Marketing Mania

Target, the everyday low price retailer that carries everything and anything, stepped outside it’s usually comfort zone this past Christmas since it collaborated with an American luxury specialty department store, Neiman Marcus.

The collaboration generated a line that boasted merchandises from 24 upscale designers such as Diane von Furstenberg, Oscar de la Renta and Tracy Reese. Each designer contributed a few new items that were specifically made for this co-branding strategy.

Many of the designers are famous for their clothing and accessories on the runway; however, for this particular partnership, they produced various merchandises from home décor to children’s clothing to novelty items (ie. The Alice + Olivia women’s 28” bicycle).

The initial thought that crossed my mind was “wow, designer items at a low everyday price? SCORE!” and I’m sure many agreed with me. But the unfortunate disappointment of the entire collaboration was deemed as “a partnership that was hyped to the hilt, and wound up as a major bust.” 

The primary set back of this partnership seemed to be the price; it wasn’t right. “The Target + Neiman line was priced from $7.99 to $499.99, with most items hovering in the $60 range.” Although the collection represented great value at affordable price points, it was still priced a little too high.

To compound matters, the timing of the promotion wasn’t right either. “The collection hit Target stores on December 1, sandwiched between the two most promotional peaks in the holiday shopping season: Black Friday and the final week before Christmas.” Therefore, when consumers were looking for bargains, Target was selling a full-price collection.

Through COMM 296, I’m able to analyze the success of the co-branding strategy. Ultimately, the integration and cohesiveness of the price and place were not well incorporated with the product and promotion.

Innovative designs and ideas have shaped our world drastically within the last decade. Starting from the ever-evolving designs of cell phones to the popular and easy-to-use tablets, our world has adapted quickly to these new technologies. Now in 2013, the technology industry is being introduced to another pioneer.

Glass, introduced by Google, is essentially a pair of glassless frames that has a “tiny prism display which sits not in your eye line, but a little above it.”

Bottom line = a wearable computer that has an embedded camera, microphone, GPS and ability to access the Internet without the use of one’s hands.

Glass is said to launch by the end of 2013, but even with only prototypes made, there has been competition in the market.

At a hefty price of approximately $1500, Glass is a very expensive investment. Despite that, I still believe innovators, those buyers who want to be the first on the block to have the new product, will be lining up for days.