I have not been shy about saying how much I love shopping the deal-a-day websites (possibly a misnomer since most of the sales on product last for 2-3 days), especially on my other blog, The Daily Wishlist. I think they are great ways to shop for yourself and even better for shopping for the holidays, etc.  However, I am finding it really interesting that Gilt has identified a way to take the exclusivity of “members only” deals (which seem to generally be on items that are coming to the end of their season) to a new level.

If you’re familiar with the Target designer collaborations, you might also know that some of them have been massively popular and have sold out quickly.  I even wrote about it in January 2009. For example, jewelry designer Temple St. Clair has a new line with Target, and some of the pieces were sold out almost immediately once they were available online.  I was lucky enough to buy a Rafe for Target bag a few years ago that I saw later on eBay, selling for 3 times the purchase price.  Target is bringing high-end design to the customer who loves great style but doesn’t want to pay $1000 for a bag.  Collaborations on home decor have also been successful.

So, how brilliant was it for Target to team up with Gilt to offer exclusive first access to a number of new collaborations for the fall? I got this email from Target…

…and this email from Gilt:

So your everyday Target shopper is encouraged to join Gilt, a site that offers savings on fabulous things (definitely a pull for the Target customer) and on the other hand, Gilt is offering exclusive access to an affordable option from a high-end designer, which totally matches their brand.  Excitement builds because of the precedent set by other Target offers in the past, and Gilt is excited because they just garnered however many new members to send emails to every day about shopping on their site.

I did shop this sale by the way. I scored a Mulberry bag (still in the box, I might sell it on eBay since I’m already seeing them there) but was unable to secure the John Derian tray that I wanted, it was already gone.  Within minutes – the site was totally overwhelmed by everyone trying to shop that sale.

I have to wonder if this new sale was as successful?

Another completely new line being released by Gilt first.  While Venus doesn’t have the same track record as the Target designer collaborations, it’s all about brand introduction.  All of the Gilt shoppers will be exposed to her brand, and very well might pursue the brand outside of the realm of Gilt, and that would be a success as well.

Ultimately, for brands, I see the deal-a-day sites as a great way to expand the presence of your brand, of your product. Every company that sells product will have something to get off of their hands, and why not sell through a site with a built-in audience of engaged shoppers?

Who else has ideas for ways to utilize the deal-a-day websites for other uses than the obvious one?

This entry is slightly tongue-in-cheek; I couldn’t resist having a bit of fun with this.

 I was surprised today to have this email in my inbox, seeing as I completely thought it was spam, as the subject line was “Are You A Penis Expert?”

This email came from Women’s Health, who I get regular emails from, but for the most part, they are disposable to me. They come into the inbox and are deleted just as easily, no biggie.  However, I saw this email and paid attention, because yeah, that subject line wasn’t expected!  Neither was the content inside the email, with the slightly-suggestive image and questions about growers and showers. 

(BTW, this question is ridiculous anyway, anyone in the position to think about growing or showing will probably find out soon enough, I’m sure.)

Anyway, I am dying to know if someone noticed a decline in the open rate on the Women’s Health Daily Dose email and decided to spice it up a bit.  Do I really think my health is dependent on my interaction with penises? No, and I’m sure there are many lesbians who will back me up on that.

Ultimately, however, it did get my attention, whether good or bad.  I will probably go back to deleting next week though.

Would a subject line vastly different from the expected get your attention? Make you think “spam” and delete without another thought? Do you think this is just an attention stunt?

So I haven’t at all hidden my love for Twilight, I have a soft spot in my heart for the movie because it was seeing the trailer that made me reconsider my earlier decision to NOT read the books, and I, like so many others, got sucked into the world of Edward and Bella. 

Anyway, I always intended to buy the movie on DVD when it came out.  However, it’s been 2 days since the movie was released on DVD and I still don’t have a copy.  In addition, I have a major bone to pick with the people of Summit Home Entertainment for allowing this DVD release (which has been HUGE so far) to become such a confusing mess.

