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Article: Old Brands, New Tricks.(Enterprise; Luxury)(business reinvention)
- Article from:
- Newsweek
- Article date:
- June 2, 2008
- Author:
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Byline: Nick Foulkes
Venerable names are opportunities. The trick is to know when to reinvent.
In recent years, heritage has become part of the venture capital formula. It seems that the sight of a few venerable brands reinventing themselves has stimulated investors' appetites for other old names with glorious pasts. With the understandable optimism that comes with great wealth, they see themselves as Prince Charmings to the historic brands' Sleeping Beauties. Appoint a creative director, open a few flagship stores, develop some "icon" products, talk about "brand DNA" and--voila!--Sleeping Beauty has been transformed into a fully functioning retail ...