Ugly is the New Pretty...

My daughter's been nagging about Uglydolls. I checked them out. And oh, they're really ugly... they're made of felt. Some wedge-shaped. Some one-eyed. Some bucktoothed, some has fangs. All ugly. Forget Forever Friends, forget Strawberry Shortcake, forget Hello Kitty, forget Snoopy, forget Garfield. Forever Friends et al. are cute in a conservative way. Old-fashioned cute, where "cute" is associated with a white kitten wearing red ribbon on the ear, or a pretty girl wearing strawberry costume, or a fluffy cuddly teddy bear with pink cheeks, or even a fat lazy cat who loves lasagna. How about Uglydolls, then? They're just ugly. Plain ugly.

And I start to love them. I couldn't understand it at first, but they kind of grow on me, and I end up wanting them. Seriously. And my daughter couldn't be happier when I bought her her first Uglydoll. It's Wage. A black creature with sharp fangs, wearing a denim apron. Now Wage is officially a family member. I will find him on my pillow, or next to my iBook, or near my handbag. Or in the car. He's everywhere. 

Now. A good friend of mine is buying my daughter another Uglydoll. It's Babo this time. I can see it coming. More Uglydolls invading my home. In various colors and sizes. The next one would be Bop N'Beep (the two-sided ugly), I suspect. Because I love the color, and the schizophrenic idea of having a two-sided Uglydoll. Imagine THAT. I will be arguing with my daughter over WHICH Uglydoll to buy this time. One of us should grow up a.s.a.p, and I suspect that should've been ME.

I still think Uglydolls are ugly. In a cute, irresistible way. And I love them for it.

  

On Positioning: the Case of fX

The case today is fX (Lifestyle X'nter), the newest, hippest place in Jakarta. In an article in The Jakarta Post, the Marketing Director claims that, "fX is not a shopping center. We target young executive professionals from 25 to 45 for both business and leisure." Okayyyyyy... 

First thing first: what would a "shopping center" in Jakarta be like? Depending on time of the week, it could be teeming with: a) teenagers in noisy groups, dressed similarly you could barely distinguish one kid from another; b) housewives (just as noisy, and dressed to kill, toting the mandatory Birkin or Neverfull bag); c) the whole family, from grandparents to (great)grandchildren. Note the profusion of strollers and the compulsory uniformed nannies on weekends. Sometimes the father would play the overly-involved and all-smothering paterfamilia (because he's unavailable Monday-Saturday, so he crams 6-days-worth of fathering and husbanding into a 6-hours-stroll at the shopping mall). 

Now: what would "not a shopping center", like fX, be like? According to the Marketing Manager, at least? Flocks of corporate executives having lunch... people entertaining their clients... entrepreneurs holding meetings and presentation sessions in one of the various fPods (that's how they call the 11 meeting rooms)... dinners and drinks celebrating the closing of a deal... a long night at the club (and more than a few shots of tequila) to console oneself after a failed deal... stressed-out workers having the 12-second adrenaline rush on the giant slide (aptly called "Almostfear"... because now matter how scary the ride is, it's nothing compared to the "Realfear" you face when you have to report that failed deal to your angry boss, or a potential partner bailing out because you screwed up the negotiation, or a million-dollar investment going down the drain due to mismanagement, or a lawsuit due to financial fraud, or the risk of being fired because a coworker backstabbed you during that last project). I'm ranting here. Sorry... and office workers meeting their highschool or college friends for drinks after work, while waiting for the traffic jam to subside.

And finally (drumroll, please): an actual visit fo fX. Please note that this is on a weekend on the third week of August 2008, and fX has just been opened for less than a month. What do I see there?

• thirtysomething to fortysomething men (probably fX's target market, thus) bringing their spouses and offsprings on a weekend (probably because they have visited the place with co-workers before, liked the place and would love their family to experience it as well);
  
• teenagers attracted by the newness and hipness of the place (and the giant slide factor!);
• the usual mall crowd (marked by the abundance of strollers and nannies), not caring about fX positioning. To them, a mall is a mall is a mall is a mall.
• a long, snaking line of people queueing to try the giant slide... ranging from elderly ladies (what?!!) to young kids (who aren't supposed to be allowed to do it in the first place, I wonder what the age and height limits are). This says a lot about the socio-economic level of fX visitors, because one ride costs IDR 100,000 (roughly USD 10) and that ain't cheap.

So, what does it say about the fate of fX in the (near) future? Jakarta is the ADD Capital of Southeast Asia, remember... so I really AM curious about this. Let's see... fX might be:

a) completely deserted. Because it's only a passing fad, made "hip and happening" by initial curiosity and the giant slide factor.

b) deserted by the early curious visitors and frequented by the intended target market. The Marketing Director screams, "Yay!" and pumps his/her fist in the air.

c) inhabited by the usual mall crowd (thus rendering the segmenting-targeting-positioning completely useless). The Marketing Director says, "F**k!" and checks his Kotler textbook again, wondering where it all went wrong.

Alright. Time will tell. Another (weekday) visit required. And another weekend visit, maybe 2-3 months from now (the usual time needed for Jakartans to forget all about one passing fad and move on to another).