MORROW, Ga. – Carter's, the number-one brand for children's apparel from newborn through age six, is revolutionizing the children's business with the introduction of a major new brand theme, Celebrating ImaginationÔ.
Celebrating Imagination will strengthen the company's position as the favorite brand for young children for over 130 years by focusing on imagination and creativity. The theme will be the dominant feature of new children's apparel, packaging, and the creation of toys, accessories, room décor items and other new products.
The new brand theme was launched on November 3, 1998 in New York to all Carter's retailers. To demonstrate this dramatic concept, Carter's has created a prototype shop within a shop for department and specialty stores designed by the noted retail design group, Mansour Design. The new shops will showcase the company's full line of Celebrating Imagination products.
Highly innovative design is a key component of Celebrating Imagination. The company has licensed John Lennon's artwork titled Real Love for Children, created by Lennon to visually teach his son, Sean, to read. Carter's has incorporated the drawings into a new collection of apparel, room décor items and related accessories for children newborn to age six.
Carter's has intensely studied its brand over the past 18 months. It concluded that mothers, reflecting nostalgia for their own childhood, desire a simpler way for children to play in this fast-paced society. Parents also feel that celebrating fun and very special milestones helps their child's growth while inspiring creativity. Key to this is a desire by parents to encourage imagination in their children. The research also shows that unstructured imaginative play contributes to children's language development and attention span.
“Carter's is no longer simply selling a brand, we are marketing a lifestyle, one based on imagination and creativity,” said Fred Rowan, chairman and chief executive officer of Carter's. “We are a trusted brand with mothers and grandmothers and they value our long-standing commitment to the creative process.”
“We will strengthen our remarkable emotional connection with consumers by offering them wonderful, creative children's apparel and a shopping experience that is imaginative and fun,” he added. “ Our customers are sophisticated individuals who know that a child's creative spirit must be nurtured. Celebrating Imagination answers that need and fills a void in the market.”
To fulfill the desire of its consumers to foster imagination in children, Carter's will introduce the following as part of Celebrating Imagination:
TOTAL SOLUTION MARKETING
Carter's has created a totally comprehensive lifestyle brand that surpasses their traditional children's apparel market and expands into footwear, high-quality accessories, room décor items, and play products.
Celebrating Imagination theme includes toys, music, greeting cards, travel, scrapbook and art-based kits. All of these items incorporate the quality and appeal long associated with Carter's products.
JOHN LENNON'S ARTWORK IN A NEW PRODUCT LINE
John Lennon's artwork, Real Love for Children, launched Celebrating Imagination and is incorporated in the new collection, titled Real LoveÔ, featuring children's clothes from newborn to age six, and is available to consumers beginning summer 1999. As a gift of love, Lennon created this art for his son, Sean. The imagination, innocence, and whimsy of these drawings will be available, for the first time ever, to millions of families on beautiful, finely made clothing and accessories. The artwork was obtained through a licensing agreement with Bag One Arts represented by Signatures Network.
THE IMAGINATION SHOP
In Carter's Imagination Shop, a shop within a shop, children can draw on the walls, bang on drums and see themselves in funny mirrors. These fun-filled shops will be in department and specialty stores and will showcase the full line of Carter's Celebrating Imagination products.
At the center of this world is the Imagination Machine, a totally interactive, hands-on and informational fixture, offering parents and children the experience of celebratory shopping. Children can climb into the Imagination Machine and hear sounds or play with interactive games on the outside, while parents can obtain information on how to foster imagination and purchase products geared towards celebrating imagination. The Imagination Shop uses art created by children, which is incorporated into window displays, hangtags and shopping bags. This Carter's shop was created by well-known designer, James Mansour, who also created the Sony Style Store in Manhattan, the award-winning Warner Brothers flagship store on Fifth Avenue, New York City, and the Early Learning Centre in London.
Known to millions of mothers and grandmothers, Carter's is the number-one brand for children, newborn through age six. In 1999, Carter's will sell more than 60 million units. It is the favorite brand for young children.
Suzanne Calkins
Carter's
(212) 868-1600
Mary Duffy
The Dilenschneider Group
(212) 922-0900