Here’s a breakdown of the versions of the DVD made available:

• Twilight 2-Disc Special Edition (available through Amazon, Best Buy, Walmart, Blockbuster, Borders, I imagine all other “regular” DVD retailers are getting this version) – this set has nice features, the commentary track, a documentary on the making of the film, etc.  A really good set, and this is coming from me, who totally geeks out on DVD special features.
• Twilight Standard Edition (only available at Walmart) - I only heard about this movie-only version of the DVD later, it seems to have been an add-on, perhaps requested by Walmart?  Either way, this is a stripped down DVD with just the film, no special features.
• Twilight Borders Edition - This version has bonus footage of interviews and red carpet coverage, is the only version of the DVD with vastly different packaging, and also contains 10 photo cards that are printed on high-quality card stock.
• Twilight Hot Topic Edition - This version is exactly the same as the 2-disc special edition, with the very cool bonus feature of having a film cell encased in printed card stock, they also guarantee that the cell will include the character of Edward.
• Twilight Target Edition - This version is also the same as the 2-disc special edition, but also includes a third disc (all content fits onto 2 discs in the Blu-Ray version) with additional interviews, an additional music video and included in the price is a digital download of the movie and all related content from iTunes.  The iTunes download alone costs $15, so at $17.99, this DVD was a great deal.
• Twilight Blu-Ray Amazon.com “Ultimate Collector’s Set” Edition (available May 2009) – Target and Best Buy have exclusive rights to the DVD version of the movie until May, so Amazon has to wait until then to release their CRAZY version of the Blu-Ray, which is currently priced on Amazon at 79.99.  However, I’m not that upset about the price, since you get a lot of stuff above and beyond just the film.  The DVD will allow the user access to a sneak peak at New Moon, the next film in the series that is set to debut in November, as well as the following: Twilight (Special Edition) Blu-ray Disc, Twilight Original Motion Picture Soundtrack CD, Jewelry Box (individually numbered), Exclusive Watch, Limited Edition Charm Bracelet, Glossy Photo Cards, Bookmark and Certificate of Authenticity.

That’s a lot of information, right?  Well, let me show you the text from the “about the DVD” section of the movie’s official website.

Thanks a lot for all of your help, Summit Entertainment.  If you are going to authorize this many versions of the DVD, you could at least try to give the fans a place to get the information on all of the different versions.  Or you could even MENTION that there are 6 versions of the DVD available.  I’ve seen a few breakdowns on the Twilight fan sites but they all seemed to be missing at least one of the versions.  I don’t even know if I’ve gotten them all here.

So, as you can see, there is quite a lot to take in regarding this DVD release.  However, more was thrown into the mix when multiple retailers announced that they would be holding midnight release parties for the DVD.  I had already decided to purchase the Target edition, as I really wanted the digital download of the disc, and I was disappointed that they weren’t opening at midnight to sell the DVD, as it’s much easier for me to stay up late than to get up early.  

It seems like a trick that Target got such great content but didn’t have midnight release parties.  How many Twilight fans decided to buy a version that they perhaps didn’t want just because they wanted the experience of going to the release party?  Was this a play to get the fans to buy multiple copies of the DVD, so they could own another 15 minutes of extra content?  I would like to mention here, and I’m sure I wouldn’t be alone in this, that I would have been happy to pay more for a complete DVD set containing ALL of the available special content.  I’m sure there’s good stuff in the Borders edition, the Hot Topic film cell is cool, etc.  Why not have a $50 version with everything?

My personal issue with this is that I didn’t get to Target early enough on Saturday to get a copy, the Blu-Ray was all that was left and I don’t yet have a Blu-Ray player.  Plus, I was intending to order the crazy Amazon Blu-Ray version and hope that I’ve found a Blu-Ray player by then.  I still don’t have a copy of the movie, and when I settled on ordering the movie on-demand from Comcast, it wasn’t even in HD.  Come on!

Unfortunately, with the movie having sold 3 million copies in 2 days, I don’t think the people of Summit will see this as a failure, instead they will pat themselves on the back and wait to see the money roll in for at least 2 more films.

What do you think about this DVD debacle?  I’d like to hear from everyone, not just fans of Twilight.

 This post was written by me, but I would be remiss to not mention the ideas that came out of discussing this issue with my husband.  Thanks Will!

