August 07, 2014

Shoes Under: Old Gold?

Current/Original Marketer: Telebrands
Original Hit Year: 2009 (No. 16 on JW Annual, 36 on IMS)
Website: www.ShoesUnder.com
Prediction: On the fence

My hypothesis has always been that a break of 7-10 years is required for a 'Phoenix' to rise again. That's if the marketer is trying to bring back the same exact item, which is the case here. If Shoes Under peaked in 2009, that means less than five years has passed. But Telebrands knows the arc of that previous hit better than me and no doubt has a better handle on market conditions.

I've encountered at least one other major player who believes five years is enough time, so it will be interesting to see if his experiments and ones like this can prove my hypothesis -- which is really just an old rule of thumb I was taught years ago -- wrong.