He discusses the future of green business and how some of the most innovative startups in the 90s looked to create new goods from waste products. Company A starts with raw materials to create a product, leaving behind waste products. Company B finds a way to monetize on those waste products, creating another product, leaving behind a different set of waste products. And so on and so forth. TerraCycle fits into this system wonderfully, creating something new from items we previously deemed disposable.

Ecoist is another great company that works on the same principle. They take misprints and otherwise unusable wrappers from Luna Bar, candy, and gum companies to turn them into stylish accessories. When you buy the products you’ve managed to save a lot of plastic from falling into landfill, and you’ve got a bag or wallet your friends will envy!