Michele Miller hits it on the head regarding her thinking about Pier 1.

1. Stop with the celebrity spokespeople. Until Joe Regalbuto came along and broke the celebrity barrier with DirecTV, you couldn't catch an actor hawking anything -- now it's commonplace. Sure, the first ad or two with Kirstie Alley might have been cute, but they quickly became annoying. Being cute and creative in advertising might win you awards, but if it ain't selling the goods, it ain't worth the celluloid it's filmed on. Thom Filicia from Queer Eye? A little more credible but not worth it.

2. Start focusing on your products and their resonance with your customer's lifestyle rather than going "creative." See Number 1.

3. Take care of your current customers. I have been shopping at Pier 1 since the early days, when they sold those cool Eastern Indian gauze blouses and funky beaded stationery boxes. I still shop there regularly, and have yet to receive any kind of mailing (either postal or email) giving me a "heads up" on special sales, preferred buyer discounts, etc. Today, Pier 1 has monster competition in the form of Crate and Barrel and Pottery Barn, which are doing an awesome job of building customer evangelists -- without television advertising. Pier 1 would do itself a favor by rolling some of that ad money into a customer appreciation campaign.

Click through to read the rest of her thoughts and get to know her blog.

I couldn't have said it better. Nice one Michele.

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Comments

[Troy Worman]

Excellent weblog. Thanks.