High-end Fashion Meets Netflix Model

Imagine you’re a college student (on a budget). The stresses are piling up as the semester winds down, and finals and formals are quickly approaching. Wait, formals!

Yes, formals, and Christmas parties, and a New Years Eve night about town. The cost of acquiring a trendy high-end fashionable dress can break the budget. Special occasion dresses are not the best investment either, on account of their one-to-two time use.

Two brilliant ladies, Jennifer Hyman and Jennifer Carter, founded Rent the Runway. Rent the Runway is a nascent Web site that allows women to rent dresses from notable fashion designers like Hervé Léger and Christian Siriano, winner of “Project Runway,” for nearly one-tenth of the retail store price.

Harvard Business School graduate, Jennifer Hyman, came up with the idea after her younger sister agonized over whether to spend a good portion of her salary for an expensive wedding outfit.

"Here was this young girl who loves fashion and was willing to spend a good portion of her salary on a dress that she's only going to wear once or twice, and I thought, there has to be a solution for this," said Ms. Hyman. 

At a boutique, Mr. Siriano's pieces can cost as much as $3,000. On Rent the Runway, his collection goes for $150 to $200, said Jenna Worthman, journalist for the New York Times technology. 

Rent the Runway makes high-end fashions almost as easy as renting a movie from Netflix. Although the business strategy has not publicly been discussed, there is general information available about the works. 

The rentals run $50 to $200 for a four-night loan and are shipped directly to the customer. After wearing the dress, the customer mails it off with a prepaid envelope. Oh, and dry cleaning is included in the fee! 

Rent the Runway is hoping that the shop-by-the-Web convenience and high-end fashion collection will give it the edge of competing with retail stores that already offer dresses for rent. 

I'm stoked about Rent the Runway! The only downside, and I say this only because this does not yet include me, is the invitation-only service. I do agree that limiting the customers gives Rent the Runway an air of exclusivity. 

I went to the Web site and requested a membership, since I have yet to receive an invitation! 

Is pale the new tan?

Apparently "fake baking" has greater health risk than the general pubic thought, including me. According to the msnbc health blog, the chance of developing skin cancer jumps 75 percent in those who use tanning beds before the age of 30. 

The Indoor Tanning Association, also known as the ITA, started a campaign to fight back the negative image the media is portraying about tanning beds. The association sent a letter to the New York Times entitled "Indoor Tanning Association Fights Back After Media Hype over Tanning Beds." Their argument is that indoor tanning carries the same risks as outdoor tanning, since the beds are designed to mimic natural sun light. 

If anything is likely to benefit from the study, it's sunless tanners. Although results from spray tanning and tanning creams can sometimes be "spotty" or "orangy," it's still the less extreme measure of getting that summer glow -- hence no UV rays. 

Well I say ditch the tan that comes with scary health risk, and go all natural! Pale is so the new tan. Celebs like Nicole Kidman and Scarlett Johansson are setting the "proud to be pale" trend. According to a few fashion blogs, pale is simply classy and sexy. If Hollywood can really pull through with undoing the tan trend they endorsed, then imagine what else it's capable of... 

Toasty Technology

A winter jacket that charges your gadgets and keeps you warm, imagine that! 

Mountain Hardwear has cleverly designed a winter coat that has a built in heating system and power adapter, which can charge gadgets that have become more a necessity than a luxury (ie: iPod, cellphone, digital camera or GPS device.) 

The sleek $240 Refugium for men and Radiance for women jackets are definitely the first of its kind. The unique heating and charge elements, which is powered by a rechargeable lithium-ion battery, was developed by Ardica Technology. The installation of the heat and tech connector kit would be an additional $195. 

Users can adjust the Moshi heating system to deliver up to 100-degree heat, which lasts up to eight hours on a low setting. According to Rik Fairlie, reporter from the New York Times, the jacket produced quite noticeable heat that felt concentrated in the areas where the heating elements were located. Paige Boucher, spokeswoman for Mountain Hardware, said your body would evenly distribute the heat when you're out and about in the cold weather. 

I'm ecstatic about this. Although the line has been available since October 15, I still have time to buy before winter hits Texas. On that note, this jacket is designed to be worn under a ski coat, in very cold climates, or alone in warmer climates. I think wearing the thermic micro-insulated jacket alone would hold its own through a "Texas" winter. 

"Talking" Billboards

Ever heard of radio frequency identification, or RFID? It's only a new technology that has given marketers the advantage and edge in better communicating with their consumers. 

Mini USA has began one of the most innovative advertising campaigns yet. More than a thousand voluntary Mini owners in New York, Chicago, Miami and San Francisco have signed up for the Mini experiment, which uses the radio frequency identification card to deliver personalized billboard messages. 

Messages such as, "Mary, moving at the speed of justice," if Mary is a lawyer, or "Mike, the special of the day is speed," if Mike is a chef.

Mini USA calls the experiment "an ever-changing array of unique, personal, playful and unexpected messages."

The billboards are programmed to identify approaching Mini drivers and greet them with a personalized message based on a questioner the owners filled out. The high tech billboard messages are delivered through a coded signal from a radio chip embedded in their key fob. 

A New York Times article asks what happens when a Mini is under a sign and traffic is not moving? After running through three personal messages, the sign switches back to the standard Mini advertisement. 

"Building evangelists is the holy grail of marketing for a number of industries," said Michael Megalli, a partner in Group 1066, a marketing strategy firm in New York. " This is interesting because the marketing is integrated into the product."

Although the Mini USA "talking" billboard experiment has helped marketers go further in their mission of making consumers feel special, there are factors that may need more research before they can continue with the experiment. Safety experts are concerned that the flashing billboard messages may be hazardous. Corky personalized messages can be distracting to not only Mini drivers, but other drivers as well. 

According to the New York Times article, the federal government will soon publish a review of the subject. 

"Marketing is like a horse race," said Mr. McDowell, head of North American operations for the company. "We want to start more and more horses down the racetrack and see which ones are winning." 

Twitter and Public Relations

People are working smarter together.

It's no breaking news that Twitter has changed the face of communication among people, from personal to professional settings. Companies, such as IBM, are diving into the opportunity of better managing the communication between their employes and  its publics. 

"With over 1,000 employees on Twitter, IBM news and expertise spreads faster and more effectively than ever, making the company smaller and flatter and helping IBMers become smarter," states the IBM blog. 

Exactly what type of opportunities does social networking Web sites, such as Twitter offer? PR practitioners are utilizing Twitter to start, participate and monitor conversations. A Twitter user who tweeted about having spotted a celebrity (Willam Shattner) at a Jet Blue terminal received a follow request 10 seconds post the tweet from Jet Blue. The follower was a manager of corporate communications for Jet Blue. 

Now more than ever has it become essential for a business to be in tune with the same channels of communication its publics is using for information. No longer is the public receiving its news and information through the final, final, final draft of news reports and releases. 

"People are turning to unofficial sources first, particularly in times of crisis,"  states a blog from on the Record Online. 

Social media, particularly Twitter, is becoming "the" means of communication and is showing an unstoppable pace in growth. It is the responsibility and duty for businesses to align themselves with the fast development of social media networking.