Webkinz. As Alison Zisko reported 2.11.08 for trade journal Home Furnishings News, “For the uninitiated, Webkinz, manufactured by Ganz, are small plush toys that come with a secret code that unlocks a secure Web site, enabling children to take care of a virtual pet online. It offers games, trivia questions and all sorts of ways for children to mind the health and well being of their pet, as well as create and decorate rooms for it on the computer. Webkinz are introduced periodically. Introduced in April 2005, they retail for around $12.95 apiece.”

The article further states ,”“We sold almost half a million dollars in Webkinz last year,” said David Calcaterra, vice president of Thrifty Florist, which operates 16 of the combined flower and gift shops in the metropolitan Detroit region. “People bought other things. In the month of December, it made a difference.”

So far what they are talking about is the selling of the stuffed animals, Webkinz, themselves. What about actual products that license them. Seems like a terrific boost to sales of anything i.e. bedding, tabletop items themselves, furniture, pajamas….lunchboxes, backbacks. It’s a thought, or more like a recommendation. I haven’t checked into licensing the product myself, not yet.

I will say that it is one of those things Moms are recommending to other Moms and is a topic of conversation between Moms….always a surefire way of seeing the beginnings of something very big.

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After grappling with how to say Happy New Year to Everyone, this is what I decided on: a sneak peek to my 2009-2010 top trends, as I see it, and as a way to help wrap up 08 depending on where you are in your buying, your product launches, your presentations, or your strategy planning.

1. Color Cornucopia: Eye Candy for the Color Maven’s Soul. Image from John Galliano for Dior Haute Couture Spring 08 Collection. Seattlepi.com.

2. Mother Earth Beats Her Chest: Science Popular.

“An armada of robot submarines and marine sensors are to be deployed across the Atlantic, from Florida to the Canary Islands, to provide early warning that the Gulf Stream might be failing, an event that would trigger cataclysmic freezing in Britain for decades.” Meric Srokosz of the Southampton Oceanographic Centre, explaining the purpose of the $31 million Rapid Watch system he is heading up, does just that, citing the plotline of “The Day After Tomorrow” - specifically the collapse of the Gulf Stream - as a potential occurrence that warrants further investigation. From Treehugger.com and The Observer.

3. Finishing Touches Birth Special Effects. Photo Yohji Yamamoto, Mens FW 08, Style.com.

4. High Tech High Touch in Living Breathing Action. Image from Nau.com’s trademark “webfronts,” which is their idea of recognizing how the internet has changed consumer’s buying behavior.

5. Cross Marketing/Collaborations in Unlikely Places/Partners Creating Phenomenal Hybrids. From Designspotter and Globus by Michiel Van der Kley.

These are but a few of the macro trends I allude to during my strategy sessions or across the year in trend newsletters, reports and product development/programming strategy sessions.

Let me know if you have questions about how the above references might effect your planning for 08-2010, any initiatives that Trendbites publisher, the kimbro agency, may help you support in ‘08 and/or if you’d like to subscribe to any number of Trendbites’ sister, Trendcites (rhymes with bites!), publications.

We do trend newsletters, customized trend reports, product development strategizing and implementation, marketing consulting,
color palettes and by request only, show reports.

You can reach me by email at kim@trendcites.com.

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While strolling through a Williams Sonoma Home the other day, I came across their fretwork desk and thought it was lovely. Their version is simple enough for people to be able to incorporate it into their modern or traditional decorating styles. While it struck me as being unique, I wondered about incorporating it, the fretwork style or piece, within a traditional setting or if that was just my taste. Then while perusing the NY Times, I came across their piece on fretwork in rugs. They seem to think this style will work along side modern as well as traditional too.

Williams Sonoma Home to me was like walking into an upscale version of my parents home, only in today’s time. It was some really interesting mixture of 50’s, traditional, and 21st century. So the final takeaway was….drum roll please….Modern.

It’s a breath of fresh air from their Pottery Barn stores; and I imagine that sounds blasphemous for all of you Pottery Barn fans, (of which I am one), but still this isn’t Ethan Allen because it’s a little more casual than that but it’s a far cry from Pottery Barn. It’s upscale for sure, but I could put more than one of their room settings in my (fantasy) house by the shore. They have a very wide range of fabrications which I think helps, and colors…but they then pair it with the odd piece, such as a fretwork desk, or a dining room set that in design is very traditional but with the chairs upholstered in tweed, which is very clever. If you put it in leather, then yes, that’s my parents’ house, but tweed, that’s an altogether different style story.

In fact their description of their fretwork desk on their website reads “In homage to the Asian-inspired designs of Thomas Chippendale, this desk is aproned with intricate, hand carved fretwork.” Kudos to William Sonoma Home for walking this fine line and being able to carry it off. There are only eight of these stores in the nation at this point, one of which is in the St. Louis Plaza Frontenac area. Turns out that area is a marketing test site for a number of new luxury outlets….(Nieman Marcus puts all of their Christmas Decorations out in August at the St. Louis location and depending upon what happens there in early August and September sales, so goes the rest of the nation’s merchandise mix).

You may have found this sofa and these chairs in my parent’s house, but not that rug, not that bust on the coffee table (probably not that exact coffee table–in fact WS Home’s description says it’s a sophisticated take on early 20th century architecture ) and certainly not that glass top desk in the background. It’s a delight. You can view more room settings on their website, WSHome, but a visit to their stores is a much better way to understand the abundance of choice within. The stores are strategically positioned around the country, two in CA., one in Fla. (Coral Gables), Indianapolis, Ind., Cincinnati, Ohio, King Of Prussia, PA, and one in Portland, Oregon.

So, no need to fret yourself any longer, not when you have others who can do it for you, and so well at that….

P.S. I can at some point see Williams Sonoma Home going into a Casablanca type decorating style, but that is for another time and another report.

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Decor8 has introduced me to Laura Veirs and her new cd, Saltbreakers. What first attracted me to the image were the colors, with its midnight blue sky, ocean blues and the forlorn algae green dragon, my current favorite color combinations. So, in taking the time to peruse Laura Veirs site and navigate to where I could listen to her music while taking in the cd’s illustrations, I came to understand the connection Ms. Veirs has to not only the title of the cd but the artwork itself. In looking at all of her images, of her band (I take it), and video stills, it all has to do with the coast. I love the inspiration I get from looking at the images, almost smelling the deep salt air, and all the while being introduced to indie/alternative/folk rock music. Her lyrics have maritime and nautical references, so do some of her song titles….I’m hooked.

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