Recently, during a class discussion of magazines clearly aimed at one gender or the other (i.e. Cosmopolitan, Maxim, etc.), my professor asked, “Do consumers mirror what they see or believe what is expected of them, or are marketers merely capitalizing on what they know as verifiable differences?”

I started this post and then ended up purchasing an issue of Cosmopolitan, since I couldn’t remember the last time I had read one.   I was completely disappointed when the magazine lived up to my low expectations.  It appears to be creating and maintaining a flock of sheep that will keep looking at Cosmo as a necessary guide to life, all the time feeding messages along that the most important topics are removing body hair and doing crazy sexual things to “keep your man.”

I will post a list of the article titles here because I want to display that I am not just exaggerating because I’m not at ALL into this magazine.

• Cover Stories
  • Ashley Tisdale Blows Off Her Good-Girl Image
  • What Guys Crave After Sex (Besides beer and pizza)
  • Cosmo’s 50 Best Relationship Tips
  • Sex that Brings You Closer: These hot moves will start a bonfire in his pants…and his heart
  • Love Your Life! Sexy little tricks that add bliss
  • How to Save Your Ass At Work
  • 7 Yummy Fat-Melting Foods
  • Just Do This on Date #1 (and He’s Yours)
  • Fashion Extra: New ways to wear the clothes you have
• Cosmo News
  • Hot Sheet
  • Why the Obamas’ Love is So Sexy
  • Beauty Stakeout: Refined or Rockin?
  • The Best Sex Life: Who’s Got It
  • Sexy vs. Skanky
• Man Manual
  • The Man Report
  • TV’s Sexiest Bad Boys
  • Guy Spy
  • Cosmo for Your Guy: Create a Sex Goddess
  • Man on Fire
• Fun Fearless Fashion
  • 7 Ridiculously Good Deals
  • The Best Trends for Your Body
  • Guilt-Free Designer Finds
  • The Still-Hot List
  • Style Secrets
• Cosmo Look
  • Beauty News
  • Hair
  • Green Beauty Awards
  • Beauty Q&A
  • Get Soft and Sexy All Over
• Celeb Spotlight
  • Fun Fearless Female
• Love & Lust
  • Couples
  • Yes, You Have a G-Spot
  • What to Do When Your Guy’s on the Small Side
  • Can Google Doom A Date?
  • Ask Him Anything
  • The Cosmo Couple Quiz
• Real-Life Reads
  • The Cosmo Post
  • “I Was Drugged and Raped by Two Men”
• You, you, you
  • The Single Girl’s Bible
  • Bitch it out!
• Totally Cosmo
  • Guys Uncensored: The Secret Thoughts of Men
  • 15 Things You Should Never Apologize For
  • “How I Totally Blew It With a New Guy”
• Fashion and Beauty Now
  • Surf’s Up
  • What You’ve Always Wondered About Scent…
  • What’s Out, What’s In
• Weekend
  • What to Do
  • You and Him
  • Living: Chic, Style on a Budget
  • Eat This Up
  • Healthy, Sexy, Strong
• Health Check
  • 7 Ways to Fall Asleep When You Feel Wired
  • Cosmo Gyno
  • Your Body
• Regular Features
  • From the Editor
  • Why Don’t You…
  • Confessions
  • Guy Confessions
  • Bedside Astrologer
  • Red-Hot Read
  • Shopping Information
  • Cosmo Quiz: How Passionate Are You?
• Bonus Section
  • Sexy Ways to Go Green

With the exception of “I Was Drugged and Raped By Two Men,” all of the articles in this magazine were fluff.  Even that article was mostly a warning story with tips like “don’t take drinks from strangers in bars,” which I would really hope is something that is common sense and would be known by most of the readers of Cosmo. 

