Cannon is now appearing in revamped home decorating sections in Sears, and they are making full use of the power of the brand to make Sears unique. Sears is also not just pushing its Craftsman and Kenmore brands, but even Toughskins are back as a brand of children’s clothing.

The store within a store follows the model of Sears’ Land’s End, where a significant section is branded Cannon. While other linens are sold with the Cannon linens, large signage and handout notepaper like the one above makes sure shoppers know that the brand is one that is closely associated with Sears. This is smart strategy, as Cannon towels and sheets had/have a strong brand appeal that was not tarnished with the bankruptcy.

Cannon had a long history in North Carolina, and its towels and became ubiquitous in American households. Cannon began in 1887 in Kannapolis, N.C., and was known for making some of the best towels in the world. Equally beloved was Fieldcrest of Fieldale, Virginia, a spin-off of the Marshall Field’s department store. Fieldcrest is now sold by Target. Cannon was eventually merged with Fieldcrest, which had long since been spun-off from Marshall Field’s. The merged company went bankrupt in 2002, only to go bankrupt again. Over 6,000 jobs were lost.

New York based Iconix Brand Group Inc. announced Oct. 3, 2007 that it had purchased Official Pillowtex LLC, the licensing company that owned the towel and sheet brands Cannon, Royal Velvet, Fieldcrest and Charisma as well as St. Mary’s and Santa Cruz, for $231 million.

Standing in the plush visitors’ clubhouse of Yankee Stadium, Carlos Zambrano made a plea for Chicago to replace Wrigley Field.

“You come into a ballpark like this and you see great things,” the Cubs ace told The Associated Press on Saturday before his team’s 10-1 exhibition loss at the sparkling ballpark in the Bronx.

“You wish that Chicago’d build a new stadium for the Cubs,” he said.

So it’s nice that broke cities all over the country plunk down for expensive stadiums, 99 percent on the taxpayer dole, and they are usually to replace some wacky stadium built in the 1970s or so.

But this one is more than amazing, because everyone in the world, apparently except for Zambrano, likes Wrigley Field. What made him say it? Does he think that he will play better with an new stadium? Is it the martini bars and the New York Sex and the City chicks with fake boobs that impressed him while he was in the Big Apple? How do you go from playing Wrigley Field to saying that? Or did he just get caught off guard?

We hope it is the latter. And he has apparently backtracked on it today as it caused an uproar.

We are not worried about the fate of Wrigley Field. Chicago will see to that. The statement will be so outrageous that it will get to nowhere, though we are certain there are many people who agree with him.

Zambrano actually has a quite typical disease. The Depression generation had a word for it. Waste. Just the idea of replacing Wrigley is wasteful. The idea needs to die because it is wasteful. You can never argue that something like Wrigley is better to a person who wants something new. You have to call the disease by the name.

As a society, it was enough that we had to have things that became obsolete, and we threw them away. But now, we have things that are perfectly good, and we throw them away, too. Buildings are disposable. Everything we use seems to be made in China.

The Wrigley idea is the same thing notion that let Macy’s destroy Marshall Field’s. It’s what allowed the demolition of Pennsylvania Station. It’s what allows the once grant liner S.S. United States to rot in Philadelphia. It’s the most backwards thinking possible, this refusal to deal with what’s good in the past, and recognize it. Because when you can’t figure out what’s right about the past, you have to keep playing the past, over and over again. If you can’t recognize that Wrigley Field is perfection, then the replacement will, no matter how good it is, become outmoded too. And you are back at it again.

Here is the problem. As a society, we have a limited amount of time and capital. We can do a number of things with that capital. We can continually tear down the same things, and replace them, or we can leave things that are just fine, and find new things to build.

Certainly, there can be arguments made for replacing many buildings, but at a certain point, if all we do is spend millions of our civic capital on schemes like flashy ball parks, we don’t have much energy for too much else new. My former city of Richmond, Virginia is in a suicidal scheme to build a stadium redevelopment in the middle of a flood plain, with city-sponsored bonds, all to build one of these stadiums. The old one was all new and flashy in the 1980s, and now the same folk who wanted  a new one want yet another.

