3!SLOBS teaser from Jeremy Asher Lynch on Vimeo.
JULY 11, 2010: Billabong today confirmed it had reached conditional agreement to acquire the California-based RVCA brand. Billabong North America President Paul Naude said the acquisition signalled an exciting time in the evolution of RVCA and would afford the brand more creative freedom.
“RVCA has done an incredible job to date in terms of building its brand, differentiating its product and supporting various subcultures through its Artist Network Program, its athletes and its advocates,” said Mr Naude. “We want to see it build on these strengths and we’ll offer the necessary support to allow it to achieve its potential.”
He said RVCA would benefit from the global infrastructure of the Billabong group. “There comes a time in the development of a young brand when the administrative side of doing business can start to consume resources that are better applied to the creative development of the brand,” said Mr Naude. “I think this is one of the strengths of the Billabong group. We have capabilities in areas including sourcing and the management of the supply chain, distribution and general financing and these types of support structures allow our brands to focus on product and marketing.”
Brand founder Pat Tenore said he was looking forward to working with Billabong. “The original concept of RVCA was, and still is, to be a lifestyle brand that integrated different subcultures within one platform … a platform for likeminded people to produce great art and other creative endeavours, while getting recognition for their contribution and involvement,” said Mr Tenore.
“RVCA will be able to take this concept even further and provide a more extensive support base for the artists, athletes and advocates we work with. One of the key things about Billabong is its respect for the creative independence of each of its brands and that level of flexibility will allow RVCA to maintain its identity while benefiting from the support of the wider Billabong group.”
Read the full article from BrandWeek here: Report: College Back-to-School Spending Up 13%
The gist - kids have more money this year than last. Their spending power is up 13% from last year. And not just on tuition, books, room and board, food - college students are spending about 3% more on discretionary purchases than last year. This underscores the importance of Back-to-School for PacSun.
Furthermore, this article reinforces the idea that corporate social responsibility has now become an expectation amongst college-aged consumers:
“So what makes college students choose certain brands? Social responsibility is a driving factor for purchases, according to Alloy. That’s been the case for the last three to four years, said Nelson. Forty-eight percent of this year's respondents said social responsibility is important, versus 43 percent last year. Nelson added that it’s gotten to the point where consumers have come to expect social and environmental traits from brands.”
And while their older counterparts are still worried about economic recovery, they're spending more money because they have a rather optimistic outlook on the economy. 42% of them expect the economy will improve in the coming year, compared to the 31% of people 35 and older.
Have you ever been inside a Cabela's sporting goods store? They're huge. You can get your share of daily exercise just by browsing one of the three floors, replenish yourself with meals from the booths inside, and buy buy buy to your heart's content. It's part museum, part zoo, part kiddie park and all retail. It has "everything". This is the store you go to when you want to gear up for a hunting, camping, kayaking trip. It's a place to spend your whole day looking at products, really investing in the details each has to offer. 
So far, few retailers have embraced the new Apple device even though many already have iPhone apps. Gap, Gilt.com and eBay are among the retail brands that have created iPad applications, while Puma is expected to add iPads to its stores late this year. "For first movers, they're going to provide a higher level of service, or perceived service, than those that don't offer this kind of capability," said Chris Davey, senior VP at SapientNitro, which counts Target, JCPenney, Barnes & Noble and Foot Locker among its retail clients. "It's a connected experience for those who want to promote a multichannel presence or a higher degree of service in their stores."
The first, most logical applications include e-commerce and interactive catalogs. But in time, the iPad could be used as a virtual sales assistant, allowing sales staff in the dress department to pull up coordinating accessories from the jewelry or shoe department. Car dealers could customize a vehicle, showing customers colors and finishes, all while standing in the parking lot. Transactions could be completed without visiting a register and special orders could be placed on the spot. Cumbersome, expensive kiosks could also be replaced.
With retailers already digitizing catalogs for online use, it's easy to imagine distributing catalogs through iPad. Retailers like Home Depot, Best Buy and Williams Sonoma, especially, could benefit from the ability to embed video of product demos, while apparel retailers could easily include styling advice from designers.
Gap's 1969 Stream app, launched earlier this month, takes that idea one step further with a social-shopping experience that includes content from designers, musicians and fashion insiders, the ability to purchase items (or share them with a friend) without leaving the app and a geo-locator to find the nearest store. It includes a music video from Truth & Salvage, a video of Jay Sario from "Project Runway" dressing consumers in Gap denim, photos of celebs wearing Gap and tweets from designer Patrick Robinson.
Ivy Ross, Gap's exec-VP marketing, said the brand first began developing its app with agency AKQA in mid-February. "The iPad will be a new cultural icon. And the way it allows people to engage, we didn't want to be left out of that," she said. "It makes your brand modern."
Ms. Ross said the brand won't have download figures for another month, but she's happy with the initial reaction from consumers, many of whom are declaring Gap "cool again," she said. And Gap won't stop with just an app. The brand plans to explore the iPad's in-store potential at its 1969 Jeans shop in West Hollywood, though Ms. Ross declined to share details.
Mr. Davey said that his agency has begun showing retail clients how they could use the iPad and has gotten positive reactions, though he declined to share any specifics. "They're all pretty psyched about the idea and want to prototype it," he said. "But it does require some show and tell. ... Until it came out, people didn't know what to expect. Initially people were talking about it as more of a publisher platform, an alternative to Kindle."
In-store uses of the iPad are where the real opportunity is, said several executives, though expense will be a hurdle initially. "We'll need to see the price come down before it gets to chain retail stores," said Kevin Ertell, VP-retail strategy at Forsee Results. But, ultimately, he said the iPad or another small tablet device could serve to replace many of the technologies that have been touted at retail in recent years, from kiosks to magic mirrors to hand-held scanners used to check inventory. "It could wrap a lot of things up in a cheaper, more convenient way."
"Without a doubt, the iPad will have a dramatic impact on the in-store retail experience," said Edward Brojerdi, president-MDC Innovation Partners. "There are some logistical details to get sorted out -- how do we make sure they don't walk out the door, that people aren't going to different screens -- before it becomes ubiquitous, but it will happen."
The iPad will be part of a program created by Kirshenbaum Bond Senecal & Partners, part of the MDC Partners Network, which recently won a global assignment from Puma, which includes building a new web experience and creating an iPad retail solution for the brand's customization platform, Mongolian BBQ. The design-your-own-shoe concept had included in-store kiosks, which have since been pulled out. KBS&P is being charged with bringing iPads into the store to "reimagine" the Mongolian BBQ experience. It's not clear exactly what that experience will look like, but execs say the iPads will be tested in stores this summer and begin rolling out to stores later this year.
Our 72andSunny customer research suggested that Aéro is a brand that's left behind as teens age up and individualize - so this feels like a smart way to gain share at a critical age.
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