The focus on sexuality and beauty without any focus on developing mentally, learning about new things, etc, I find it to be so backwards.  Cosmo was a game-changer in the 60s and 70s when it addressed women’s sexuality and encouraged women to own it.  However, haven’t we moved past that at this point?  Apparently Helen Gurley Brown is still the editor for the international versions of Cosmo, surely she must realize that we’ve moved past this. We’ve established that women are just an interested in sex as men are (exceptions exist of course – I’m not starting THAT argument), but now we are still dealing with the issue of women not being equal with men in the workplace.  Women don’t make as much money as men and have issues gaining the same level of respect and opportunity as men.  (Again,exceptions exist to this, I know I am generalizing.)  These are the things that a magazine like Cosmo should be focusing on, the current magazine staff should take a cue from the challenges real women are dealing with nowadays, the new “revolution” should involve women taking control in other areas of life, careers, education, etc. 

I’m not saying that a magazine for women shouldn’t offer information on fashion and beauty topics, I’m interested in that too.  However, I have a brain and I’m trying to carve out a career for myself, just like millions of other women out there.  It frightens me to think of the impact this will have on young girls who seem their older sister or mother reading a magazine whose cover in coated in  messages saying “you aren’t good enough – so do this to fix yourself.”  The Cosmo girl needs to become the Cosmo woman, and the Cosmo woman lives in 2009, not 1965.

These magazines are selling.  They stay in business month after month and they make money so nothing will change.  Those who are reading these magazines and taking this information at face value are feeding back into the machine, which suits the marketers just fine.  As long as those magazines are selling, they have a built-in audience of people who aren’t expecting MORE.  Unfortunately, that flock of sheep will keep growing, especially as children are raised into the flock mentality. 

A magazine could certainly play into my gender a bit, but please provide me with content that celebrates women and is helpful to women without being judgmental and playing on the self-esteem issues that our society is breeding.

</soapbox>

I’m a big fan of Target stores.  I remember when the Target logo started popping up and the store finally opened and we didn’t quite get it, just thinking it was a Wal-Mart competitor.  (I lived in Florida at the time where Wal-Mart is serious business.)  However, over the years, I’ve become loyal to Target, we have Wal-Mart in NJ, where I live now, but it is a different world than the Target world. 

Anyway, I came here to talk about Target’s marketing brilliance.  Unfortunately, I can’t easily find the year, but I remember when fashion designer Isaac Mizrahi partnered with Target to bring a line of clothing into their stores.  This was a big deal, at that point, there weren’t many partnerships between stores and “real” designers (NOT celebrities wanting to “design” clothing). It was brilliant for him, he made himself accessible to the masses by having his designs available at a reasonable cost.  The sales were big, Isaac Mizrahi’s name became more prominent, he guest-starred on Sex and the City, got his own show on the Style network, and famously felt up Scarlet Johannson on the red carpet while hosting for E!.  About a year ago, Isaac signed a contract with Liz Claiborne, which would bring his affiliation with Target to an end, but Target has taken the idea of that partnership and gone all out.  There have been multiple partnerships with home designers like Jonathan Adler and Michael Graves, Sonia Kashuk and Jemma Kidd have special makeup lines available exclusively at Target, and the biggest partnership has been with multiple clothing and accessory designers.  Proenza Schouler, Thakoon, Joy Gryson, Rafe, Monica Botkier, Anya Hindmarch, etc, have all developed special lines for Target, most of which have been spectacularly successful. The Rafe bags SOLD OUT in the stores and online and were selling for twice the retail price on ebay, because at twice the retail cost they were still $500 cheaper than the Rafe bags you can purchase at Neiman Marcus. 

I have purchased quite a few items from Target in the past, and I am currently coveting this Angie & Lola bag, in fabulous yellow.

Angie & Lola Handbag.

Target was the leader in these partnerships – it’s become the hottest thing now to have a designer partnership, although more often than not I’m seeing the celebrity designer being the connection.  Both Amanda Bynes and Sarah Jessica Parker worked on clothing lines with Steve & Barry’s (which is close to, if not completely, out of the picture), Rachel Bilson partnerred with DKNY, etc, etc, etc.  I’m not impressed. 

Target’s marketing team identified a way to reach out to the audience that appreciates good design, while also allowing those designers to introduce themselves to the audience of non-fashionistas who shop at Target.  It’s mutually beneficial for all involved, and it’s a moneymaker. 

…and I wish I had thought of it.