Just a few blocks from my house in Sarasota, Florida, the Sarasota School Board is about to tear down the iconic Riverview High School. Mind you, they are building a right nice new school next door, and the old one, designed by architect Paul Rudolph, is ailing. But the old building is sturdy, handsome and well designed, and it would make a fine arts studio, gallery or even storage unit for the school board. But no, the County of Sarasota has to rip it down. They come up with all sorts of reasons, but really it comes down to not being able to figure out what is good in the past.

What a waste.

That being said, not all retailers will go the way of Circuit City and Linens-n-Things. So the question becomes what retailers can do to tread water through 2009? And when they do make it, what sorts of things are they doing in 2009 to create opportunity in 2010?

That’s the biggest question facing Macy’s (M), which has been in the mid-range of companies affected by the downturn. It has not had the double-digit drop in sales that was seen by the luxury department stores, but it also had a 1.4 percent decline in same store sales from 2006 to 2007. Press reports had the whole 2008 Christmas season (Nov/Dec) down 7.5 percent, but December down only 4 percent. That’s good news for a number of reasons. Mostly because big luxury retailers were off far more in the holiday season; Saks (SKS) was down 19.8 percent and Nordstrom down 10.8 percent.

Macy’s, which is really Macy’s and Bloomingdale’s, is doing some forward-thinking things; after all they have survived two major downturns and any number of smaller recessions in their 150 years. They have a My Macy’s pilot project, where product assortments in select stores are more tailored to local habits. This should be retailing 101; I think even a Kroger manager can pick some of his own SKU assortments. Still, it indicates that Macy’s management is fighting for sales across the country, and not just in markets like New York where there are analysts watching.

In addition, Macy’s is investing in food start-ups, with concepts like chef Todd English’s Figs restaurant at The Gardens Mall in Palm Beach County, Florida. Department stores were traditionally home to great restaurant concepts; it helped keep customers in the stores for hours, not minutes (witness the success of the 40 Carrots restaurant brand at the 59th Street Bloomingdale’s). In addition, restaurants bring customers (including businessmen) into the store regularly, sometimes weekly. That Macy’s is bringing restaurants back in places like Palm Beach Gardens is smart, smart, smart. But it’s difficult and expensive to get this right; let’s hope they have the stamina to make these pilot programs work.

Macy’s still has a lingering problem they have not really addressed; they merged a number of great department store name brands into Macy’s, and alienated longtime cardholders from each store brand when they did it. The most prominent case has been Marshall Field’s. Folks who don’t live in Chicago don’t realize that their flagship store was the subject of boycotts and street protests just after the Marshall Field’s brand was retired in favor of Macy’s. The same sadness was felt by customers at Rich’s (Georgia), Abraham & Straus (Brooklyn), Burdines (Florida), Meier & Frank (Portland), Marshall Field’s (Chicago), John Wanamaker (Philadelphia) and Filene’s (Boston), among others, though only Chicago saw street action.

All of this, however, presents a New Coke/Old Coke opportunity. At the same time it ditched these store name brands, Macy’s has been pushing strange store product brands including Alfani, American Rag and Tasso Elba. These brands mean little to consumers. American Rag? Hello? Macy’s also licenses Donald Trump. Trump is really a head-scratcher; who would actually associate a comb-over guy with men’s fashion leadership?

Macy’s needs to reassert its former store names as in house product brands, and use that equity. Before the changeover, Marshall Field’s, for instance, was not only a store brand, but the Marshall Field name appeared on a number of goods, including towels. Because Macy’s was so keen to brand the store, it over-reacted and obliterated most mentions of the prior Field’s name, including those that made sense. Reviving these names won’t confuse consumers; Target Stores (TGT)  still sells towels under the Fieldcrest brand, a legacy from the time when Marshall Field’s and Target were sister companies.

Chains routinely use store brands as product brands. For instance, Delhaize Group’s (DEG) Sweetbay, a Florida grocer, sells Hannaford brand products, which are actually the name of their sister Northeast grocery stores. Montvale, N.J.-based Great Atlantic & Pacific Tea Co. (GAP) sells its A&P branded food in Germany at its sister supermarket, Tengelmann. And Target sells Boots-branded cosmetics exported from that U.K. drugstore chain.

