Hello All!
Many organizations spend millions and millions of dollars in marketing research and ad-campaigns in order to come up with new and improved strategies and tactics to boost up sales. Quite rarely do we see companies that take the opposite approach; instead of coming up with something brand new every time, they look at what has been done before and recycle campaigns or products that have been successful in the past.
I have one very good example of a company that has successfully managed to bring back products and strategies from the sixties and fifties to the 21st century.
Marimekko is a textile and design company founded by two art directors in 1951 in Finland. The company has since its start had a strong and stable fan base both domestically and internationally. But during the recession in the 80’s, sales started declining at a tremendous speed. The company was about to go bust until the CEO at the time decided that it was time to remind the public of the happier and more successful times. To do this Marimekko decided to bring back textiles and patterns that had been the most successful and popular in the 60’s and 50’s, which had been the golden time for Marimekko.
This was obviously a huge gamble and could have gone very wrong, but it didn’t. Old prints and products brought back positive memories to the consumers, and sales started slowly but steadily reaching their original levels. Obviously just recycling old products isn’t enough on its own, new prints and products have to be designed so that they can be brought back as retro prints in 20 or 30 years!
So, what’s the moral of the story? Sometimes new isn’t better and sometimes it pays to look to the past to be successful in the future, even in marketing! And to all of my fellow Vancouverites its your lucky day: Canada’s only Marimekko concept store is located right here in Vancouver on Hamilton and Davie.
Marimekko fans include celebrities from Jackie O. to Sarah Jessica Parker.
Until next time,
Roosa xxx