We suggested this might happen, but are still saddened. Marshall Field's still has more oomph than Macy's. Oh well, all the corporations in the western world will soon be able to be printed on a single 5x7 index card anyway.
The Marshall Field's name, as identified with Chicago as its lakefront and its skyline, is being erased in favor of a Manhattan moniker--Macy's.
This move kills off a 153-year-old brand that survived the Chicago Fire but now succumbs to bottom-line concerns of its new owner, Cincinnati-based Federated Department Stores Inc.
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Several retail consultants think Federated is being short-sighted by changing the name.“Chicagoans and folks in the central United States tend to be more brand loyal,” said Burt Flickinger, managing director for Strategic Resource Group in New York. “While Field's was a broken business, it was not unfixable. Federated has taken a broken business and made it a much more broken business.”
Another retail consultant said Field's could be fashioned into an upscale brand.
“Retailing has been skewed to the low end and the high end. Marshall Field's would be a powerful high-end brand. Why would you bring it down to the mushy middle?” asked Al Ries, author of the “The 22 Immutable Laws of Branding.”
“This is particularly bad,” he said. “I'd rather have a name that no one has heard of with potential rather than a name like Macy's that everyone has heard of but has no potential. People know about it, but it will never be perceived as a high-end brand.”
Chicago Tribune | Field's no more
Here's the photo of Marshall Field ne' Macy.
republished due to server rebuilding....
Tags: Advertising
