JCPenney, seemingly a permanent fixture in the news these days, seeks to push past the negative financial and branding headlines and tap into customer experience with their new pop-up shops, which will hopefully garner appeal from designer collaborations. 

The store, which is currently embroiled in a high-stakes trial with Macy's and Martha Stewart over product licenses, has had a rough time since CEO Ron Johnson took over a year ago. The brand's "no markdown" strategy backfired, and word on the street is that employee morale has hit an all-time low at the company's Plano, Texas headquarters. 

However, the company had a moment during the Oscars broadcast. The new campaign, a series of commercials introducing JCP’s latest brand partnerships expanded on last year's rebranding campaign with Ellen DeGeneres. It also boosted activity on Facebook and Twitter, rewarding some followers with gift certificates.

Now, with the success of shop-in-shop brands like Sephora, MNG by Mango, Levi's Denim Bar and Liz Claiborne, the retailer is adding more designers to its in-store boutique lineup and plans to expand to home goods later this spring. Each brand will have their own design aesthetic within their individual shop.

With its in-store designer additions, J.C. Penney joins Target, Macy's (now battling JCP in court over Martha Stewart) and Bloomingdale's as the latest department store to experiment with boutique-style shops. In fact, JCP is stealing from Target's playbook with a new exclusive home goods collection by American architect Michael Graves—Target's first designer partnership, which launched in 1999 and produced a whopping 2,000 items—and Justin Timberlake's William Rast collection, which launched as a Target exclusive in 2010.

Other upcoming JCPenney designer collaborations include in-store boutiques for Happy Chic by Jonathan Adler, Designs by Conran, Watchgear by Tourneau, Carters and Giggles. Here's a look at the in-store boutiques now hitting its stores:Continue reading...

Michael Kors may very well be the most influential person in New York fashion—or at least the one with the most business prowess. 

The brand was just named the most-searched American fashion brand worldwide, beating out prominent names like Marc Jacobs, Ralph Lauren and Calvin Klein in a study by Digital Luxury Group.

Launched in the early 80's, the designer's clothing and accessories company continues to beat Wall Street expectations and reel in more HENRYS, or "High Earners Not Rich Yet" shoppers, with fashionable yet accessible handbags, watches and sportswear. Rightfully so, the designer's Fall 2013 collection debuted at New York Fashion Week with a survival theme, perhaps a reflection of its leading man's reputation in the industry. 

Arguably the new Coach, Kors claimed market share from its rival accessories manufacturer after the holiday shopping season. Coach has seen a slowdown as of late, with competitors like Tory Burch and Kate Spade—both of which appeared in the most-searched top 10—taking a strong stand in the luxury goods market.Continue reading...

It’s getting harder and harder to get television viewers to actually sit and watch commercials, which means product placement continues to rise as a means to show consumers just how great a product is.

TV will be filled with awards shows for the next few months, live events often attract high tune-in, sprinkled with tune-out during commercial breaks. 

PepsiCo's Aquafina brand is partnering with fashion TV powerhouse Project Runway (which jumped from Bravo to Lifetime TV in 2009) with a contest inviting aspiring designers to submit their designs for a chance to attend the season 11 finale at the Fall 2013 Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week in New York next month.

According to the press release, "Narrowed down from the pool of design submissions gathered over the past month, the four designers who receive the most votes will compete in a one-hour, live design competition in New York City on February 6, 2013. The grand prize winner will receive $5,000, Aquafina for a year and recognition among the esteemed Project Runway and fashion communities."Continue reading...

When big retailers crash and burn, it seems they do so with style. The trials and tribulations of Sears/Kmart, despite its stylish moves into the fashion world, have been chronic and ongoing. Equally precarious these days is the fate of JCPenney.

In June, JCPenney brand president Michael Francis exited the troubled retailer after less than a year, in a shakeup that was seen as his taking the fall for CEO Ron Johnson. Francis, a former Target exec, along with Johnson, who formerly ran Apple's stores, couldn't combine their top shelf retail experience to effect a turnaround. On the contrary, the company's "fair and square pricing" (with the new logo at right to support the concept) essentially ditched sales and moved to Walmart-like "everyday low" pricing and twice-monthly clearance events. It was anything but successful. In fact, this lead balloon is now being replaced with a return to the more common retail strategy of a "sale."

