The Pro Shop

I’ve written a fair amount about the ways that individual retail brands are using social and mobile marketing to get closer to their customers, enticing their biggest fans to step up and advocate for the brands, and monitoring social media as an early warning system for CRM problems.

But I had a chance on Monday to view digital media takeup from another retail perspective: that of the shopping-center landlord or property manager. I sat in on a panel discussion at the Fusion conference going on in Chicago that week, mounted by the International Council of Shopping Centers, a trade association for the shopping center industry. more

Getting featured in the Bloomingdale’s holiday catalog as a “Chic Treat Under $100” is just the kind of present every up-and-coming clothing designer hopes to find under the tree.

But the fashion line Boy Meets Girl, whose $78 “Coco” decorated hoodie has been so favored this year, hopes to leverage that good fortune even further by offering a virtual version of its real-life shirt in an online world.

It’s an interesting experiment in whether digital exposure can drive real-world sales. If it works as planned, girls will be able to dress their avatars in Fashion Fantasy Game in a digitized version of the same clothing they’ll ask their friends and relatives for at the holidays. more

Almost exactly a year ago, I wrote in this blog that I didn’t think Starbucks’ then-new Gold loyalty program offerred enough in the way of benefits beyond the basic rewards card. As I pointed out at the time, while a $25 annual fee got you the Gold card and a 10% discount on everything, I didn’t think the great mass of users would find those price savings worth the pretty hefty up-front fee. Even those who know they’ll spend that much on Starbucks coffee in a month or two, I thought, would balk at laying down $25 bills and then amortizing it at 10% a double-shot.

Well, paint me blue and call me Karnak, because 12 months later, Starbucks have come around to my way of thinking. Now if I can just persuade other holdouts to heed my advice, from the new management of the Cubs to the folks who invent flavors for Ben & Jerry’s, this would be a much better world. more

To tell you the truth, I didn’t realize that Starbucks had been just testing its instant-coffee product—excuse me, its “ready-brewed” product—until this past weekend. But apparently the coffee giant had only made its Starbucks Via product available in Seattle and Chicago markets, although I’ve been carrying a few packets around in the bottom of my briefcase for months, the result of a mass sampling campaign last June or July here in the city too good for the Olympic committee.

Sorry. That just slipped out. I’m back in control.

Anyway, I only realized that Via was coming out of test when I saw the ads on Saturday night live along with everyone else. And my first reaction might have been like everyone else’s too: If I’m already in a Starbucks anyway, why would I want a cup of instant/ “ready-brewed” coffee? more

Judging by the enlightened opinion from the dais at last week’s ad;tech conference in Chicago—and by the chatter from the auditorium, show floors and breakout-session hallways—both marketers and agencies are expecting to see sunshine peeking through the economic clouds by the end of this year, and perhaps by the end of the quarter.

No one expects that recovery, if it comes, to bring marketing budgets back to pre-recession growth rates. To beat the weather metaphor to death, no one’s actually buying sunscreen. But they are taking off their hip boots and—carefully, tentatively, in a controlled fashion—seem to be getting back to the business of trying to find and talk to their customers in a fragmented media world. more

Just when you thought that national promotions built around “free” were beginning to look like invitations to disaster, someone’s pulled one off—and even managed to control the blowback when the supplies of free product ran out. more