The brilliance of Kohl's OR What's in a name

[Ghoulish Delight]

Originally Posted by Not Afraid

All major stores do this. Craftsman, Amanna, Greatland, Mossimo, there are THOUSANDS of "brands" that re "exclusive" to big stores.

Just one more thought on this. The brilliance to me lies not in the exclusivity, but in the low-profile. Yes, all stores have their own brands...but they market them. They try to make the brand recognizeable to theoretically draw you in. The end result of that is an eventual undermining of your store brand, as people become loyal to the merchandise, not the provider. Sure, it's a business model that can be made to work, but it puts you into the most competetive space in that industry. Whereas, especially with more and more stores being glommed together via buyouts, the world of "department stores" is a much smaller competetive space than the world of "clothing brands".

So really, what struck us, was how unassuming, yet comfortable and familiar the Kohl's brand names are. It's something that I'm rather impressed by. Their marketing department (or whomever named the brands) really nailed it on the head. Brand names that are chamellion like in nature, that stradle the line between recognizeable and blending into the background. Names (and logos...their logos are equally good) that instantly speak of their own legitamacy, that, even though you've never actually heard of them, you might as well have. All this without standing out as either unique, or as knock-offs. They AREN'T like "Sorny", which is an obvious attempt to sound like Sony. They sound like their own, legitimate brands.