Believe It....or Not???

I just ran across an almost unbelieveable story on AOL.
It seems a home developer in the United Kingdom has been staging their new homes for sale with a most unorthodox style. You might call it the Berenstain method...

They include a messy teen boy's room - complete with disheveled bedding, clothes strewn across the floor, tacky posters on the walls, even 'leftover' food lying around. The food may be plastic stand-ins for pizza & sandwiches, and spilled cans of Coke - but the muddy shoes are real, brought in by an employee in the sales office.

Seems the builder thinks that this approach will startle buyers, make them remember the property, and foster a sense of 'home' that those pristinely-staged rooms don't engender. (Wouldn't you just LOVE to hear Jeff Lewis' - the uber detail-obsessed real estate flipper from Bravo's Flipping Out show - take on this???!!!) Did it work? Well, the article says the homes are selling faster than others in the area.

I'm not sure if this story - which originally ran in the STAR magazine in the UK (which makes one raise an eyebrow) is at all true, but if so it just may start a heinous and altogether unpleasant trend. It takes all kinds!

Click here to read it on AOL and see a few photos. I'd have loved to have shared them here - you really have to see this to believe it...or not???

Color Inspiration

Pantone is the Universally recognized Color Authority.

Not just in the retail industry, but in product, interior, and fashion design, as well. They not only know color, they very nearly re-invent it!

Twice a year, Pantone Color Experts create new combinations of shades & hues to form seasonal collections - which are relased to the public a year in advance. Usually consisting of eight color palettes for fall/winter and spring/summer of each year, these collections form the backbone of new designs that will be released in the coming year. At www.Pantone.com, you can purchase several versions of the color forecasts - in books, paint fans, on discs, and via download.

You can catch a video of Leatrice (Lee) Eiseman, Executive Director of the Pantone Color Institute, (also an engaging speaker, creative muse, and very nice woman who lives here in my area!) premiering the new color collections for 2009 - 10. With evocative palette names like 'Wine Country', 'Solar Power', and 'Breathing Room', you can almost taste and feel them!

Pantone has expanded their website to include My Pantone , a section where members (free) can participate in community discussions and inspiration, find loads of resource information about using color, and be eligible for special Pantone products and discounts. They are truly leading the charge in assisting retailers, designer, ALL businesses, by providing more than just product.

I guess you could say that Pantone is painting the town...red, orange, saffron.... just pick your color!

Image Credit: Pantone Color Institute, www.pantone.com

Another One Bites the Dust

I just read on Deb Duesenberry's Curious Sofa retail blog that Country Home magazine from Meredith Corporation is the latest casualty in the shelter publications industry. Deb apparently received an email directly from Meredith, informing her that the magazine will cease production in the near future. Recently I also heard that Oprah's 'O at Home' magazine is no longer being published.

Just last month, Mary Engelbreit's Home Companion magazine announced that its publisher was not renewing their contract, and the November/December 2008 issue was the last one. A few years ago, Victoria magazine was shut down nearly overnight by Hearst Publishing. Victoria was revived in 2007 by Hoffman Publications (who also produce Tea Time and Paula Deen's magazines) and is now alive & well with tons of thrilled fans - hopefully, another publisher will step up to continue the excellence of MEHC and their mission of featuring artisans & shoppes in each issue. This one magazine did more for independent creative businesses than anything else I know of.

Country Home may not be so lucky. Though they have worked hard to stay abreast of trends and changes in the interior design industry, country-style decor is in a constant state of reinvention and varies widely across not just our nation but the world. As far as meeting the needs of a large demographic, they have a lot of competition out there - as did Oprah and many others - and that includes popular decorating blogs. If you can get your inspiration & information FREE on the Internet, why buy a magazine??? If you want to reduce your carbon footprint, reduce your use of paper - browse online and print out only what you need to.

