The Miami Beach store, located on trendy Lincoln Road in South Beach, looks like a sewing machine factory at first glance into the cavernous space.

Based on several initial visits, it appears locals but primarily tourists are finding this new retail concern of some interest. However, there is a serious problem brewing.

The retailer is very coy about its return store policy, not providing it to buyers until after the transaction is complete in violation of state laws. It appears that the store only provides store credit or exchanges. On further inspection the store's second receipt (not the one you sign or the transactional one you get for a credit card payment) states this but also states that the consumer is entitled to a refund as per one's rights. 

Confusing huh? You bet. There's more.

On a recent trip I tried to return a T shirt purchased on American Express. After a 15 minute wait to get to the front of the one man cash register check out, I was told that "no one" is available to address my return needs for half an hour. WTF? I never heard of such nonsense. Meanwhile, I was told that they wouldn't provide a refund only store credit but again, no one in the entire huge store among the entire staff could handle a return.

Fumed, but determined to resolved the matter, I was able to "persuade" one store employee to fetch a manager after 15 minutes. The manager reiterated the store's return policy claiming two things. 1) The second receipt explains no refunds (despite not seeing this until after the transaction is complete) and 2) the disclaimer about entitlement to a refund means (to the UK management) store credit not a US understood refund. I laughed hard at this explanation. I told this manager that what she was saying is that the Kings English supersedes American English and American laws. She said yes.

I politely told her that just wouldn't fly with the AG of the State of Florida or most customers.

I contacted various state agencies and indeed ALL Saints is in violation of various retail laws and will now be investigated. 

There have always been retailers who exude a sense of arrogance to create an "image" behind whatever brand identity they think is best for their success. But this case took things to new levels in my opinion.

Will keep your informed.

Watching out for you everyday.

Eli

I have a little more free time and figured what better subject to relaunch the blog with than the current fiasco Toyota Motor Co. is facing, especially here in the US.

Along with Honda, Toyota changed the whole notion of automotive quality and consistency teaching a lesson to both the Americans and Europeans about how to build a car Americans will buy and buy again that is a good value and highly dependable. In recent years Toyota's marketshare increased greatly especially due to its success with the Camry model.

Toyota also changed the luxury car game with the introduction of Lexus 20 years ago. That brand become the poster child for reliable dependable luxury and in short order put Mercedes and BMW on notice they were here to stay and command attention. They introduced innovation after innovation including a car that can park itself...(wouldn't want to try that given their accelerator problem).

Lexus touted its slogan, "Relentless Pursuit of Perfection" and the halo built from this brand helped the overall Toyota brand image improve and dominate car buying.

In recent weeks we have learned that the armor does indeed have a flaw and the unintended acceleration problem (going back as far as 2002 and well covered up... I now understand) got so out of hand that millions of cars (I believe more than last year's production worth) have to be recalled. Government information indicates Toyota looked for excuse after excuse (similar to Audi's nearly suicidal move in the 80s) to explain away the unintended acceleration problem. Now they have been forced to deal with the problem, its cost and the bigger issue the demise of the once quality is king image, especially with Lexus. In my opinion Lexus should drop the "Relentless Pursuit of Perfection" slogan for a while because people are just snickering these days.

Is this a case of assuming brand image can cover all ills? It can for a while but just a while, reality does set in and consumers do not like to be fooled and taken advantage of for too long. It is not easy to recover from massive quality mistakes that a car maker tries valiantly to make the fault of the "stupid" driver putting the floor mat in a bad place...and with the state of the world economy, Toyota can't really afford this image damage.

The good news or silver lining? Maybe more American's will see that Ford and GM (what's left of it) actually make pretty good cars these days, thanks to Toyota, and are worth buying again.

Watching out for you everyday.

Eli

Tag Heuer follows Gillette and accounting consultancy Accenture who have in one way or another dropped Woods from their campaigns.

The major hold-out so far is Nike which has the most at stake in this gamble. As reported in numerous retail news stories in the media most Tiger Woods merchandise is being sold at discounted or clearance prices as consumers, especially women, shun the golfer's apparel because of his lies deceit and infidelity.

I believe ultimately Nike is going to have to take a stand by dropping the use of Tiger's image in its stores and by reducing the displays of Tiger's logo'd apparel from main view in its stores. As this saga continues to play out with no honest information forthcoming, Nike will be hard pressed to stand by and wait. If more negative information surfaces the damage will be great to them. This is especially true because they bank on Woods' overall image to enhance the total Nike brand not just Tiger Woods branded clothing.

Watching out for you everyday.

Eli

Nearly two weeks after the 2:30AM car crash that has led to the acknowledgment of infidelity by the world's richest Golfer and best known athlete, Tiger Woods, we still don't fully know what happened to cause this to become the most notable celebrity misstep in years maybe decades.

