Brand Noise

Haagen-Dazs Promotes HoneyBee Buzz

Haagen-Dazs demonstrates some interesting and relevant green marketing with with their "Help the Honeybees" campaign.  Haagen-Dazs uses the campaign to warn that decline of the honeybee could become a big problem for the premium ice cream maker's business. According to Haagen-Dazs, one-third of the U.S. food supply - including a variety of fruits, vegetables and even nuts - depends on pollination from bees.

The campaign works well in promoting a real environmental cause, while also emphasizing the premium and natural positioning of the brand.  It is tied well to the value of the brand and plugs the consumer into what goes into quality ice cream.  Pretty basic.  Real flavors need real fruits - and that needs honeybees.  The campaign includes a new flavor launch called "Vanilla Honeybee" to further promote the cause.

Redefining Luxury: From Excess to Stealth

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Smooth Move for PETA

Aretha Franklin's US$19,000 tax bill will be paid by PETA if she promises never to wear fur again. The Respect singer is close to having her Michigan home repossessed unless she can come up with the money. PETA (People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals) have agreed to settle the bill if she agrees to their terms, which also include handing over her collection of fur coats.

PETA says it's a win-win situation. Interestingly, should Aretha accept the offer and renege on her promise never to wear fur, she will be slammed and PETA will emerge even stronger. Lots of message board controversy wondering why PETA doesn't just donate the money to a shelter. The discourse of buying a celebrity resonates far louder and sustains itself longer than a donation.

Read more.

Human Nature Blocking the Road to Technology

Cars that drive themselves -- even parking at their destination -- could be ready for sale within a decade, General Motors Corp. executives say.

The most significant obstacles facing the vehicles could be human rather than technical: government regulation, liability laws, privacy concerns and people's passion for the automobile and the control it gives them.

Much of the technology already exists for vehicles to take the wheel: radar-based cruise control, motion sensors, lane-change warning devices, electronic stability control and satellite-based digital mapping. And automated vehicles could dramatically improve life on the road, reducing crashes and congestion.

If people are interested…the company plans to test driverless car technology by 2015 and have cars on the road around 2018.

Read more.

(Image: GM's Three-Wheeled Runabout, 1966; source: Paleo-Future.)

HyperLink My World, Please

The Green Holiday catalog from Barney's arrived in the mail yesterday filled with everything from Lanvin shopper bags to organic Levi's. But no sign of what color that fabulous lipstick is on the cover...
In my perfect little world even the Barney's billboard at Mulry Square would have a teeny Semapedia tag that would give me all the info I need--provided all colors were perfectly matched.

Boutiques Fade in LA: New Strategies Required

From late 2005 to early this year, fashion boutiques popped up in L.A. like poodle skirts to a sock hop…Feminine outposts such as Iconology, Presse and Lily Savitch helped turn La Brea Avenue into a high-fashion enclave, while Sienna, Milk and ECookie upped the style quotient on the Westside. This new crop of boutiques was the antithesis of mass-market, offering a tightly edited selection of merchandise that represented the owners' particularly L.A. spin on the trends of the day.

Yet some of their closings and slowdowns have cast a shadow on L.A.'s reputation as an up-and-coming fashion capital…When consumers start tightening their purse strings, high-end retail suffers first.

Years ago, it wouldn't have mattered how deeply department stores discounted their merchandise. They didn't carry the edgier designers...But in an effort to chase the boutique business, department stores including Nordstrom and Macy's have, in recent years, developed new divisions for young, cutting-edge brands.

Tracey Ross said she no longer can afford to buy overly avant-garde pieces -- a shame, considering her keen eye for new design talent. "I love cultivating new designers," she said, "but I can't have pieces in my store that don't sell anymore.

Read the whole story.

Fine Tuning the Language of Russian Luxury

A luxury conference organized by the International Herald Tribune showcased a fine tuning of premium brands to tap into the staggering growth in high-net-worth individuals in Russia. This challenge is similar from China to India to Latin America, they said, though perhaps nowhere is it more crucial than in Russia, a rapidly developing market where huge oil wealth has already helped spawn 53 billionaires.