These former department store brands have national profiles and centuries of brand equity. Some brands like Burdines, associated with Florida, would work well on resort wear across much of the U.S. Marshall Field’s could be used for store-branded housewares, linens and the like. Rich’s, with its Gone With the Wind Atlanta mystique, might be used for wedding wear. And even the more forgotten store names that have been shelved for more than five years could be utilized on simple promotional goods.

At minimum, Macy’s should immediately order a really short run of T-shirts, with different versions of each of the store logos. The shirts could be sold in former stores associated with the brand, and even given to employees who worked for the store under its past name. Macy’s former John Wanamaker flagship store ought to sell John Wanamaker merchandise to Philly tourists. These sort of cheap store-based programs could make the financial risk low, but create internal and external goodwill. Macy’s has the added overhead of its remaining downtown stores; promotional items can help promote these monsters to consumers.

There is no prescription for a single right way to monetize this goodwill, which has certainly already been written off. But Macy’s has an opportunity to utilize this intellectual property, not only to develop sales for the future, but to protect these great names from use by others, which can happen if they are not used.

DOWNTOWN, USA – It’s the Christmas shopping season. Not less than a decade ago, most parents had a nearby downtown department store. The visit would usually entail seeing Santa, buying some presents, and in general, picking up some civic spirit and sense of community.

That is all gone. Almost. Thankfully, and by some sort of accident, a few downtown stores have survived, including the Neiman Marcus store in Dallas. It is such a wonderful display it would be worth a visit to Dallas just to see it. Above, a great video we found of the lighting in downtown Dallas this year made by blogger RandomShawn.com. Makes us weepy.

We asked members of the Congress of the New Urbanism’s list serv to help us compile a list of department stores that have survived across the U.S. We were surprised that there were as many as there were still around.

While Macy’s could do much more to unlock the value of the brand names that it has shut down (Burdine’s, A&S, Rich’s, Marshall Field’s), Macy’s (NYSE: M) has at least kept open some of the stores open that it owns. Macy’s is in for a tough time this season, and while we think the re-branding of Marshall Field’s was a disaster, that doesn’t mean we shouldn’t praise Macy’s for keeping these stores open.

Thanks to CNU list serv members Brandon C. Mason, Benjamin Weaver, Michael Eversmeyer, Lisa Selin Davis and Charlie Schmehl for helping us out with the list. We would love to add to it as I am sure there are some smaller department stores open in mid sized towns.

East Coast

• Boston: Filene’s became Macy’s, a great history is at www.dshistory.com. The building survived and is apparently under renovation as Filene’s Basement at 497 Boylston St. Boston, MA, 617-424-5520. If you visit the Downtown Crossing Macy’s, you are actually visiting the original flagship store of Jordan Marsh.
• New York: Of course, there is Bergdorf Goodman, Saks Fifth Avenue, Bloomingdale’s and Macy’s. Lord & Taylor is at 424 Fifth Avenue.
• Brooklyn: The former Abraham & Straus in downtown Brooklyn now operates as a Macy’s.
• Scranton and Wilkes-Barre: There is still an old department store, Boscov’s, in downtown Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania, according to new urbanist Charlie Schmehl. But the future of that store could be in doubt. There are two department stores in the Mall at Steamtown built in the 1990s in downtown Scranton. They are a Bon-Ton and a Boscov’s. The original owner of Boscov’s was instrumental in that project. Two other old department stores across the street were converted into offices.
• Philadelphia: In August of 2006, Macy’s re-opened in Center City Philadelphia in the former Wanamaker’s building. The building is recognized as one of the most architecturally significant retail spaces in the U.S. and is a National Historical Landmark. “There were originally two modern mid-priced dept. stores (including a Penney’s) in the Gallery indoor shopping mall in Philadelphia (which is proposed to have a slots casino built over it). Now they are a K-Mart and a Burlington Coat Factory. The old Lit Brothers and Strawbridge dept. stores next door were converted into offices. The Lit Brothers building is magnificient,” according to Charlie Schmehl; it was days away from being demolished in the 1980s.
• Norfolk. While Smith & Welton has closed (it is now a branch of the Tidewater Community College), the MacArthur Center Mall in downtown Norfolk has a Dillard’s and a Nordstrom. While they are new, they are truly downtown stores.
• Miami: The old Burdine’s in downtown Miami is now a Macy’s. There is a second urban Macy’s in Miami Beach, which has recently been renovated.

