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Department stores have been trying for years to turn their private label offerings into real brands.

Most attempts have failed because they are just names with no deeper meanings making it impossible for them to compete with the genuine article.

JC Penny clearly understood the weakness in this approach and went outside to the brand master, Ralph Lauren to create its latest offering, American Living.

What's interesting about this concept, is although it has touches of Lauren's style all over it, he's created another world for the department store. Lauren's past success has been driven by the clever balancing act between present and past, His ideas were classical, but they were always believable in a contemporary context.

American Living is different, it's unabashed in highlighting the past as its inspiration. The web site suggests that the concept is anchored around the General Store and is rooted in a time when American's were practical, had a sense of humor and dreamed of a better life. This is no daily commute from the suburbs.

It's fascinating to see such a shift to the past in a country that's usually so wrapped up in the future.

Something has changed and perhaps the future no longer looks so bright.

In such a world, we are going to cling to the icons of the past for re-assurance and confirmation of who we are and where we stand.

American Living is just one example of the nostalgia for the past that America is now craving in everything from its cars to its politicians.

It's a force that cannot be ignored.


Posted by Ed Cotton Fortune has a good story about VF's Nautica brand, which seems to be having some trouble competing with department store brands and the category leader Polo.

VF has long adopted a strategy of acquiring brands with limited distribution and leveraging its muscle at a department store level, to grow them. It now looks like this strategy is coming undone. Department stores are in love with the margins that private label can achieve and some have even gone out to seek the services of Ralph Lauren to help them develop their own-label brands.

This makes life tough for VF, it can no longer rely on department store distribution as a given and has to invest in building these acquired brands through broad scale communication and brand experiences.

Fortune, even notes one of Nautica's major weaknesses is that it has no stand-alone stores and I noticed it doesn't yet have e-commerce on its website, although this is coming in 08.


Posted by Ed Cotton Consolidation is happening everywhere and it's always assumed that brands get brought and sold.

Although the whole notion of branding is based on making strong emotional connections with consumers, I wonder if many CFOs really understand branding.

Perhaps they see branding as a tool for operational efficiency- a way to make everything the same, so there don't have to be multiple versions or ad, signage and training binders.

Most of the time this consoldiation happens and it goes un-noticed, consumers have come to expect it, especially in categories like banking and teleommunications.

However, once in a while, consumers get upset when they see one of their beloved brands crushed by another, It looks like Macy's might be under attack in Chicago for getting rid of Marshall Field's.

"It’s been a year since Marshall Field’s vanished to make way for Macy’s. To mark the occasion, dozens of protesters gathered outside Macy’s huge State Street store, suggesting shoppers boycott the retailer and demanding a return of the Field’s imprint.

Chants of “Field’s is Chicago, Boycott Macy’s!” were heard and signs reading “Macy’s Go Home!” fluttered in the air. Protesters wore the green that distinguished Marshall Field’s shopping bags -- and a handful of women decked out in colorful 1890s-style dresses and hats -- marched around the square-block store, and drew honks from passing cars.

The store is one of about 400 properties nationwide converted last year to the Macy’s nameplate by Cincinnati-based Federated Department Stores Inc., which acquired them when it bought May Department Stores Co. in 2005. The move gave Federated more than 800 Macy’s stores in 45 states, the District of Columbia, Guam and Puerto Rico. Federated then changed its name to Macy’s Inc."

Via Pantagraph

One would think that Macy's did a little bit of research before they made the decision, perhaps a survey and some focus groups. They also would know that authenticity is an important consumer trend and that brands with heritage and history have considerable value. Perhaps they did all this and ignored the findings, because in the end, operational efficiency trumps brand meaning.

Finally, if anyone knows of any research on CFOs attitudes to brands and branding, please share.


Posted by Ed Cotton