We Love Kate Spade
We’ve loved the Kate Spade brand for a long time. But, what we’re loving even more is the announcement of a new line, Kate Spade Saturday, targeting a younger demographic and at a lower price point. We’re excited about the news and looking forward to seeing what this means for the in-store environment. Kate Spade New York stores are known for the brand’s signature storytelling style and colorful brand personality, and we’re hoping “Saturday” will bring the same upbeat energy. Stay tuned; you know we’ll be watching.
We all love to sample things—from perfumes, taste testing at the grocery store to wine tastings. Retail and manufacturer brands have caught on and discovered that sampling helps expose customers to new products and are more likely to purchase if they try before they buy. Understanding that approach, and in an effort to help cut through the clutter and find products that really work, young entrepreneurs Hayley Barna and Katia Beauchamp (who met at Harvard Business School) co-founded the beauty sampling program, Birchbox. How it works: subscriptions can be purchased for as little as three months for $30 or as long as a year for $110. Each month, a box is delivered to your doorstep featuring five new beauty and lifestyle products.
Image via birchbox.com
What’s unique about this sampling program is that it’s not just a random collection of items thrown together in a box. Products are first sampled by Birchbox staff and curated each month to support a theme. For example, March’s Birchbox theme was “Spring Training.” To help whip customers’ beauty routine into shape, they selected lifestyle products such as Kusmi’s detoxifying tea, Supergoop’s sunscreen wipes, Yogini’s “scent of liberation” and a few other goodies, all with the goal of getting the recipients’ beauty regimen on the right track.
Images via savannahnow.com, facebook.com/burgerking, beautyandbeyond.com
Editor’s Note: Once in awhile we come across something noteworthy and we want to share it with our readers. However, due to a variety of reasons (it’s too new to obtain research, it’s in a far-away land that we can’t quite reach, etc.) we don’t quite know what to do about it other than tell you “Hey. This is amazing and you should know about it.” Show & Tell is a collection of those recent things.
1. In a recent post celebrating National Mom & Pop business day, we mentioned our Intelligence Report “When Creativity Trumps Budget: What Big Brands Can Teach Indies.” One of the Big Ideas we feature in our report is “Fostering New Talent.” We were delighted when we spotted The Limited doing just that! They’ve partnered with Savannah College of Art & Design (SCAD) to offer a unique jewelry collection to customers—created by students. The Limited’s CEO, Linda Heasley explained, “We were very fortunate. It was all done under the spirit of teaching and training and learning. We were thrilled that SCAD chose to do this with us. I’m very proud of the collection.” You can find the jewelry in stores starting in 2012.
Check out this video to find out more about this partnership that provided students with real business experience.
2. Food trucks have gone mainstream, just as we predicted last year in our own exploration of the mobile food market. This time, fast-food chain Burger King is testing out the idea. We heard awhile back that the chain would be delivering burgers to your home (within a specific proximity to local restaurants), but now the burger chain has gone one step further by literally taking operations on the road. We’re excited to hear how consumers respond to the initiative. We think food trucks create interest because of the unique offer and the convenience factor. Not to mention, it’s a great way to introduce new products which is exactly what the burger giant is rumored to be doing—using food trucks to introduce new menu items. They’ve launched new salads and fruit smoothies through a line up of celebrity endorsements including Sophia Vergara, Jay Leno, David Beckham and Salma Hayek. Check out the commercials here.
We’ll just have to wait and see if burger lovers love the new mode of fast food “delivery.” Remember—convenience is king.
Click here to read more about Burger King taking the Whopper (and more) to the streets.
3. Recently opened within Fred Segal in Santa Monica is the first beauty store operated by a magazine. Readers of NewBeauty are now able to find all of the products featured on the pages of this popular publication in one place. Products are accompanied by relevant editorial content allowing them to find the right product solution for their need. Beauty experts offer advice and product demonstrations, and an on-site video editorial staff is there to conduct customer interviews about the products. One customer described it as “putting the pages of the magazine on the shelf.” Check out the video below to hear more rave reviews from the magazine’s readers.
At the Builders’ Show in February, Sherwin-Williams launched the new interactive paint tool, Chip It! The first-of-its-kind, web-based app allows users to select any online image and instantly identify the Sherwin-Williams paint colors that correspond to the hues contained within the picture.