Is it too little too late? The strapped J. C. Penney Company is cutting 350 jobs in its headquarters and selling part of its stake in Simon Property Group, a major mall developer, to raise $248 million in cash. Even so, the company is trying its darndest to crawl its way back into being a legitimate retail competitor, and that's where fashion comes in.Continue reading...

It's hardly Christmas in July — not with record heat over most of the United States. But nevertheless Target is trying to spread the deep-discount feel of some of its winter-holiday events into the dog days of summer, which are now. In the process, Target also appears to be making a direct run at JCPenney (which just announced it has hired Project Runway judge Nina Garcia, who has been moonlighting as a "Target fashion expert" in addition to her day job at Marie Claire magazine).

The Minneapolis-based Target is expanding its popular summer-exclusive "Bonus Black Friday" sale to two full days, this Friday and Saturday, with the discounts and the positioning meant to be reminiscent, of course, of the biggest day on the calendar of American retailers, the day after Thanksgiving. It's one way to attempt to generate some store traffic during the traditional lull before the back-to-school storm, which pours down in August.Continue reading...

A lot has changed since Project Runway debuted 10 seasons ago on Bravo. For a start, it's no longer on Bravo — and TV is no longer a one-way, passive experience but more about hybrid TV/social viewing these days, of course. So P.R.'s TV home, US women's cabler Lifetime, is leveraging visual social platforms Pinterest, Instagram, Piictu and Viddy ahead of the 10th season debut on July 19. 

While still maintaining Facebook and Twitter marketing, Lifetime's "Make it Work" season launch campaign — a reference to P.R. mentor Tim Gunn's catchphrase — asks viewers “to share images and videos that inspire fans to showcase their fashion choices and encourage armchair designers nationwide to share their style" to spur buzz and tune-in.Continue reading...

Who really crosses the velvet rope in the summer nightlife scene? Those with beautiful hair, according to a series of vignettes produced by NBCUniversal's Integrated Media and Creative Partnerships & Innovations group — the ad sales unit that lines up product integrations for branded entertainment across NBCU's stable of media properties — about Unilever’s new premium hair care brand, Clear Scalp & Hair Therapy.

Featuring 30 Rock's Jane Krakowski; Bravo exec/host Andy Cohen; Giuliana Rancic of E!; and NBC's "Saturday Night Live" alum Tim Meadows, the vignettes portray "Best Night Ever," the story of Logan and Chloe, who gain access to nightlife hotspot "Clear" and rub shoulders with NBCU talent, eventually making it into the exclusive inner sanctum, "The Source." 

The campaign is now running on NBC, Bravo, E!, Oxygen, Style, NBC.com, Bravotv.com, Eonline.com, Oxygen.com, MyStyle.com, and DailyCandy, breaking May 21st during "Bethenny Ever After" on Bravo and ending the week of June 11th.Continue reading...

The Liz Claiborne brand name was sold in November to J.C. Penney so it was inevitable that its parent company, Liz Claiborne Inc., would shed the brand from its name. The inevitable is now official. The 34-year-old fashion company is changing its name to Fifth & Pacific Companies, and will start trading under the ticker symbol FNP in mid-May, in addition to replacing its zippy liz.com corporate domain with fifthandpacific.com.

Claiborne unloaded its Mexx brand in September and then sold its namesake brand to J.C. Penney, along with its Monet brand, two months later for $267.5 million. It also got rid of its Kensie and Dana Buchman brands this fall as it attempted to right its own financial ship. Now FNP is left with three core brands in Juicy Couture, Lucky Brand, Kate Spade, and a sibling in the mens fashion/accessory brand of Jack Spade line, to focus on.

The new corporate identity may recall Gap's Forth & Towne, Gilt's Park & Bond, and Nordstrom's Treasure & Bond, but CEO William McComb argues that the name is a perfect synthesis of the east coast/west coast stable of brands, as it's "where California cool meets New York chic."Continue reading...