Influx

UK retailer Marks and Spencer is a strange hybrid; it sells both food, homewares and clothes which means it faces tough competition from a number of different players. Keeping the brand relevant and differentiated is critical and to do this the company recently announced a plan costing close to $1...

Take something from one place and put somewhere unexpected and you create some impact. So when the wool producers want to get the attention of the tailors of London's Savile Row, there's one really impactful way to do it, bring the sheep to the street.  It's was all part of a campaign to...

Detailed facts and knowledge that were previously available to experts are now accessible to all. Everyone can pretend to understand what the experts are talking about and everyone can see how they work. Also, with the proliferation of content, creators are now looking at this expert information as...

Great profile piece on Threadless, a 2.0 brand, in this month's Inc magazine."Nickell started talking about his company. Threadless, he explained, ran design competitions on an online social network. Members of the network submitted their ideas for T-shirts -- hundreds each week -- and then voted...

It’s interesting how brands are starting to embrace the broader lifestyle concept surrounding the environment. One tactic to broaden the idea is to partner with other like-minded companies to generate a halo effect. Saab, a company not necessarily known for its green credentials, but is now...

The well-known Swedish fashion company H&M enters a new phase. H&M always followed the same route: cheap trendy fashion. Now they enter a new phase. By buying the upcoming Swedish fashion company Fabric Scandinavien (behind brands like Sunday Sun , Cheap Monday . HM enters a new role as a...

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...

Sweden is a country that’s been on everyone’s agenda for the past few years. People have been marveling at the entrepreneurship and creativity coming out of the place, which is due to the deep pool of talent and the emergence of a new “can do” attitude. In the last year or...

There once was a time when art sponsorship was a subtle thing; brands used to discretely put their logos onto the promotional materials and leave it at that. Those were the days when art and commerce were kind of separate, in the last few years we’ve seen much more of coming together of the...

A couple of golden products have been introduced in recent weeks, is it a case of "bling" moving into the world of consumer technology?1. The Gold MacNot something available in the Apple store, but a custom job using diamonds and 24k gold made by Computer Choppers2. Lacie Golden DiscA hard drive...

The ugly footwear brand Crocs has in a couple of years come from knowhere to cultural phenom. I don't recall ever having seen any form of traditional communication for the brand- no ads of any type, but a ton of people talk about them and you sure remember them when you see them around.Clearly...

Swedish cheap-chic retailer H&M (Hennes & Mauritz) plans to open 500 to 1,000 U.S. stores in the U.S., according to www.just-style.com.Other fast-fashion retailers Zara (19 U.S. stores) and Mango (20 U.S. stores by the end of 2007) from Spain and Britain’s Topshop (3 U.S. stores by...

"Help,” pled the email.  “Renee is celebrating a benchmark birthday next month and all she wants is St John.”  This from my hipster uncle who’s always had a thing for sophisticated women.  But this request was very specific.  Renee wanted old school St...