Image via letschipit.com
I’ve been intrigued by the various paint palette generators out there, but this one has me addicted and is the most user-friendly among the ones I’ve come across. Just like the online pinboard site, Pinterest, you download a similar application like “Pin It” (in this case, “Chip It”) to your browser’s toolbar which allows you to take any image of choice and “Chip It.” Using Sherwin-Williams’ wide array of paint colors (1,500+), a paint palette inspired by the image will develop. The generator draws five primary colors and once you view it on the Sherwin-Williams site, you can view even more accent colors.
“We know that finding the right color is often one of the biggest challenges when tackling the painting aspect of a project,” says Jackie Jordan, director of color marketing for Sherwin-Williams. “Our customers seek inspiration from a wide range of places. We want to help them take that inspiration and turn it into a reality.”
It’s a win with consumers who can now use the colors that inspire them while surfing the web to help make paint color decisions easier. And you can save and sort your “ChipCards” in customized “ChipBooks” to return to for inspiration on your next home project. Another plus is that you don’t have to create and remember one more username and password combo, because Chip It! uses your Facebook log-in information for the site. So smart. So simple. So addictive.
During a quick jaunt to NYC, practically running through the upper east side, this curious exterior caught my eye. From across Madison Avenue, I had to pause and take a quick snapshot of Lanvin’s faux exterior. The life-sized graphic construction barrier brings to life illustrations that reflect creative director Alber Elbaz’ famous sketch style.
Images via lanvin.com
We love when retailers get creative with their construction cover-up, just like Dior and St. Stephen’s Cathedral did. It’s the perfect opportunity to use the barrier as a blank canvas to express your brand, draw shoppers’ attention and create some excitement around the store!
Images via mymodernmet.com, racked.com, etsy.com/shop/luciusart
Editor’s Note: Once in awhile we come across something noteworthy and we want to share it with our readers. However, due to a variety of reasons (it’s too new to obtain research, it’s in a far-away land that we can’t quite reach, etc.) we don’t quite know what to do about it other than tell you “Hey. This is amazing and you should know about it.” Show & Tell is a collection of those recent things.
1. The Saguaro Hotel in Palm Springs will chase your blues away with a bright and colorful rainbow scheme! Born from the team who developed the Ace Hotel, the Sydell Group turned an old Palm Springs Holiday Inn into their second Saguaro Hotel, a chic modern ode to ROY.G.BIV. Architects Peter Stamberg and Paul Aferiat referenced wild flowers native to the Southwest when developing the cheerful color palette. The 245-room hotel just opened in February, “bringing with it elevated design, delicious food and simple comfort.” The photos will no doubt make you want to book your next getaway! We’re sure it’ll become a favorite hot spot of many vacationers.
Click here to see more photos of the vivid spectrum that is The Sagurao Hotel.
2. Tangerine Tango, the official Pantone color of the year, has spawned a partnership between Sephora and Pantone. A temporary store near Sephora’s Meatpacking District location was open for eight days to promote the new collection inspired by…you guessed it…Tangerine Tango! The storefront is a giant replication of the Pantone color swatch book and will feature a 23-foot-high door mechanized to fan open in the same manner as the book. Inside you can buy almost any beauty product imaginable—from tangerine crème lipstick and orange-flecked false eyelashes—in the signature color. Color experts from Pantone are live to consult with customers and Sephora staffers carry mobile POS units to check you out on the spot, à la Apple store.
Click here for more information on the pop-up store and its hours.
3. Yes, we’re guinea pigs. And we love it! Columbus, OH was recently featured in a CBS Sunday Morning Show segment showcasing our beloved the city as the test market in the U.S. We come in all demographics here. We’ve got The Ohio State University, dozens of other colleges making the student population “massive,” not to mention creativity, diversity and corporate culture. Tracy Turner for CBS said it best; “It all adds up to a near-perfect cross-section of the country’s consumers.”
Alex Fischer of the Columbus partnership explains, “It’s Middle America—but that doesn’t mean it’s average.” He goes on to describe that if you rake America together, you’d find Columbus, which is why so many of the world’s greatest brands and up-and-comers call Columbus home.
We at Chute Gerdeman find Columbus to be a vibrant community of ideas that that are constantly being tested in real America. Sometimes we only have to open our front door for an opportunistic perspective.
