Comments on: The Sharper Image bankruptcy: how failing to create customers can undermine a brand http://tenayagroup.com/blog/2008/02/24/the-sharper-image-bankruptcy-how-failing-to-create-customers-can-undermine-a-brand/ Brian Phipps on next-generation brands: Tue, 25 Oct 2011 15:28:29 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v= By: Class Action America Makes Class Actions Simple http://tenayagroup.com/blog/2008/02/24/the-sharper-image-bankruptcy-how-failing-to-create-customers-can-undermine-a-brand/comment-page-1/#comment-62877 Class Action America Makes Class Actions Simple Mon, 03 Mar 2008 02:15:35 +0000 http://tenayagroup.com/blog/2008/02/24/the-sharper-image-bankruptcy-how-failing-to-create-customers-can-undermine-a-brand/#comment-62877 <strong>Leading Retailers File Bankruptcy and Close Some Doors...</strong> If you're new here, you may want to subscribe to my RSS feed. Thanks for visiting!Blaming a struggling economy and less than expected holiday sales, specialty retailer Sharper Image, and catalog merchant Lillian Vernon, both have filed bankruptcy.  N... Leading Retailers File Bankruptcy and Close Some Doors…

If you’re new here, you may want to subscribe to my RSS feed. Thanks for visiting!Blaming a struggling economy and less than expected holiday sales, specialty retailer Sharper Image, and catalog merchant Lillian Vernon, both have filed bankruptcy.  N…

]]> By: Jonathan Salem Baskin http://tenayagroup.com/blog/2008/02/24/the-sharper-image-bankruptcy-how-failing-to-create-customers-can-undermine-a-brand/comment-page-1/#comment-61887 Jonathan Salem Baskin Mon, 25 Feb 2008 13:38:15 +0000 http://tenayagroup.com/blog/2008/02/24/the-sharper-image-bankruptcy-how-failing-to-create-customers-can-undermine-a-brand/#comment-61887 I think you're absolutely right, especially as you focus implicitly on the dichotomy between 'brand' and 'business.' Arguably, SI had a great 'brand' from most traditional definitions: we all knew what the store offered, products were arrayed in ways that supported it, and the catalogs evidenced the same approach. The problem was that it had a terrible 'business,' perhaps because management confused all of its communications nonsense with reality. Had it taken the time to understand the consumers of its Ionic Breeze device, it would have discovered that few of them were interested in electronic golf-tee cleaners. It had a handful of traffic drivers, and succeeded in filling its stores with products that otherwise had no relevance to those visiting customers. Nobody was 'excluded' from the brand as much as the brand was irrelevant to its business, unfortunately. Fascinating stuff, though. I wonder how many other businesses suffer a similar disconnect with their branding? Anyway, I riffed about it a bit this morning if you'd like to check it out: http://dimbulb.typepad.com/my_weblog/2008/02/sharper-image-i.html I think you’re absolutely right, especially as you focus implicitly on the dichotomy between ‘brand’ and ‘business.’ Arguably, SI had a great ‘brand’ from most traditional definitions: we all knew what the store offered, products were arrayed in ways that supported it, and the catalogs evidenced the same approach. The problem was that it had a terrible ‘business,’ perhaps because management confused all of its communications nonsense with reality. Had it taken the time to understand the consumers of its Ionic Breeze device, it would have discovered that few of them were interested in electronic golf-tee cleaners. It had a handful of traffic drivers, and succeeded in filling its stores with products that otherwise had no relevance to those visiting customers. Nobody was ‘excluded’ from the brand as much as the brand was irrelevant to its business, unfortunately. Fascinating stuff, though. I wonder how many other businesses suffer a similar disconnect with their branding?

Anyway, I riffed about it a bit this morning if you’d like to check it out: http://dimbulb.typepad.com/my_weblog/2008/02/sharper-image-i.html

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