Central

• Pittsburgh. Steel City used to have Kaufmanns, Hornes, Gimbles, Frank & Cedar, Rosenbaums. Today only Kaufmanns survives (barely), but of course it’s a Macy’s. Architect Michael Eversmeyer reminds that it was Edgar Kaufmann who commissioned Frank Lloyd Wright to design Fallingwater for him.
• Cincinnati: The former Lazarus store at Fountain Square is now a Macy’s.
• Chicago: You can still go to Chicago’s Marshall Field, but it is now a Macy’s. Sadly, the Carson Pirie Scott building is no longer Carson Pirie Scott, though the chain survives in other locations. Sears, God bless ‘em, operate TWO stores that have been in business since November 2, 1925, one on Lawrence Avenue, and the other on 79^th Street. These are the oldest continuously operated stores in the Sears system.
• Kansas City: Hall’s, a spinoff of Hallmark, is in downtown at Crown Center and in Country Club Plaza.
• St. Louis: The old Famous Barr store now operates as a Macy’s.
• Minneapolis: Dayton’s on Nicollet Mall in downtown Minneapolis is now a Macy’s. It’s where Mary Richards threw the hat at the beginning of the Mary Tyler Moore Show.
• Dallas: Neiman Marcus still operates its flagship store at Main and Ervay.

West Coast

• Portland: The old Meier & Frank in downtown Portland is now a Macy’s.
• Seattle: Nordstrom is, of course, in downtown Seattle.
• Los Angeles: Macy’s operates a store at 750 W. Seventh Street, Los Angeles.

We would love it if others could add some additional downtown stores that still remain in our comments section after the article. And there are even more in Canada.

On Tuesday, Sept. 9, 2008, they will hold a lunch hour rally to “Support the Return of Marshall Field’s” under the “Great Clock” at State and Washington Streets. That evening, there will be a reception, talk and book signing by Joan Greene, author of Marshall Field’s Food and Fashion: A Chicago Tradition.

A bit about the previous rally.

The past two years’ September 9th protest rallies in support of the return of Marshall Field’s were covered worldwide by hundreds of media outlets. Images of you rallying for the return of Field’s by holding protest signs and picketing in front or our beloved Marshall Field’s on State Street were seen as far away as the United Kingdom, Eastern Europe and Asia. Thanks to you, the message that Chicago will not settle for anything less than Marshall Field’s was heard (and is still being heard) around the world.

BrandlandUSA wrote a number of pieces on ways that Macy’s could preserve the value of the Marshall Field’s brand, but the company did not listen to any of those ideas, and the hundreds put forth by friends of Marshall Field’s. In the interim, they are boycotting, and supporting other Chicago-inspired retailers. Below are a few of the stories:

• How Marshall Field’s Would Return
• What Boots Can Teach Macy’s
• Bring Woolworth’s Back. Don’t Forget Marshall Field’s

The reality is that it is STILL possible for the name to return, and for Macy’s to get out of the absolute mess that they are in, not only in Chicago, but around the nation. Places like Florida, which misses the heck out of Burdine’s. Read the story on some Macy’s locations that are closing in the Miami Herald. The “I Miss Burdines” crowd still has punch.

We are grateful that Macy’s is continuing to operate these stores, particularly the Brooklyn A&S store, which means so much to the identity of Brooklyn. Our post detailed some ideas we had for the revival of a great old name like A&S, though it was generic enough to apply to many dead brand names.

• 10 Ways to Revive a Dying or Dead Brand

One of our favorite fan sites relating to a bad decision is Bovril. In 2004, Unilever removed beef from the product and made it a yeast-derived vegetable product akin to Vegemite. While it happened during the mad cow scare and was understandable, Unilever’s reaction was wrong. Customers got upset; they realized that there might be something political.

