Barneys way off... ~ Brand Mix

Tuesday, May 13, 2008

Barneys way off...

"Strange", "odd", "perplexing". Fashion and retailing commentators can't quite figure out what to make of the news that Target introduced its new line of eco-friendly clothes by designer Rogan Gregory at Barneys.

The latest edition of the Go International collection was only in two stores for a total of six days but while they were there, Barneys shoppers were able to choose between Barneys-style Gregory T-shirts for $68, trousers for $230 or Target versions for as low as $15.

We just spent a few minutes here in the office trying to come up with any reason why this partnership made sense. We came up with... nothing. It's not terrible for Target. A bit of buzz, a bit of marketing, a bit of cachet, a few sales. But for Barneys? All bad. Confusing to its customers and completely off brand.

"Serendipitous," says Gregory of the partnership. "Nuts," say we.

Links:
Barneys Loves Target: Retailing's Odd Couple Takes Marketing Leap: WWD.COM

2 comments:

Unknown said...

What's next, Mercedes gonna partner with Jack n the Box?

Retarded!

Anonymous said...

Martin, I too was puzzled by this. I wrote about it about it a couple of weeks ago on my blog:

http://eyecube.wordpress.com/2008/04/29/barneys-target/

 
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