What I do know is that the damage is significant and the Tiger Woods Billion Dollar brand is in free-fall. His agents and handlers are of course saying any loss of endorsements is pre-mature but I'll bet senior marketing management and lawyers at Tag Heuer, AT&T, NIke, Accenture, Gillette among others are up sleepless nights trying to figure out how to manage this PR disaster and discern whether or not they can can him. (I'll bet GMs decision to drop Tiger last year as an endorser of the Buick line because of financial difficulties at the automaker is heralded as "brilliant" somewhere inside that company).

Tiger announced today that he is leaving the game of golf "indefinitely" to figure out his life. A little late for that huh? You should have done some figuring before Thanksgiving and leaving all those emails and voice mails. Was Tiger so naive to think none of these women wouldn't go public for big money?

One TV pundit I saw insisted that he "knew" the contracts with Tiger were "ironclad" and nothing could force sponsors to stop paying him. I find that hard to believe. Virtually all endorsement contracts I have seen or have worked on in my career always had a back door out clause if the celebrity failed to perform or caused the sponsor's company or brand harm by his actions. Even if this were true..that all deals were unbreakable....it doesn't stop sponsors from not using him in their ads (I think all endorsement uses of TW have been stopped to my knowledge as of this point) and I do not expect them to use him in anyway for an indefinite period of time.

Wood's story continues to get worse and the lack of information keeps the story top news and only causes more financial harm. He is the butt of late night comedians and the internet is on fire with "have you heard" jokes about Tiger. Certainly no longer the perfect sports role model.

Speaking of which, because Tiger Woods was the single largest sports endorsement brand on the planet (as far as I know) this completely unexpected incident will certainly make all companies that use celebrities, especially sports stars re-evaluate hiring these folks in the first place. If Tiger can fall so hard and fast it proves the risk/return is becoming too great. My understanding is more companies are sponsoring sports teams or events rather than specific performers to reach their targets with far less risk. It is clearly possible the fall out from Tiger Woods infidelity may change an entire industry permanently. 

The Tiger story goes way deeper. It impacts Television sports, ratings and revenues. Tiger helped build this sport into a more democratic one bringing millions of new fans and dollars to the industry of Professional Golf. When he last left the game for medical reasons, TV viewership dropped dramatically as did ad revenues. This will happen again, except, if and when Tiger does return to televised golf, the ratings will likely soar, at least in the short term and golf on TV will be hot again. It does remain a serious question: Might Tiger give up the game permanently to find "religion, healing, forgiveness and family"?

Watching out for you everyday.

Eli

UPDATE: As of late today, both Gillette and accounting consultancy Accenture have announced they will put their marketing efforts behind Tiger Woods on hold indefinitely with Gillette indicating it will phase out use of the golf phenon relatively quickly. $$$ signs are dropping. I'm expecting more fallout within days. Word also has it that Tiger's yacht "Privacy" docked at Miami Beach Marina is being prepped for departure. Access to its dock has been restricted/keys changed even name on boat is being covered up. Privacy at sea shortly? Likely

So, it may be surprising to learn that the "bunny" brand is trying to team up with lux hotel Sagamore in famed South Beach Miami to get back into the hotel business.

Years ago Playboy was a fixture around the globe with hotels and lounges extending the magazine into three dimensions. As a kid I remember how cool it seemed to know someone who had access to a Playboy "key" to gain admittance to one of the famed locales to see the bunnies up close and personal. It was the era when the old James Bond character and his bed hopping swinging lifestyle was the envy of most men.

The brand has suffered as culture changed and competition increased.

The Sagamore Hotel, known as the "Art Hotel" in South Beach for its prized art collection, boutique size and more low key orientation than its grand neighbors such as the Delano and Shore Club, is unable to pay its mortgage. The recession has hit lux hotels around the US including in popular South Beach hard. Once rooms were easily fetching $400 or more a day. This past year many lux hotels in this market were lucky to get $200 and were losing lots of money.

It is reported that to "save" the Sagamore, a hotel I found very comfortable and highly enjoyable when I stayed there 7 years ago, the owners and loan holders are talking with Playboy about a brand merger. There would not be a casino, like Playboy would like to have and is associated with at the Palms in Vegas, but it would have all the rest of the Playboy trimmings, bunnies included.

Can the Playboy brand work in South Beach and at the Sagamore? I actually think yes. I think the retro nature of the Playboy brand albeit an updated one (culturally) which is more PC has a strong appeal and would attract audiences who come to South Beach to party hard and to see and be seen. The Sagamore was overshadowed by so many higher profile hotels in the area....new ones opening every year...(the W South Beach is the "it" hotel of the moment and booked) that it seemed lost among the frey. The Playboy association would give it new life.

Thus, I feel the Playboy brand is NOT dead just in need of a bit of retooling but its 60s/70s feel is consistent with other retro things happening in this country to a time of yore perceived to be more care-free and stable than today.

Watching out for you everyday.

Eli