The correct action whenever a product is threatened is not to kill off the old product and replace it with a new one. Fan Graeme Andrew Stickings put the idea up on his website, consumers rallied, and soon Bovril was back. I quote the Bring Back Bovril site:

“I was not opposed in principal to a veggie Bovril, I just wanted a beef version back. Anyhue, I have my pot of British Beefy Bovril, so all is right with the world.

All is right with the world. That is the phrase that consumers think when a product they love returns. This feeling of goodwill not only extends to consumers, it goes right to the company that made the mistake. Macy’s needs to heed this lesson; folks are still angry about Marshall Field’s, but if they admit the mistake, consumer love (and maybe, dare we suggest stockholder confidence… ???) will flow back to the once-beloved company.

Here, is a list of a few brands that have responded to consumer pressure. We invite readers to add to the list. We hope to add Marshall Field’s to the list.

• Wispa candy bar
• Nabisco Crown Pilot Crackers
• Coca-Cola
• Save Twinings Earl Grey. This is a fascinating website. There is a discrepancy about Twinings, and whether the Earl Grey formula was changed in the U.S. market.
  ]]> http://www.brandlandusa.com/2008/02/06/a-record-of-this-sorry-tale-anyhue/feed/ 1 http://www.brandlandusa.com/2007/10/05/iconix-lands-fieldcrest-cannon-brands-for-231-million/ http://www.brandlandusa.com/2007/10/05/iconix-lands-fieldcrest-cannon-brands-for-231-million/#comments Sat, 06 Oct 2007 01:44:00 +0000 Garland Pollard http://www.brandlandusa.com/?p=50 The brand licensing company that brought Candie’s back will now own some of the greatest linen, home and bath brands in the world. New York based Iconix Brand Group Inc. (Ticker ICON) announced Oct. 3, 2007 that it had purchased Official Pillowtex LLC, the licensing company that owns the towel and sheet brands Cannon, Royal [...]]]> The brand licensing company that brought Candie’s back will now own some of the greatest linen, home and bath brands in the world.

  New York based Iconix Brand Group Inc. (Ticker ICON) announced Oct. 3, 2007 that it had purchased Official Pillowtex LLC, the licensing company that owns the towel and sheet brands Cannon, Royal Velvet, Fieldcrest and Charisma as well as St. Mary’s and Santa Cruz.Kannapolis, N.C.-based Pillowtex was one of the most awful company collapses in the history of American brands. (The sad demolition of the Fieldcrest Cannon headquarters is shown above). It went bankrupt in 2002, only to go bankrupt again. Over 6,000 jobs were lost. In the mess, there was one asset that wouldn’t die. The conglomerated companies that made up Pillowtex were all great brand names, including Cannon and Fieldcrest, each with different histories. Cannon began in 1888 in Kannapolis, N.C., and was known for making some of the best towels in the world. Equally beloved, Fieldcrest of Fieldale, Virginia was a spin off of the Marshall Field’s department store. Fieldcrest is now sold by Target.

  Iconix paid $231 million cash for the brands. In a press release, Neil Cole, Chairman and CEO called the purchases a “diversifying and transformative acquisition for Iconix. The home sector is a natural progression for Iconix and we plan to infuse these brands with our strategic and innovative marketing as we expand them into new categories.”

  The company is on a roll. Cannon, Fieldcrest and St. Mary’s are some of the best names in linens. Iconix is best known for its Candie’s, Ocean Pacific, Mossimo, Joe Boxer, London Fog and Badgley Mischka brands. February it brough Danskin for $70 million, cash. It kept Danskin CEO Carol Hochman as a licensee, who will run Danskin’s retail operations.
  

  
  It’s the perfect post-modern company, with no overhead, no real estate. It just prints money. Design and market the products in the U.S and make them in China. Like the company Collective Brands (ticker PSS), which owns Keds, Sperry Top-Sider and Saucony, or Perry Ellis (ticker PERY), which owns Penguin and Munsingwear, they own the gold — America’s historic brands.The price that Iconix paid for the group of brands is instructive, especially when the name Marshall Field’s was shut down and seen as value-less.For those interested in the histories of the brands, there is the Cannon Mills Textile Museum is in Kannapolis, N.C. The Fieldale Community Center survives in the old company town Fieldale, as does the old Marshall Field & Company Clubhouse, now called The Clubhouse Resort.
  