Unlike wealthy clients in some established markets - like Britain, where a soccer player's wife might drop thousands of pounds during a brief jaunt to Bond Street - Russians like to think about the product, executives said.  Read more (InternationALLHerald Tribune)

Nuanced Disney Princesses in new Bridal Line

Disney and renowned designer Kirstie Kelly today will unveil the "Blossoms" for flower girls collection alongside a new line of bridal gowns inspired by the strength and beauty of each Disney Princess. Kirstie Kelly For Disney's Fairy Tale Weddings will be showcased on the runways this evening as part of New York Bridal Fashion Week. The expanded collection now includes a new line of bridal gowns, "Maidens" for bridesmaids and "Jewels," jewelry and veils, each inspired by the Disney Princesses. (read the full release)

While the level of design has been certainly taken up a notch in this new line by Disney, I am left wondering if the brand can stand up to an increased "trade up" trend in weddings.  It demonstrates a certain lack of imagination or originality on the part of the bride if she chooses something as packaged as this. Disney in this context implies a less sophisticated consumer. Can I hear the bride easily brag that her gown is a Disney Cinderella?  Not sure that works in the context of so many luxury brands becoming far more ubiquitous and accessible to average consumers.  The general execution of the line looks quite good but at the end the day you are buying a Garanimals of sorts.  Not sure that works with the current consumer zeitgeist.

For certain, the brand has traction with those seeking one-stop Disney weddings. The dilemma we see lies outside that group. There, it has two things in its favor: modest pricing $1000-$3000 and a recognized name. In the bridal biz, women learn about bridal gown labels as they're under the planning gun. For certain, this is a relationship that can be cultivated. Young girls aged 3 to 6 currently fuel a $3.5 billion Disney Princess merchandising market, and Disney wants to be around decades from now when they say "I do." Not sure if this way is the ideal? Yes, getting married is serious business but I think a bit of humor and surprise is lacking here that, if present, could enable the brand to move past its core groupies.

Russia's Take on the Barbie Icon

Ask any Russian designer over the age of 40, and he or she will tell you about a time when an American magazine or book of prints was a treasure to be coveted. Not so much because of the text, but because of the typeface, the pictures, the cover. These gave a tantalizing glimpse at design trends outside the Soviet Union.The deprivation lasted so long that when the floodgates finally opened in the 1990s, many Russians could only gape at the new styles saturating the culture. Design icons that seem mundane to us now, like Versace, pop art and Barbie, were a revelation —especially for people who had no context in which to place them. But Russia is nothing if not a quick study. A new generation of artists has imbibed the styles of the last few decades and is now responding to them with creativity and a distinctly Russian sense of humor.

Our favorite? Mooqla Dolls. Moody silicone-encased plastic dolls. Designed and produced in Moscow by Polina Voloshina, the dolls are sold at the Galleries Lafayette in Paris, and cost about $350. The process of making the dolls is as equally interesting as the doll itself. And that's a killer app these days.

Read the whole story in Russia.

Art: A Leisure Activity Across the Pond

“In America, art is still seen as a luxury activity, as a status game for those who want to class up their wealth,” said Michael Workman, founder of Bridge Art Fair. “In Europe, it's seen as something that John and Judy at the end of the block do with themselves on a Sunday afternoon.”

Because the satellite fairs focus on emerging artists, prices can be considerably lower than their Frieze counterparts. At Zoo Art Fair, buyers will be able to pick up limited-edition works by emerging artists like Matthew Harrison for as little as £50 (about $100).

• Zoo Art Fair made its debut in 2004 at the London Zoo, in Regent's Park. Zoo Art Fair will be held Oct. 12 to 15 at the Royal Academy of Arts.
• Year_07, organized by two former artists who run the Keith Talent Gallery in East London, brings some of the East End art scene's wit and swagger to the West End.
• Bridge (formerly known as Nova Art Fair) was founded in 2005, and has staged events in cities including Chicago and Miami, and in sites ranging from hotels to abandoned office buildings.
• Pulse, which has operated fairs in Miami and New York, will be coming to London for the first time. The fair will be held in the Mary Ward House, a 19th-century Arts and Crafts building.

Read the whole NYTimes story.