Valley PR Blog

Keeping an eye on Arizona’s newest brands

By Len Gutman on December 17th, 2007 In Hype!

I’m intrigued by the PR and marketing strategies employed by some of the new brands entering the Phoenix market lately. As a PR pro, I can’t help but pay close attention to how they approach the challenge.

The most prominent new company in town is Tesco, which has already opened a handful of new Fresh & Easy Markets in the Valley. I think it’s fair to call Tesco the Wal-Mart of the U.K., as it’s one of the largest retailers in the world. Fresh & Easy has blitzed the Valley with PR, resulting in tons of hits like this one in the Republic and this one on Fox10. I doubt anyone in town is unaware of the company’s market entrance.

Meanwhile, one of the country’s largest sporting goods retailers, Dick’s Sporting Goods, has opened its first Arizona store on Happy Valley Rd. in North Phoenix with others opening shortly including a massive store in Chandler. It appears Dick’s will be relying on word of mouth and its slick national advertising campaign to drum up Arizona business.

Dick’s has huge brand awareness in other markets, but virtually none in Arizona. I’m surprised the firm hasn’t launched a PR campaign — or maybe they have and it’s just not working yet! We’ll see.

Launching a new brand in Phoenix can be difficult given the flood of retailers already in the market. What makes Dick’s better than Sports Authority or Big 5, or Fresh & Easy better than Whole Foods or Trader Joe’s? The PR teams at Dicks and Fresh & Easy have their work cut out for them. A big brand does not automatically equal success.

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