Seeing Red: More Branding and Just in Time for the Holidays

When you see a fabulous red sole, it can only mean one thing. And walking away never looked so good.

Anytime, anywhere. Click here before you walk away: http://www.neimanmarcus.com/store/catalog/templates/media.jhtml?itemId=cat19460743&icid=elvid#

Another success in color branding.

And, the happy souls featured in red above are shown on a yummy Luscious Verde holiday card.

Branding at Tiffany's

Who knows where that pouch came from? Did you recognize the box above? Could you spot it from across the room and know the significance of a genuine Tiffany box? Can you guess – pretty accurately – where the envelope is from without looking at the return address? Why would your answer be “yes” or “Tiffany” to any or all of the above? Because Tiffany & Co. is known for their trademarked blue box. Yes, this particular shade of blue is trademarked - world famous at that. A successful branding story; you see this delightful shade of blue and you think of Tiffany. Did you know that “Tiffany Blue” is also known as Pantone Color 1837? 1837, the year that Tiffany was born.

Hmmm… what color would make people think of you? Are you color branded?

I’d be interested to hear about other successful color brandings. Please send me your top 3.

And, for those who don’t know me that well, I am not so much “color branded” as I am “pattern branded”. The obvious clue lies in the photos above.

Using Recycling - Even for Halloween

So the prep began a few weeks ago. What to be, what to be? Store selections didn't grab us. And all you do with that brand new prepackaged costume is wear it once and put it away in the closet hoping a younger friend or relative will ask to borrow it for next year. And that rarely happens.

Wasn't there anything we could make? Anything we could use from stuff we already had? We had an idea for a costume. Then I heard about Tony; a man with years of experience with costumes for Broadway shows. Tony is a man with a barn 3 stories high filled with costumes and accessories. Fabulous! Maybe we could find something that would look like a coffee mug/container/cup; something already made and just waiting to be used again.

When we first went up to see Tony it was a little spooky. The door to the inside porch of his house was left open and it was filled with years of memories. We knocked. We rang the bell. We called from our cell phones and heard his land line ringing with our call. Nothing. We walked across the way to the barn. We pushed open the old door. Wow. Old file cabinets, draped tables, pirate jackets, band outfits, maiden gowns, lace, and webs. Still no Tony. Was he up in the rafters? Could we just walk up those creaky, steep and narrow steps? We had an appointment. Where was he?

"Let's just get out of here" spoke a little voice (yes, my daughter). We called again. No Tony. "Can we please just go..." At that point we did have to leave but our friends could wait a bit longer.

A few minutes later the call came in from Liz - "they have some tea cups and a majorette costume - I think it could work."

A few days later we went back. We combed through the top loft filled with head gear. White fluffy feathers...? An option. But, I am a bit weary of used or shared headgear. We left without a whip cream topping accessory but we had the makings of a coffee cup. Man hours later we had Starbucks branding our Halloween and we were gluing marshmallows to felt hats.

The best part - happy smiles and the delight that we were, for the most part, able to "recycle" a costume.

Happy Halloween!

And, more on branding next week.