MAMBO Dog Barking Up the Wrong Tree

I'll give Mambo some free advice [and will send it to them, not just here...]BUT they'd do well to stop buying the 'crap' cheap ill-fitting t-shirts they've switched to in recent years and maybe their market share wouldn't be a problem... next they'll axe Reg's t-shirt designs as well as the LOUD shirts!! Idiots...
Oh well, the metro's will be overjoyed!!

Sydney Morning Herald 17.6.04
Mambo, the original Aussie surf fashion label, has realised it is no longer as cool as it used to be after 20 years riding the crest of a fashion wave it is credited with starting. That's hard for a brand that was the last word in cool to Australians growing up in the 1980s and '90s. But four years after the brand was bought from founders Dare Jennings and Andrew Rich, Mambo has realised it is time to move on or risk being left behind. "Younger people know that Mambo is about surf, graphics and irreverence, but perhaps we are not communicating that to them in the right tone of voice," admits CEO Sarah Paykel, who arrived last year after a series of general management roles at OPSM and Esprit.

Part of the search for the right tone of voice means the end of some of the signature Mambo products. Gone from its stores by August will be the Reg Mombassa-designed loud shirts featuring, among others, the surfing Jesus, as well as the T-shirts of farting dogs.

Growing old is no longer regarded as dignified in fashion - it's commercial suicide, especially for a brand that is so aligned to a predominantly youthful activity such as surfing. While generations of 30-something Australians might regard the brand as cutting edge, Mambo, which has global ambitions, has realised it is not striking a chord with younger consumers. "We don't want the brand to age. There's a lot of residual goodwill out there, and while younger people are aware of the brand profile, what we are finding is that they would not consider it next to other companies," Paykel said.

While Mambo was busy exploring opportunities abroad - it has shops in Asia and Europe - it could be said to have taken its eye off the ball at home, where the surf lifestyle market has become more crowded. Quiksilver, Billabong, Rip Curl and smaller labels, such as Volcom and Golden Breed, have more successfully tapped into the teens and early 20s market where fashionability and, more importantly, tone of voice are crucial.

Mambo is not alone in facing this dilemma. Levi's found itself in exactly the same position in the mid-1990s, when, after a decade of strong sales, the brand came to be regarded as the epitome of pedestrian fashion. Sales bombed and the marketers at Levi's spent the next five years trying to figure out how to reinvent the brand. "In fashion marketing, you have the brand, then the product - and the two don't always go hand-in-hand," says Martin Rippon, former Levi's marketer, now managing director of ad agency BMF. "In Levi's in Europe, the brand stayed cooler for longer than the product. If Mambo takes out the irreverent T-shirt and print shirts, the question is what do they stand for and how do they stop being seen as just another street surf fashion brand. What will be their point of difference?"

Paykel herself recognises the analogy and the challenge that faces her. She cites the Sydney Olympics as the perfect example of the brand's split personality. "It was great in terms of getting us to a wider international audience but there was a downside to it. It made a lot of younger people think, 'Well, if Dad thinks it's cool, I don't know whether I do."'

And Mambo's appointment two weeks ago of youth marketing agency Smart is as clear a signal as any that the company needs a helping hand. "It's important to get an objective point of view," Paykel says of the appointment.

Smart spent three months looking at the Mambo brand, what it was up against, what to chuck out and what to keep. Is it a delicate balancing act? "The idea would be to trade those people who are buying into the heritage for all the wrong reasons for a younger audience that is looking at the brand in the future," Smart principal Ben Smart concluded. "Those older people - they've already bought into the brand. You don't need to do anything more."

Every aspect of communications from swing tickets to advertising will be overhauled, consigning to marketing history the image the company has traded on for so long.