Restore Your Brand Recognition
A catalog arrived in the mail last week, and even though it said “Restoration Hardware Gifts” I didn’t recognize is as one of the home decor retailer’s.
For one, it was black—full-bleed glossy black—with a photo of a black-hatted older gent standing next to what looks like a black vintage hotrod. The cover text wasn’t much help; it said: “The One. The Only.” The legendary. Shelby Black Hornet from Carroll Shelby’s personal collection.”
Just a few questions: Is this really Restoration Hardware? What’s a Black Hornet? And who the hell is Carroll Shelby?
It IS Restoration Hardware, and according to Wikipedia, Carroll Shelby is an American racing and automotive designer and former racing driver. (I can’t be the only Restoration Hardware customer who didn’t know that!) The Black Hornet in question is a 1968 Shelby EXP500 CSS, and it will be auctioned off online Dec. 2.
Bids, which will start at $100,000 can be placed on eBay or on Restorationhardware.com/Shelby. The majority of the proceeds will go to the Carroll Shelby Children’s Foundation, which helps kids in need of heart and kidney care.
This is a noble effort on the part of both Carroll Shelby and Restoration Hardware. But with all due respect to Mr. Shelby, I hope the cataloger didn’t go too far off track from its brand with this edition.
I get that it’s a “gift for men” book. But in addition to the cover, the page 2-3 spread is devoted to a letter from Shelby explaining the auction; the page 4-5 spread sells miniatures of Shelby cars, and the page 6-7 spread sells Shelby memorabilia as well as a Shelby slotcar racetrack. That’s a lot of Shelby for a target audience typically shopping for glassware and couches.
Seems like a risky branding move in a very tough season. But I wish them the best, and I hope the auction rakes in a lot for that ’69 Hornet to benefit the Foundation.
November 26th, 2008 at 9:28 am
I have to wonder about your comments about the car and the designer. How old are you - I am in my late 40’s and know exactly who Shelby is.
He created the Hottest Cars in my childhood. The time frame is axactly what most of their others toys are.
Shelby is I am not mistaken was also in the past few years involved with a special Mustang design.
Almost All men and a lot of women love the 60’s mustangs they are classics
I wish their fundraising efforts the best and think it is an awesome way to connect and benefit others for me it is a thumbs up
p.s. there are 5 pages that come up on the web when I put the cars name in.
November 26th, 2008 at 12:23 pm
I’m no car expert, it’s true. But I was born in the mid-’60s, and I loved the early Mustangs as much as anybody. (My aunt had a pale yellow Mustang convertible that I thought was the most gorgeous car ever.) Still, I never heard of Carroll Shelby, and didn’t know why he was in the Restoration Hardware catalog.
December 2nd, 2008 at 6:22 pm
Melissa:
While I appreciate that you are not a car expert, Carroll Shelby is just about the most famous automotive personality living today aside from a spade of young Nascar drivers. Mr. Shelby created both the Shelby branded Mustang and Shelby Cobra. A former race car driver and renowned automotive tuner, now in his 80’s, Carroll Shelby’s name is synonymous with what we contemporarily refer to as the modern sports car - a fast, esthetically pleasing vehicle that handles well and is relatively easy to repair.
What is a bit more troublesome, is that as a writer for the Big Fat Marketing Blog, you seem to rely upon your own life experience, rather than focusing on the target demographic or doing research. Yes, I understand that there is lack of name recognition for Melissa Downing, but I fail to see how that is sufficient to denigrate Restoration Hardware’s catalogue cover choice.
As noted, the vehicle listed is a vintage Mustang - an automobile that connotes a sense of functionality, style and class, traits that Restoration Hardware has worked hard to personify as a brand. Even if Carroll Shelby’s name seems foreign, the contextual nature of the holiday catalogue seems pretty clear - boys toys.
Instead of taking a myopic view, I believe reasonable journalistic inquiry by The Big Fat Marketing Blog requires looking into Restoration Hardware’s choices from a more disciplined viewpoint, taking into account the campaign’s efficacy and whether fellow retail direct marketers have anything to learn from Restoration Hardware’s gift catalogue choice.
Here are examples of some relevant questions - Is the current catalogue preempting the field, i.e. is the issuance of the Restoration Hardware Gifts Catalogue ignoring and/or alienating a base demographic that includes women. Without looking at marketing data and conducting a focus group - my instinct is that the catalogue does not turn off female customers, rather the retailer is attempting to cater to specific segment without hurting its base.
To the best of my knowledge, Restoration Hardware is still issuing its traditional catalogues. However, if RH decided to forgo it’s usual non-gender based holiday season catalogue in favor of the Restoration Hardware Gifts Catalogue, then I would take serious note. This might signal a change in marketing focus, and then I might concur in your conclusion that RH could be running “too far off track.”
Your inquiry does raise a tangential point. Restoration Hardware should have done it’s homework by checking out how many Melissa Dowling’s there are in the world - especially if a significant number of women buy holiday gifts for men. It is important that women fully understand why a “black hornet” and “Carroll Shelby” are cool and how any catalogue that features them is also a natural place to buy enticing gifts that would delight the typical red-blooded American male.
December 2nd, 2008 at 6:53 pm
Ask Ferrari who Carroll Shelby is…
December 2nd, 2008 at 7:17 pm
In my late 40s and never heard of him. Give Melissa a break!
December 2nd, 2008 at 10:10 pm
Perhaps this article should have been titled “What’s in a Name” or “Don’t Judge a Book by the Cover” because there did not seem to be much on brand recognition in it. Sure, they took risks but the risks were justifiable in reaching the audience members who would bid on the car.
I am in my mid to late forties and the name Carroll Shelby registered immediately. He is an icon in the same vein as Leo Fender is to musical instruments (he practically invented the solid body electric guitar and his guitars have been the instrument of choice for artists as diverse as Buddy Holly, Jimi Hendrix, Eric Clapton, Mark Knopfler, and John Mayer). Can Restoration Hardware auction off a vintage Stratocaster?
December 3rd, 2008 at 12:11 pm
The comments so far miss the point: Who is Restoration Hardware selling to in this catalog, and is the approach they took (which is pretty far off-brand for them) the best way to do it? If the target audience does not open the catalog because they don’t recognize the brand, or think that this catalog has nothing in it for them, then it doesn’t really matter if they know who Carroll Shelby is (for the record, I do, but then again I love cars). We don’t know who they circulated to, so perhaps the lists chosen were appropriate, but I’d be willing to bet that this catalog does not speak to the typical Resto customer.