Robert W. D’Loren is Chairman of the Board and Chief Executive Officer of the omni-channel marketer Xcel Brands, Inc. – owner of the Isaac Mizrahi brands and a 50% interest in the Liz Claiborne New York brand of the Liz Claiborne New York brand. This posting concludes the conversation begun with last week’s posting. This [...]

Tags: Amazon, Apple, Brand DNA, Brand Management, Brand Value, Coca Cola, Google, Isaac Mizrahi, Liz Claiborne New York, Louis Vuitton, Mercedes, North Face, Omni-Channel, Patagonia, Retailer, Robert D'Loren, Xcel Brands, Zappos.

Robert W. D’Loren is Chairman of the Board and Chief Executive Officer of the omni-channel company Xcel Brands, Inc. – owner of the Isaac Mizrahi brand and a 50% interest in the Liz Claiborne New York brand. He is also chairman and CEO of IPX Capital, LLC a private equity investment company; and he was [...]

Tags: Bill Blass, Candies, Deloitte, Digital Technology, Financial Marketplace, Hammacher Schlemmer, Iconix Brand Group, IP, IPX Capital, Isaac Mizrahi, Liz Claiborne New York, Nexcen Brands, Omni-Channel, QVC, Robert D'Loren, Ron Beyma, Social Marketing, The Athlete's Foot, Value Net, Waverly Home, Xcel Brands.

In the film The Wild One, a defiant, motorcycle-jacketed Marlon Brando taps out a dance rhythm with his fingers atop a juke box. When asked what he’s rebelling against, he snorts, “Whadya got?” That’s the spirit! Sometimes it pays to buck normalcy on sheer principle. Finely-tuned processes and well-engineered templates save us plenty of time. [...]

Tags: Brand Management, Inattentialonal Blindness, Invisible Gorilla Test, Sir Arthur Helps, Social Medi.

In 1962, a classic episode of Twilight Zone starred Lloyd Bochner and Richard Kiel – whom you’ll remember as the steel-toothed “Jaws” in the Roger Moore / James Bond flick Moonraker. The title of the Twilight Zone story was “To Serve Man.” In the tale, extraterrestrials land on earth maintaining they have arrived to share [...]

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This posting continues the conversation with Robert Mettler. Bob is a retail legend whose career includes doubling the size of the Macy’s West division as its CEO and running merchandising for Sears during the 1990s. Among his numerous board involvements today, Bob serves as Presiding Director of the Jones Group. The interview was conducted for [...]

Tags: Brand Management, Hartmann Luggage, Ira Katz, KidVantage, Macy's, Neiman-Marcus, Retailing, Robert Mettler, Stanley Marcus, The Jones Group.

Robert Mettler may be technically retired, but at 72, he remains an active force in the retail industry on many fronts. In 2009, Bob left Macy’s West in San Francisco, where he had been chairman and CEO and nearly doubled that division in size. During his earlier career, he helmed a number of the great [...]

Tags: ABF, Amazon, Insight Selling, Interview, J. Crew, J.C.Penney, Joske's, JWL Partners Acquistion Group, L.S. Ayres, LVMH, Macy's, Mickey Drexler, Primark, Quicksilver, Retail Industry, Robert Mettler, Robinson's, Ron Beyma, Ron Johnson, Sears, Sephora, Sergio Zyman, Soft Line, Stein Mart, The Jones Group, Uniqlo, Zara.

Nothing quite compares with the attention given Apple since Steve Jobs’ death. No modern brand has been endowed with more mythic properties. And many are anxious to conclude that the brand is today an empty bubble bereft of  Jobs’ charismatic genius. Managers give constant lip service to the value and depth of teams in great [...]

Tags: Apple, Brand Mangemement, James Surowiecki, Steve Jobs.

This piece is inspired by an article in Stores Magazine by Susan Reda, reporting on Alison Paul’s speech at the NRF Convention – http://bit.ly/13tldpf You may know the brand. But, the stages and levels through which the brand is being assembled, tailored and disseminated defy knowing. We live in a collaborative time. Manufacture – including [...]

Tags: James Surowiecki, Jim Collins, Kevin Kelly, Malcolm Gladwell, Seth Godin, Social Media, Steve Jobs, Steven D. Levitt, The Great Convergence.

Coco Chanel’s stunning triumphs as an innovator are a topic I’ve written about before: Did Coco Chanel dream these things up? She was far smarter! She listened to the world around her and articulated the vision everyone yearned to have. She enabled and facilitated a fashion cyclone that was gestating in the collective soul of [...]

Tags: Coco Chanel, fashion, Personal Branding, Style.

Talking about trends is routine work in the brand business. Trend commentary is something I engage in or witness nearly every day of my business life. At times it pays to step back and reflect on what happens in any business communication that demands real-world awareness. In our fast-moving times, it’s hard to imagine any [...]

Tags: Branding, Leadership, Richard Dickson, Showrooming, Social Media, sustainability, The Jones Group, Trends.