Art of Retail Reprise (Happy Birthday, Jasper Johns)

In honor of Jasper Johns' birthday, I'm dusting off this post from 2010. Still feels relevant.

"Take an object.  Do something to it.  Do something else to it.  Ditto." 

That was renowned artist Jasper Johns' formula for art creation in the 1950's and it helps explain all of those flags, numbers, targets and maps; imagery that he said derived from "things the mind already knows" but that he of course, did lots of stuff to.  This flag from 1954-55, for example, is 1. A flag image 2.  On fabric  3.  Mounted on plywood. 

This got me thinking about the state of retail (doesn't everything?).  Johns' formula worked really well for him, as it has for many suppliers and brands.  Take something familiar (an existing product or brand).  Do something to it (line extension).  Do something else to it (another line extension).  That's why we have a Swiffer for every occasion, mega-blade razors and shampoos that do everything but windows.  It's also why big companies sometimes buy "under-marketed brands with strong name recognition" as Clorox did back in 1998, when it paid $2 billion for First Brand Corporation in order to snag Glad, STP auto products and Scoop Away Litter.  That version of the formula, which has been repeated many times over by countless brand houses, is:  Buy a recognizable but neglected property.  Sink marketing dollars into it.  Explore brand and distribution extensions.  Watch the volume roll in as more consumers than ever welcome the newly relevant and omnipresent brand into their homes.

The formula is being tested.

Jasper Johns' works commanded some of the highest prices ever paid for art . . . and they also set the stage for the pop art movement . . . Or what I like to call, "the art world's version of private label."  Do you see where I'm going with this?   If not, you soon will. 

NMB Articles and Features Snapshot

Carol weighed in on Best Buy CMO, Barry Judge's departure in the Minneapolis Star Tribune and on speculation regarding Best Buy's recent hometown distribution center expansion in Finance and Commerce Magazine. In her latest article for LIMA, she urges brand marketers to embrace step change instead of relying on sequels and already-in-the-pipeline product launches. She contributed a feature article on the state of North American retail to UK-based RLI Magazine, and Parts One and Two of Ahead of the Curve and Staying the Course, Carol's take on Sam's Club EVP and Chief Marketing Officer Linda Hefner's presentation in Bentonville, have been posted. WWD sought Carol's perspective on the implications of Walmart's Recent Woes. Carol commented on how rising fuel prices and other factors are driving private brand growth in OTC and HBC in the current issue of Private Label Buyer magazine and penned an article on, Fuel to the Fire, on the battle raging at the retail pump. 

Carol will be in New York the week of May 21st, conducting, and participating in, the SURTEX art licensing show retail panel and New York-area client meetings. She'll kick off the International Licensing Expo in Las Vegas with her annual State of Retail presentation and store safari on June 10th. Contact Carol directly to schedule meetings in New York or at the expo in Las Vegas and check our speaking page for the latest NMB events and destinations. Our latest RetailNxt telecast geared to retail suppliers, Are You Ready for a Brand-to-Brand Breakthrough is filling up. Register your retailer-facing teams today.

Contact team@newmarketbuilders.com to schedule a meeting with NMB in: 6/23 San Francisco, 07/14 Portland, 09/29 Montreal, or 10/20 Mexico City.

Carol Spieckerman's Right Brain On: Old Navy's New Brand Maven

In her latest contribution as a Retail Wire panelist, Carol comments on Gap going outside to snag Old Navy's new fast-fashionista. 

Here's what she had to say..

It's nice to see Gap departing from its insular past by snagging a real fast-fashion maven (let's hope that he brings, not just the fast, but also the fashion). Gap had a window of opportunity when Uniqlo was playing wait-and-see. Hopefully it won't be too little too late as Uniqlo puts pedal to the metal in the U.S. (with designs on world domination).

Read the full discussion

Stepping Things Up

In her latest article for the International Licensing Industry Merchandiser's Association (LIMA), Carol Spieckerman riffs on why step change planning is right for the retail times. Sequels and already-in-the-pipeline products can't be the only answers.

In her presentation in Bentonville last week, Sam’s Club’s SVP and chief merchandising officer, Linda Hefner, lamented that some suppliers treat the club channel as an afterthought, taking a product that they sold to the drug or grocery channels, putting it in a bigger pack size, shrink wrapping it on a pallet, and calling it a “club pack.” It wasn’t that long ago that such derivative strategies worked just fine – retailers were happy with semi-customized versions of something that worked somewhere else. 

What really grabbed me about Hefner’s presentation, though, is where she went from there. Hefner encouraged suppliers to focus their efforts on “step change” opportunities in areas such as brand, price, sustainability, and packaging functionality, which increase the value brought to members. 

The concept of step change is a powerful one at this particular moment in retail, when the journey from early adoption to obsolescence seems to happen at the speed of light, and as social media, digital marketing, and omni-channel options turn brand program debuts into multi-touch-point, make-or-break mega-launches. 

Read the full article