Interrobang Marketing Strategy & Promotion
Bringing Back the Bang
Interesting interview on Forbes.com with Lippe Taylor CEO Maureen Lippe discussing some of their more famous public relations campaigns geared to women, including Kirstie Alley for Jenny Craig.
Lots of use of the words ‘strategic’ and ‘creative’ and other corporate speak. As with much of the strictly PR world, a lot of the information feels a few years behind the curve, but if you want an idea of how a former beauty editor became and thinks as a beauty PR specialist, it’s worth a watch.
It doesn’t come as much of a shock to celebrity watchers, tabloid readers or bookies that Kim Kardashian is calling her marriage to athlete Kris Humphries quits. What shocks people though, is the fact that the reality TV diva and her husband of 72 days seem to be expecting shock and outrage on the part of the millions of unwitting witnesses to this overpriced, overexposed car-crash of a union.
Image by thefoxling via Flickr
Related/Unrelated, high-end bridal boutique Priscilla of Boston, creators of Grace Kelly‘s iconic wedding gown are closing all of their 19 locations in favor of investing resources in parent company David’s Bridal, a lower end mass-market bridal chain.
To put pricing into perspective, according to the Boston Globe, “The priciest dress at David’s retails for $1,400, while the most expensive dress at Priscilla costs $10,000.” The article cites a study by the websites The Knot and the Wedding Channel stating that the national average that brides spend on their dresses has changed little between 2008 and 2010 – just over $1,000, “a number more in line with David’s price point.” Kim Kardashian’s Vera Wang wedding dress alone (one of three) is estimated to have cost upwards of $25,000.00. It’s also been suggested that her entire wedding was paid for by corporate sponsors.
While the wedding and prom industry are seen as being evergreen in even the toughest economies, one wonders if the executive team at Priscilla of Boston might have been wise taking business advice from Kardashian. After all, Kardashian’s 72 day business plan of a marriage is estimated to have brought her a quarter million dollars for every day that she was married.
Or at least they will in the 16 countries that count Queen Elizabeth as their monarch.
Image via Wikipedia
For over 300 years, British succession rules stated that among other things, the monarchy would skip over first-born daughters if there was a younger son, and that anyone in line for the throne was forbidden marriage with a Roman Catholic.
British Prime Minister David Cameron has called existing rules outdated saying : “This way of thinking is at odds with the modern countries that we’ve all become.”
If a venerable institution like the British Monarchy can update their business model to reflect current trends, tastes and preferences of their chosen demographic, what can you do to help your own brand to evolve? Now might be a great time to refine and tailor your own business offerings and customer experience to best suit your target audience.
What do you do when your customers hate your newest offering and the stock market follows suit? You kill your really awful brand offshoot of course.
Image via Wikipedia
Just about a month after Netflix launched the notion of Qwikster, a separate DVD rental service (that launched a thousand groan inducing puns), they’ve quashed the embryonic launch. Proving that bad business decisions can be reversed- if not always forgotten.
Now about those higher rental fees…
As anyone who knows their Dickens can tell you, the best of times and the worst of times are not mutually exclusive.
Image via Wikipedia
While the backdrop of the French revolution is rife with drama, our own Occupy Wall Street rebellion can feel tame or muddled by comparison. That said, during an upheaval of the economic variety, creative people sometimes do creative things. Unpredictable things. Things like taking a successful existing brand like [GTK] Marketing Group, adding a soupçon of whimsy, misting it with a patina of retro business ideals, shaking it all up a bit and re-launching as Interrobang LLC.
Why you may ask? Because it’s there.
Mixed mountainous metaphors aside, we officially launched [GTK ] Marketing Group just over a decade ago during global economic turmoil of a different flavor. The first internet bubble had burst, 9/11 was upon us and a majority of our high tech clients were scrambling to figure out what comes next. We were there for them then and we intend to be there for you now.
Smart business owners know and understand that economic booms are crowded with businesses all vying for consumer eyes, ears and credit cards. Smarter business owners understand that economic down times provide entirely different opportunities. Instead of cutting marketing budgets, these intrepid individuals work to redefine their best traits, amp up their outreach and continue to create new and evolving strategies making them the most memorable and reliable when things pick up again.
And they will pick up again.
In the meantime, we’re here to help you figure out how best to leverage what you’ve got now and how to prepare for the better times just around the bend.
Stay tuned for the Interroblog, an opinionated, irreverent and irregularly updated blog covering marketing, small business & pop culture and penned (typed?) by Interrobang LLC founder Rachel Weingarten.
