Brand strategy '05: Get your name out by concealing it.(Viewpoint)

Advertising Age, January, 2005 by Rothenberg, Randall

Byline: Randall Rothenberg

Welcome to 2005, the first year of the Anti-Brand Era.

Although evidence isn't yet abounding, anecdotes indicate to this usually cynical trend-quasher that the public has been overfed by-and is now fed up with-marketing.

American Apparel has begun to attract enormous notice by being unnoticeable. By specializing in merchandise without logos, the 8-year-old fashion firm has managed to build out 13 retail stores in the last two years alone.

The biggest news in brand-conscious South Beach this winter has been the opening of the ultra-hip Hotel Victor, the latest competitor to Andre Balazs' sandy-chic Raleigh and Ian Schrager's sleek Delano. What's the secret of the Victor, which abuts the Versace mansion on...

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