  
  
  
  ]]> http://www.brandlandusa.com/2007/10/05/iconix-lands-fieldcrest-cannon-brands-for-231-million/feed/ 0 http://www.brandlandusa.com/2007/09/16/what-boots-can-teach-macys/ http://www.brandlandusa.com/2007/09/16/what-boots-can-teach-macys/#comments Sun, 16 Sep 2007 13:18:00 +0000 Garland Pollard http://www.brandlandusa.com/?p=39 Target now sells the U.K.’s Boots-branded health and beauty products in their U.S. discount stores. CVS is now selling out of Boots No7 Restore & Renew Beauty Serum. Why is this of interest to BrandlandUSA, which is usually concerned with reviving dead brands? Because the success of the Boots products in the U.S. is proof [...]]]> Target now sells the U.K.’s Boots-branded health and beauty products in their U.S. discount stores. CVS is now selling out of Boots No7 Restore & Renew Beauty Serum. Why is this of interest to BrandlandUSA, which is usually concerned with reviving dead brands?

  Because the success of the Boots products in the U.S. is proof that retailing brands can be easily converted into product brands. Boots becomes stronger because its store brand is now seen as a retailing brand and a beauty brand. (Oh, and how do we know these products are good? The trend watching website Budget Fashionista likes them.)

  For instance, this would mean that Macy’s, when it purchased regional department stores like Burdine’s, Rich’s and Marshall Field’s, should think of these names not only as retailing brands, but as store brands that might have value if they are licensed or exported. Macy’s should also consider the value these names might have across the world as fashion brands. In Asia, Europe and the Middle East, Saks is loved.

  And in the U.S., when CVS was launched, it killed off the venerable brand People’s Drug. People’s was known and loved in the mid-Atlantic, and was probably closer to Boots in size and market leadership. What if CVS had used People’s as a store brand, instead of discarding it?

  Brands like Burdine’s and Marshall Field are known too, as generations of foreigners have traveled and visited these stores. They could easily be licensed to foreign companies as store brands, or as independent fashion lines. Brand extensions can not only help your brand, they can save it if times change.

  Another example. Stouffer’s started as a dairy stand, then restaurant. It expanded into frozen foods. It then expanded into hotels. While the restaurant and the hotels have closed, the frozen foods brand of Stouffer’s is a persistent moneymaker.

  Both Dillard’s and Target have gained strength with their private labels. Any company with retail “name” assets would do well to look at them and capitalize on them, and not throw these brands away.

  BrandlandUSA Rules:

  Retailing brands can become store brands. If you have a popular retail name, put it on some of your products.

  Look to overseas markets for licensing opportunities. Buick came very close to dying in the U.S. market, but has thrived in China, because of pre-World War II nostalgia. Your brand also might be loved in a foreign land. If your home market is having a hard time sustaining your brand, look abroad for export or licensing possibilities.

  
  
  

  ]]> http://www.brandlandusa.com/2007/09/16/what-boots-can-teach-macys/feed/ 3 http://www.brandlandusa.com/2007/09/15/how-marshall-fields-would-return/ http://www.brandlandusa.com/2007/09/15/how-marshall-fields-would-return/#comments Sat, 15 Sep 2007 12:12:00 +0000 Garland Pollard http://www.brandlandusa.com/?p=38 Give the Lady What She Wants. Are you listening, Macy’s? You heard a protest of 200 folks, telling you that they loved your store. While it might not seem like alot to you, the reality is that if 200 people would dress up on a Sunday afternoon in odd costume and protest, there are about [...]]]> Give the Lady What She Wants.

  Are you listening, Macy’s? You heard a protest of 200 folks, telling you that they loved your store. While it might not seem like alot to you, the reality is that if 200 people would dress up on a Sunday afternoon in odd costume and protest, there are about 2,000 other Chicagoland people who strongly sympathize.