If I had one suggestion for these now-defunct magazines, and others who worry that they'll follow suit, I'd say get busy fast to recreate a content-rich format of their websites, and keep them fresh each day - sort of a glorified/expanded blog theory. Sell ads & links, sell downloads, sell products - but keep those stories and ideas and inspiration coming to us via the Internet instead of the newsstand. Rethink what magazines are really offering us and focus on content instead of printing pages. Keep your staff employed because you can actually put more content on a website than you can in a 110 page printed publication.

Oh, and I'd also suggest that they stop selling magazine subscriptions on their websites when they decide to close down. It's disturbing and annoying to pay subscription fees, and then be informed that you will be receiving another magazine in its place.

OK, off my soapbox...

Farm Chicks Videos!

I recently received an email from Jessica Brustad, online content manager for the Gift & Home Channel, telling me that I could get the codes to display my videos! I was all over that and quickly got to work.

I've embedded the players down at the bottom of my web page at www.debiwardkennedy.com,  where you can cue up all six of my videos, which include interviews with the Farm Chicks, Tammy Gilley, Heather Bullard, Bari J., and visits to some VERY creative retail spaces at the Farm Chicks Show.

2010: The videos are now hosted online by another service provider, not GHC. I am no longer involved with or promoting GHC in any way.

Me...Fashionable?!!!!

Well, leave it to me to be so busy for a month that I miss something important!

I was just alerted by a kind visitor that my blog has been mentioned at Fashion Avenue. com, a trend review site. Here's what they had to say:

Deco Diva Debi
"Deco Diva Debi" is a blogsite featuring retails, fashion, beauty, inspirations, innovations, creative ideas, showroom makeover, seasonal display, retail news, green ideas, display tips, display ideas, books, Diva Moments, Resources and more. It also discusses very interesting topics on the product display such as window display design and more... Deco Diva Debi

Check it out: http://www.fashionavenue.com/blogmembers.asp?user=twenty

Thank You, Fashion Avenue!

A New Thing

New Year, new resolutions, right? New goals, new aspirations. New 'to do' lists. There's only one thing missing:

A New Attitude.
(Yes, actually, I DO hear the strains of Patti LaBelle in the background...)

Have you ever heard the saying "You can't keep doing the same old thing the same old way and expect a new outcome"? Think about that for a second. In an economy and environment where things change moment to moment, where technology evolves by the nanosecond, and consumer access to information and products expands exponentially each day, you just can't continue to do 'business as usual'. Because business isn't usual, it's moving at the speed of life - and life.just.keeps.speeding.up.

Do your New Years Resolutions for yourself and your business look like last years' did? Or maybe five years ago? Is the list populated with items that have appeared before? Remember - if you want a new result, you have to try a new method! Your business is not the same as it was, neither are you - nor are your customers or the lives they lead. You have to keep up.

Make item number one on your list a commitment to expand your expectations, your viewpoints, your education & understanding. Learn more about your demographic, your industry, more about trends that affect customer buying decisions, more about how to operate efficiently and source products effectively. This year, open your eyes, your mind, your heart, your arms, to embrace a new vision of success for yourself and your business. I'm not talking about wearing rose colored glasses or submitting everyone to 'Pollyanna thinking' here, but I am suggesting that you take radical action to adjust your perception of success.

We all have different needs and goals for our businesses, and shouldn't look to neighbors or competitors or forecasters to tell us if we are succeeding or not. We should have our own benchmarks. I have every intention of making a profit in business, believe me, but that is not the primary motivator for me. Never has been. My definition of success is very different than the S&P or Dunn & Bradstreet reports recognize.

My husband and I ask ourselves these questions constantly: Are we meeting the needs of our customers and suppliers? Are we enhancing their lives, and the lives of our employees? Are we contributing to our local and global community & economy? Are we making a difference in ways that are important to us? Are we excited and energized to spend the better part of each day engaged with others to make our business the best it can be? Are we exceeding our own expectations? Are we benefitting from what we are doing in the ways that we desire to benefit?

Our goal is to consistently answer 'yes' to all of the above. Helping us to do that is an outlook that espouses expectations of success on our terms, not someone else's. I encourage you to embrace the ideals of positive change in 2009. Expect a great year, and try a new thing! You might just be surprised at the result...