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CASE STUDY :: MARKETING
sticking together
How Hollywood Fashion Tape?s founders expand new category
by Carla Solberg
THE CASE
Marketing a new category
WHEN PEOPLE THINK of women who need tape to keep their clothes on, the image of Jennifer Lopez at the 2000 Grammy Awards in a green Versace dress with a neckline that dipped well below her navel comes to mind.
It?s what many retailers were probably thinking about seven years ago as they showed the creators of Hollywood Fashion Tape the door, saying ?that?s not our client.? It?s not what they?re saying now.
Hollywood Fashion Tape is little strips of two-sided tape that solve everyday wardrobe problems. Its No. 1 use is preventing between-button gaps on shirts and blouses but, as women all over the world can attest, it has plenty of other uses. From bra straps to shoe straps, Hollywood Fashion Tape helps women and their wardrobes stick together.
Owner Marni Bumstead got the idea when she was getting dressed one day, wrestling with a sweater that wouldn?t stay put. A girlfriend visiting from California, a stylist, solved the problem with a trick of the trade: two-sided tape.
As the one-time owner of a women?s clothing store, Bumstead knew she wouldn?t be the only one to appreciate this simple fashion solution.
After mulling the idea for years, she teamed up with her friend Jane Dailey, who has a background in marketing communications, and they set up shop in Bumstead?s living room.
Looking back at the seven years that have since passed, Bumstead and Dailey say that finding a manufacturer to make clear, hypoallergenic, medical grade, two-sided, adhesive tape in three-inch strips with peel-away backings was the easy part. The hard part was letting women know that the key to solving everyday wardrobe problems was just a peel and stick away.
New category
The tape was a new product, but it was also a new kind of product. ?We believe we kind of started this fashion category,? Dailey says, noting that when Allure magazine gave the product an award in October 2007 it had to come up with a new category: Fashion First Aid. Marketing posed a challenge.
?In the beginning, designing the packaging to communicate what the product was, so people would know what it was, was a challenge because it was an unknown,? Bumstead says. ?We knew we needed a strong image and a strong name.?
After brainstorming with family and friends they came up with the name Hollywood Fashion Tape, which they feel succinctly communicates the product?s purpose. The packaging, with pink accents, features a stylized illustration of a woman that evokes retro Hollywood glamour on the front and ten usage tips on the back including: ?fix hems fast, close wrap skirts, keep scarves and accessories in place.? The tagline ?Keep your clothes on!? is splashed on the pages of the company?s website.
They marketed to shops and trade shows and had some success with Internet sales and a few local boutiques, but their big break came with an August 2002 mention on Daily Candy, a trendspotting Web site that features a new hot item every day. Subscribers receive daily e-mails. Orders immediately started pouring in.
At the same time another strategy started to pay off. ?Some of the best advice we got is that magazine editors are looking for things to write about and you make their job easier when you send them a product and a press release,? says Dailey.
One of the first publications to write about Hollywood Fashion Tape was Woman?s Day magazine. Response from an August 2002 article was huge and revealing. Up to that point, Bumstead and Dailey thought their demographic was women between the ages of 18 and 35. The response showed the audience was much broader. ?It really opened our eyes to changes we needed to make,? says Dailey.
As they began marketing to a broader demographic they also began to broaden the product line. ?We knew we couldn?t survive as a one SKU company for long. The natural progression was other products that solved fashion problems,? says Dailey.
There are now 13 items in the Hollywood line including strips in larger sizes and shapes, dress shields for underarm protection, breath mints, facial oil blotting sheets, clear bra straps and clear bra clips to pull straps into a racer-back style and out of sight.
There are also Hollywood No-Shows and Hollywood Cover Ups, which are disposable and reusable nipple concealers; Tag Tamers, to cover itchy tags; and Hollywood Extras, silicone breast enhancers that provide a more full-figured look when plopped into a bra.
All of the products are trademarked. All of the disposable, adhesive products are made in the United States and are fabric friendly and skin friendly. ?Whenever we roll out a product, we want to make sure it?s the best,? says Dailey. Ten more products are on the way this year.
In 2006, the company developed a relationship with QVC, the home shopping channel. It?s been a particularly good medium, they say, because the products can be demonstrated. In addition, Hollywood products are available online and are sold in more than 20 countries including France where the trendy Parisian boutique Colette carries them. Locally, they are sold in more than 50 stores.
Epitome, in the Galleria in Edina, was one of the first shops to carry the product. ?We carried little, dressy evening dresses,? says manager Cathy Johnson. ?We had customers that worried about the front, or the straps sliding off, and it just fit the bill.?
Epitome started with the original product and now carries the whole line, Johnson says. ?It has been fantastic. There is no age limit; the young girls come in at prom, the older women use them for sweaters and blouses,? she says.
Johnson estimates the store sells two dozen packages per month. Many women have the carrying tin, she says. Similar to a box of Altoids, the carrying tin is part of the Hollywood Nights package, which also includes breath mints, blotting sheets and a magnified compact mirror.
Customers keep the tin in their handbags and reload it with a fresh supply when they come in, she says. ?It?s great because they just pick them up and go.?
Works in the heat
Karma, on Grand Avenue in St. Paul, has been carrying Hollywood products for a little over a year, says Jada Breuer, owner. Breuer says she knew the products existed but didn?t realize there was such a market for them until customers started asking about them.
Karma sells moderately priced to high-end clothing to customers who range in age from 25 to 55 years old, says Breuer. The store carries a half dozen Hollywood products. The best-selling item is the original, which most customers use to keep revealing shirts or dresses in place. ?They tell me it even holds up in the heat,? she says.
?A lot of people have bought them for special occasions, like a wedding, when they don?t want something to fall down,? says Breuer. That was the case for Desperate Housewives actress Eva Longoria and her bridal party, who used Hollywood Fashion Tape to keep things in place on her big day.
Since its inception, Hollywood?s headquarters has migrated from Bumstead?s living room to Dailey?s basement to, in 2006, leased office space in Minneapolis. In retrospect, they think they may have waited a bit too long to move away from home.
Though they do not recommend that strategy to other entrepreneurs, there was a plus side. ?It allowed us to grow our company without any debt,? says Bumstead.
The company now has 12 employees. Bumstead and Dailey say sales are in the ?millions,? but won?t say which ones.
Still ahead is a strategy to grow the international side of the business. The products are already very popular in Australia. But there are other continents where the market for fashion fixes is virtually untapped.
?We?re looking seriously at Asia,? says Dailey.
[contact] Jada Breuer, Karma: 651.291.1997; www.karmashops.com. Marni Bumstead and Jane Dailey, Hollywod Fashion Tape: 763.595.7887; mb*******@******************pe.com; jd*****@******************pe.com; www.hollywoodfashiontape.com. Cathy Johnson, Epitome Women's Apparel: 952.920.2978; www.epitomepapers.com
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