Month: February 2011

What do you get when you combine your childhood dreams with reality?  Disney and Alfred Angelo.  Strong brands effectively branded towards their individual distinctive target markets have come together to co-brand and extend their own lines by creating Disney Fairy Tale Weddings by Alfred Angelo.

“Dreams do come true, especially for women who grew up dreaming of a fairy tale wedding modeled after their favorite Disney Princess character. Alfred Angelo and Disney will debut their first collection of bridal gowns, Disney Fairy Tale Weddings by Alfred Angelo, at the National Bridal Market in Chicago on October 2, 2010. Marking their first collaboration, the bridal gown collection is inspired by the essence, style and personality of seven iconic Disney Princess characters: Ariel, Aurora/Sleeping Beauty, Belle, Cinderella, Jasmine, Snow White and Tiana.”

– Disney Consumer Products Press Release

Personally, I think this is absolute genius.  What little girl didn’t grow up watching Disney movies, wishing to one day find her very own Prince Charming and don a beautiful gown at a wedding with bells and blue birds aflutter?  Disney has a huge follower of loyal consumers with its strong brand, equating to strong brand equity.  With equal brand equity is Alfred Angelo, a reputable designer of timeless, beautiful wedding dresses.

This is the perfect way for Disney to capture consumers by taking the good will developed in their consumers’ childhoods and co-branding with Alfred Angelo to create products that grown women will want, a desire triggered by their emotional response to their prior dreams of themselves emulating Disney princesses.  And now that they’ve found their Prince Charmings and are ready to get married, what better way than to live out their childhood dreams by donning a gown fit for a Disney princess?

Nike, notorious for being an industry leader in athletic apparel and accessories industry, has always been on the cutting edge of fashion and technology.  However in an industry with slow growth, numerous similarly sized competitors, and a huge market, this results in intense rivalry to gain a greater percentage of market share, equivalent to millions of dollars globally.  Having essentially already penetrated the market, Nike tends to employ a product development strategy, creating new innovative products you didn’t realize you needed to have until you saw ’em.

Their latest offering in their Air Jordan line of products?

Ladies, meet High Heeled Nike Air Jordans.

Offered in a wide variety of colours and designs, these shoes certainly are a brand new product that could potentially resonate with certain geographical and psychographical segments, allowing fashion forward and and confident women to express their personalities and athletic side while still getting some height as well as look fashionable with their footwear.  Benefits of fashion and practicality?  Someone’s bound to buy these. While less comfortable than your standard pair of Nike’s, these definitely look more stable than your average pair of heels.

Teva, with a more niche market but a very dedicated and loyal following of consumers, sparked this trend by offering their Teva Stilettos, a couture creation by Grey Ant and Teva.  Like their iconic sandals, these stiletto heels have a Velcro fastening and rubber corrugated grip soles… but instead of the hiking friendly flat sole you grew up wearing, these boast a lofty 4-inch heel, letting you mountain climb or hike in style, or look athletic while heading out to the club.

Trendhunter.com says it best by declaring

“suffice to say, Teva Stilettos are in a market that’s all their own.”

Personally I don’t see these shoes as particularly practical nor fashionable, but with that said, I’m probably not part of their target markets anyhow.

Would you wear athletic heels?

Today after stumbling into the SUB in a daze upon being jerked awake by the bus stopping in the loop I planned to hit up Starbucks for some Tazo green tea to wake myself up.  One look at the line though and I went to the food fair instead.  They had green tea as well, and for cheap!  I didn’t recognize the brand.. But, what’s this?  Organic?  AND fair trade?  And with flavours like coconut chai, peach ginger, and Egyptian mint, it had a plethora of flavours I’m hoping to all try within the next few weeks.

The tea was nothing amazing, but it got me thinking about the habitual purchases in my life.  I go to Starbucks every morning not because I even really like the tea there – it’s just a company that I’ve grown up with, and it’s right there every morning when I walk into the SUB.  I’m loyal to it mostly because it’s where I’ve always gone because when I think of caffeine (actually I bet when most people think of caffeine), I think of Starbucks because of the strong brand its marketing efforts have created.  There are so many other stores and brands like this for me, ones that I’ll instinctively grab not even because I really like them, but simply out of habit so I’ve decided I’m going to start trying out new brands just so I won’t be a slave to a brand.

I did some more research and Zhena’s Gypsy Tea seems like a great company – all teas are fair trade, organic, cultivated by small growers as opposed to being mass grown with a focus on improving the lives of their suppliers’ workers to guarantee healthcare, childcare, literacy, and autonomy.  It’s even got a rags to riches story to boot!