Of Stars and Brand Wagons - Yarns by the Yard

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James Mammarella

Of Stars and Brand Wagons
July 13, 2007

“Hitch your wagon to a star.”

-- Ralph Waldo Emerson

Who knew that a 19^th century Yankee existentialist philosopher would be the guiding light for so many 21^st century home textile merchandising programs?

Here’s my take: there are designers and there are celebrities. And then there are just a few stars in the home textiles firmament. Hitch your wagon to Martha Stewart and you get both very smart design guidance and exceptionally sharp marketing leadership. That combination has proven translatable into real, lasting impact at retail.

I’m also willing to give major props to Kathy Ireland. She has turned a modeling gig into an impressive fashion branding enterprise by dint of some very hard work and clear thinking.

But whenever things go awry with a celebrity – like Martha going to jail, or Sears tie-in personality Ty Pennington going DUI (arrested May 5 this year, pled “no contest” May 25) – well, the value of the branding relationship gets called into question.

Pennington has publicly handled his “error in judgment” very well, and neither his brand nor his marketing seems to have has suffered.

Martha’s company did suffer during the year or two of uncertainty precipitated by her legal travails, and she and the company recently paid a final installment to put the matter to rest. But most impressively, her marketing and fashion strength and savvy are sufficient to have pulled Macy’s into a fresh strategic partnership. A major reason is the depth of skill Martha has demonstrated, and recruited, as a design champion with a unique perspective that infuses her brand aura.

Consumers dig her stuff.

With the rash of manufacturers and retailers hooking up with celebrity types for home furnishing merchandise programs, we are sure to see some of these risks play out less than profitably. Rachael Ray (WestPoint Home), Candice Olson (JLA Home and Hellenic Rug), Cristina Saralegui (Kohl’s), Chris Madden (JCPenney) and others are now in various stages.

My hunch is that those with very solid design underpinnings will have the best chance at longevity and profit.

Posted by James Mammarella on July 13, 2007 | Comments (1)

July 30, 2007
In response to: Of Stars and Brand Wagons
NOTMSLO commented:

The wise man in the storm prays God, not for safety from danger, but for deliverance from fear. It is the storm within which endangers him, not the storm without. RALPH WALDO EMERSON This Emerson quote would be a more accurate commentary on the reign of Ms. Stewart at Kmart. Martha’s main strategy at Kmart is fear. Fear that if she leaves Kmart, “her” customer will follow. Fear that no one in the home universe can offer the level of product that she brings to the table. Reality is that she brings dull, unimaginative, rehashed product to the table over and over again and thinks that it is something new and exciting. Reality of “Everyday” lackluster sales during the last several years begs the question, “Does she really have that much to offer in today’s market?” Does the largest emerging consumer market age 18-24 have anything in common with this aging 66 year old domestic diva? How much will they have in common when their income and spending habits peak in the next 10 years and she is 76? Other than the prison sentence that she now has in common with Lil’ Kim and Paris Hilton, how much does she have in common with today’s younger merging market?