Never a Lack of Ideas

Happy Halloween For the past two Halloweens, I have presented my lists of the top ten and next ten brands in the United States. I would remove Angry Birds from the list (what a difference a year makes!), but I'd keep everything else the same. My previous posts describe my criteria for these lists. So, in my final installment of this series, I give you my list of top brands #21-25: 21. Corona — There are thousands of brands of beer, but the one that stands out most makes us think of sitting on a beach every time a lime is placed inside one. 22. Tostitos — Go ahead, try to name another brand of tortilla chip. There's a party in every bag. 23. Christian Louboutin — There's only one brand of shoe recognizable simply by its red sole. Louboutin even has a trademark on the red sole in the US. 24. Tiffany & Co. — Every woman wants a gift in the little blue box, and every marketer marvels at the margins Tiffany brings in compared to its competitors. 25. Linked...

Good Idea Back in March, I proposed the idea that shoe maker Christian Louboutin should create a limited edition pink-soled shoe (instead of his traditional red-soled shoes) to raise money for cancer research. ( Read my original idea. ) Unfortunately, representatives from Christian Louboutin said that they weren’t interested in my idea. ( Read their response. ) Fast-Forward Four Months For a limited time during the month of July, shoe maker New Balance has partnered with Susan G. Komen for the Cure to produce a pink running shoe to help raise money for breast cancer awareness. The shoes commemorate the 20 years that Komen has partnered with New Balance to fight breast cancer. For 20 days in July, New Balance will sell 20 pairs of personalized pink shoes for $149.99 per pair. A personal message can be embroidered onto the tongue of the shoe. New Balance has set up a special website in which you may purchase the limited edition shoes: http://www.newbalance.com/personalizethefight/ A no...

In the Beginning… In my first-ever blog post, called Christian Louboutin: Seeing Pink? , I wrote about an idea for high-fashion shoe designer Christian Louboutin to create and sell a pink-soled shoe that could raise millions of dollars for breast cancer research while increasing his brand awareness. Recently, I received a response from a Christian Louboutin representative in New York about my idea. This was the response I received from Christian’s Director of Communications in New York: Dear Mr. Scarpino, Thank you kindly for your interest. However, while your event is certainly worthwhile, we will be unable to help you. Due to the trademark of our red soles, we cannot ever produce a shoe with anything but the red sole, nor would we. Please do not hesitate to offer any further ideas in the future, and we would be happy to review for consideration. My Response While I am happy that someone from Christian Louboutin’s company took the time to write me back, I don’t think that she took ...

Meet Mr. Louboutin Christian Louboutin is one of the hottest shoe designers out there right now. Celebrities love his shoes. Most importantly, Oprah loves his shoes. She frequently wears his shoes during the taping of her shows and she talks about him on the show once and a while. All Chr istian Louboutin shoes have solid red soles – that’s his trademark. It’s what he’s known for. People pay big bucks for those red soles. They’re easy to recognize once you know what to look for, and they make quite a statement among people who care about fashion. Pink is the New Red But Christian, why stop at the red bottoms? Wh y not try different colors? Sure, I know red is your thing and it would probably be very difficult for someone to successfully convince you to change it up. But that’s what I’m going to try to do. My idea is simple: I want you to change it up for a great cause. I want you to come out with a pink-soled shoe in order to raise money for breast cancer awareness. Pink is the color w...