  These 200 folks have lots of family and friends, and they are telling their friends how silly Macy’s is being on this whole issue. Handing out Frango to everyone doesn’t do it. The key is using the Marshall Field’s name, in small doses or large. People want to hear the name Marshall Field, anywhere. So here are a few ideas on ways you could bring the name back.

  • Rename the Chicago store in name as Marshall Field’s, but operate it as Macy’s. Instead of calling it Macy’s at State Street, call it Macy’s at Marshall Field’s.
  • Re-introduce Marshall Field (no apostrophe “s”) as a store brand. Why in the world are you pushing other store brand names at Macy’s (Charter Club Home, Tools of the Trade, and Hotel Collection), but are not using the name Marshall Field as a store brand?
  • Re-launch a tiny niche Marshall Field’s catalog at Christmastime.
  • Quietly, oh so quietly, rename the Macy’s North division the Marshall Field Division. You don’t have to re-flag the stores, which is expensive when the whole Macy’s chain is suffering. But if you allow staff, customers and vendors to use the name in a soft-sell way business-to-business, this will preserve the rights to use this name. If Macy’s does not make a good faith effort to use the brand name, you can lose it. And that name has millions in value; a small internal move like this will add to the balance sheet.
  • Make a Marshall Field’s website that by all effect operates as a Macy’s site, but puts the Marshall Field’s name out front.
  • Pull a Conch Republic, and rename the State Street store once a year “Marshall Field’s” during the holiday season with a “Give the Lady” sale. That would be fun.
  • Offer Macy’s cardholders the opportunity to have a Marshall Field’s co-branded store charge card.
  • Make the State Street BUILDING an independent Marshall Field’s unit of Macy’s, with its own identity, while leaving all the suburban stores as Macy’s. In truth, the old department stores were really collections of smaller stores and leased concession shops, all operating under the department store name, the earliest shopping malls. So how about the store complex being a retail complex called Marshall Field’s, with Macy’s being one of the smaller shops inside. Then, the Marshall Field Store at State Street, connected with the brand trademarks and goodwill, will add to the balance sheet, yet not detract at all from the Macy’s name.

  Even forgetting that there is a Marshall Field’s store name, Marshall Field was person, and his trusted name means everything to Chicagoans. So use it.

  And here’s another point for Macy’s stockholders. In the second largest metropolitan region of the U.S., your name is being dragged through the mud, not only as insensitive, but as incompetent. This is not good.

  No one of these above solutions is correct; the correct answer can only be determined by store officials who just swallow a wee bit of pride and make a good faith effort to harness the goodwill in Chicago for that State Street store. I promise you, it will be good for sales. And it doesn’t have to be a big mea culpa. Instead, Macy’s should take little steps in bringing the name back. Repairing this is a process, not a one-time act.

  In fact, Macy’s skilled-but-beleaguered press department can use the line “Give the lady what she wants” when they announce the first of these name changes. It will signal not only that Macy’s understands the Field’s shopper, but it will show a sense of humor about the whole thing.

  Editor’s Note: Want to read our most up to date mentions of Marshall Field’s? Click here on all our stories that concern Marshall Field’s.

  ]]> http://www.brandlandusa.com/2007/09/15/how-marshall-fields-would-return/feed/ 13 http://www.brandlandusa.com/2007/09/03/poll-bring-woolworths-back-dont-forget-marshall-fields-bonwit-teller-peck-peck-2/ http://www.brandlandusa.com/2007/09/03/poll-bring-woolworths-back-dont-forget-marshall-fields-bonwit-teller-peck-peck-2/#comments Tue, 04 Sep 2007 02:50:00 +0000 Garland Pollard http://www.brandlandusa.com/2007/09/03/poll-bring-woolworths-back-dont-forget-marshall-fields-bonwit-teller-peck-peck-2/ BrandlandUSA’s first polling contest is over. In our poll, we asked readers the simple question. “What department store do you miss most?” Our readers top pick for a store to bring back? F. W. Woolworth, America’s legendary five and dime. We assume it’s probably because we’ve been writing about the tragedy of former parent company [...]]]> BrandlandUSA’s first polling contest is over. In our poll, we asked readers the simple question. “What department store do you miss most?”

