Collier Campbell
Because of their important licensing agreement with Martex, the most celebrated textile/pattern designers in the UK, and throughout Europe, were known in America as makers of sheets. In a way, this was the definition of good news and bad news. Their success had trapped them into a limited position from which it had become difficult to emerge toward licensing or any recognition or growth beyond Martex sheets.
The real difficulty here is one we see constantly. The artist, creator or manufacturer is all too happy to allow the promotion of their work as “managed” and paid for by someone down the line, without any insight as to the fact that the agendas or goals of these down the line retailers or manufacturers might not be at all the same. If you believe that you cannot afford to control your own promotion, let me suggest that you cannot afford not to.
In taking control of the Collier Campbell positioning, our task was to get the merchandise off the bed, to suggest the genesis of pattern in and of itself. We paired the items with the products from a nascent licensing effort and presented the brand as full of possibility and growth. That we were able to do so without alienating Martex/JP Stevens was a real coup.
The original launch placement was seven pages deep in a number of home magazines. It was managed as a real media event, with a grand launch party, all the glamour of media and design and great press to follow. In the scheme of things, these events seem to have passed out of fashion, as we all chase the next Social Media or blogger craze, but we believe that we’re doing our industries a real disservice. After all, what do the bloggers have to talk about, if we’re not feeding them our own idea of excitement and interest.
Note: Our shooting of Collier Campbell patterns was done with intense sunlight backed by huge movie klieg lights to create an overwhelming pop to the color and pattern, which we knew had to star in the campaign. It looks like nothing you see photographed today – or any day, does it. And that’s a big part of our success – the power of a unique point of view. Whenever a solid color appeared, it was separated from a painted surface with brush-strokes apparent. We never lost sight of the artists, Susan Collier and Sarah Campbell in the presentation of their work and we never wanted the audience to lose sight of them either.