  Our readers top pick for a store to bring back? F. W. Woolworth, America’s legendary five and dime. We assume it’s probably because we’ve been writing about the tragedy of former parent company Foot Locker killing off this iconic American company, and the poll button was to the right. Whatever the reason, Woolworth’s left the American scene a decade ago. Even then, the decision was pretty stupid. Thankfully, there is still time to reverse it, unless the trademark has run out and Woolworth’s has hit the public domain. Note: the photo at left of the legendary Cass Gilbert Woolworth Building is from the Library of Congress. It’s the Woolworth Building around 1910, from the LOC’s Detroit Publishing Company collection.Number two in the BrandlandUSA poll is Marshall Field’s. Thankfully, the original Marshall Field store is still open in Chicago, but somehow, someone in corporate got confused and sent some Macy’s bags to Chicago, so people are being told by store officials that it’s a Macy’s. In addition, Macy’s New York headquarters keeps placing ads in the Chicago Tribune that say Macy’s, and Chicagoans don’t seem to understand what Macy’s is up to. Someone ought to tell them.

  Tied for third “most missed” were the retailers Kress, Bonwit Teller and Peck & Peck.

  Not on the list were Bradlee’s, Ames, J. B. Hunter, Korvettes and Woolco.

  
  
  

  ]]> http://www.brandlandusa.com/2007/09/03/poll-bring-woolworths-back-dont-forget-marshall-fields-bonwit-teller-peck-peck-2/feed/ 0 http://www.brandlandusa.com/2007/09/01/cadbury-brings-back-wispa-lesson-for-macys-and-marshall-fields/ http://www.brandlandusa.com/2007/09/01/cadbury-brings-back-wispa-lesson-for-macys-and-marshall-fields/#comments Sat, 01 Sep 2007 11:30:00 +0000 Garland Pollard http://www.brandlandusa.com/?p=36 The British candy bar Wispa is back. It was a result of an online campaign by fans, all led by the very notable Alan Simonds website called bringitback.ecclesweb.co.uk. Even Iggy Pop got into the campaign, allowing a banner unfurling at a concert. Quoting the Writers/Authors Snacking at Work cyberpunk site, the Wispa bar was so [...]]]>
  The British candy bar Wispa is back. It was a result of an online campaign by fans, all led by the very notable Alan Simonds website called bringitback.ecclesweb.co.uk. Even Iggy Pop got into the campaign, allowing a banner unfurling at a concert. Quoting the Writers/Authors Snacking at Work cyberpunk site, the Wispa bar was so good that one should “Get your ass on a British Airways flight tonight. It’s worth it.”

  It’s a long story on how it returned, reported by the New York Times on August 27, 2007. But the most interesting point is how it revealed the self-righteous and all knowing tone used by brand killers everywhere. Said Karl Heiselman of the firm Wolff Olins, “we have to be careful about relying on them to do our jobs.” Thankfully, Heiselman redeemed himself by the end of the article, telling reporter Eric Pfanner that it was a good example of “consumers’ owning the brand” vs. the corporation.

  The reality is that someone did not do their job well at Cadbury. This is a similar situation with old Coke and Nabisco’s killing off Crown Pilot chowder crackers. The good news? Both of these products returned with a flurry of goodwill for the “offending” company. Consumers LOVE a company that admits a mea culpa, and brings a venerable old brand back. It makes a company look human. Even better, consumers understand the pressures that modern staffers at companies are under, and completely sympathize with workers who make mistakes because they also work at big companies. Good companies all make mistakes. It’s how you deal with those mistakes that makes a good company great.

  BrandlandUSA Rules:

  Customers own good brands. Companies don’t. They are merely custodians for this generation, who owe it to consumers to keep a good product in business.

  Companies won’t get into trouble. Companies shouldn’t get embarrassed by bringing an old brand back. In case after case, companies that bring back old brands are showered with goodwill for reversing their positions. People love big bullies who are humbled a bit.

  
  
  

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