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The Ultimate Participation Trophy: Coming May 2.
Tiffany and Co. makes the NFL’s Vince Lombardi Trophy, Major League Baseball’s Commissioner’s Trophy and the NBA’s Larry O’Brien Trophy.
Next up: The Ultimate Participation Trophy.
The august jeweler is collaborating with Brooklyn-based art collective MSCHF on a trophy just for playing the game. It will be available in limited quantity of 100 when it drops on May 2 at 11 a.m. ET. The price: $1,000.
As HypeBeast notes, the trophy is in part designed to celebrate Tiffany. After all, it has the iconic powder blue color and stainless steel that are calling cards of any products by the 185-year-old brand.
Tiffany & Co. and MSCHF put together a limited series of trophies that serve to celebrate the luxury jewelry and specialty retailer’s 160-year tradition of handcrafting sports trophies at its famed hollowware workshop in Cumberland, Rhode Island.
Dubbed “The Ultimate Participation Trophy,” the design of the trophy features equestrian themes, offering a nod to horse racing and the Woodlawn Vase, the first trophy designed by Tiffany & Co.
For Tiffany, it's one of a series of recent collabs, following others with streetwear brand Supreme, musician Pharrell and artist Daniel Arsham as it looks to reach younger audiences after being acquired by LVMH.
But there’s also some well, mischief, woven into the latest partnership. For one, the participation trophy depicts a soccer ball, basketball and racquet visible on a horse and equestrian rider. The brands also note that these trophies will in fact be awarded in a place order starting from first, but this will be based on who spends money the fastest.
Participation trophies are often widely available. In this case, they’re exclusive.
The manifesto on the product’s landing page makes the social commentary clearer:
For decades, Tiffany made trophies for winners, until now.
Only those with exceptional skills, perseverance and an innate understanding of teamwork deserve trophies. To offer an award unearned makes a mockery of fair competition.
But alas, life is not fair, and in true American fashion: Those who can’t play, pay!
For MSCHF, this will be the latest in a long line of drops (76, to be exact) that blend memes, art, commerce, social commentary and old-fashioned pranks. Others have included a video game called Chair Simulator and Birkinstocks made from Birkin bags. This week, the collective’s lawyers were in court arguing that “Wavy Baby” sneakers released in a collab with the rapper Tyga were not in fact Vans knockoffs.
However, categorizing the collective is a more difficult task, even for its members.
“It’s very hard to actually have a one-sentence [description] of what we are because we’re doing something so new in the space,” David Greenberg, MSCHF’s head of strategy and growth told Digital Trends in 2020. “A lot of startups go out and they’re like, ‘Oh, we’re DTC (direct-to-consumer) this and we sell underwear online or toothbrushes,’ or ‘we’re Uber-for-this,’ or ‘we’re Seamless-for-this.’ We don’t have anything like that to compare us to. The best way to describe ourselves is sort of just an internet culture brand that launches whatever we want to tell a story in any type of format.”
No matter the label, they've taken plenty of lessons from those internet stars that went before. Like any great brand, MSCHF is adept at building exclusivity and hype around its drops, while leveraging the buzz to direct people to download its mobile app and visit its ecommerce site.
It's a digitally native approach to event-centered art that shocks and surprises. Bansky trades on mystery. MSCHF goes viral.
The tools of ecommerce helped bring shopping to the internet. MSCHF shows how they can be used to hold a mirror up to the culture, just as art has always done. It's all the more fitting when what's reflected is commerce itself.
In this case, an iconic brand is in on the joke. If nothing else, they're good sports.
On the Move has the latest C-level hires at Impossible Foods, Build-A-Bear and Provi.
Doug Howe is the next CEO of Designer Brands, Inc. (Courtesy photo)
This week, the CEO role is seeing transition at Designer Brands, Rite Aid, Vitamin Shoppe, Cotopaxi and Compana Pet Brands. Meanwhile, Impossible Foods hired a CPG leader as its first chief demand officer and Build-A-Bear is bringing on a CTO.
Here’s the latest leadership hires:
Doug Howe, the current president of DSW, is set to step into the CEO role at parent company Designer Brands Inc. On April 1, he will succeed Roger Rawlins, who will become a board member and advisor. Howe currently serves as EVP of Designer Brands, and brings prior leadership experience at Kohl’s, Qurate Retail Group, Gap Inc. and Walmart. A search will be conducted for the next DSW president.
Davis Smith is set to transition out of the CEO role at outdoor gear brand Cotopaxi, effective July 1. At that time, company president Damien Huang will assume the CEO role. Huang was hired last year from the CEO role of Eddie Bauer. Smith will transition to the position of chairman of the board. For the next three years, he is set to serve in a mission president role for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Recife, Brazil.
Sharon M. Leite (Courtesy photo)
Sharon M. Leite is the next CEO at aesthetics brand Ideal Image. Leite comes to the brand after serving as CEO of The Vitamin Shoppe, and was previously president of Godiva Chocolatier and Sally Beauty. Among her work at The Vitamin Shoppe, Leite launched a tech-driven format and introduced personalization, while increasing innovation in private brands. Ideal Image has a network of more than 800 doctors that perform services such as laser hair removal, body sculpting and Botox.
Heyward Donigan will step down as CEO of Rite Aid. Board member Elizabeth “Busy” Burr will step in as CEO of the drug store chain on an interim basis, while an executive search is conducted. Burr brings executive experience in health from Carrot, Inc. and Humana. Donigan, whose departure was effective immediately on Monday, served in the CEO role since 2019. The move comes as Rite Aid is forecasting a net loss of $551-584 million for the current fiscal year.
Bob Robbins. (Courtesy photo)
Bob Robbins is joining alcoholic beverage ecommerce marketplace Provi as president and chief operating officer. Previously, Robbins held leadership positions at Juul Labs, Constellation Brands, Beam Suntory, McKinsey & Company. Provi aims to simplify wholesale alcohol ordering by connecting buyers, distributors and suppliers.
Greg Pearson started the new year in a new role as CEO of Compana Pet Brands, the pet care and nutrition company. Pearson succeeds John Howe, who is transitioning to a new role as senior advisor. Pearson most recently served as CEO of Pretzels, Inc., a pretzel manufacturer that was sold to Hershey in 2021. He also established Chewy’s private brands business during a stint at the pets-focused ecommerce platform.
Sherene Jagla will be the first chief demand officer at plant-based meat brand Impossible Foods. Jagla will be responsible for bringing sales, marketing, insights and product development into one function. Jagla brings 25 years of experience, including most recently as SVP and GM of Newell Brands, where she oversaw a $2 billion business across 50 brands. She was also a sales leader at Kellogg’s and held senior roles at Kimberly-Clark.
Sherene Jagla. (Courtesy photo)
Dara Meath is heading to Build-A-Bear Workshop to assume the CTO role. Meath brings 20 years of experience, most recently as the head of data, digital and ecommerce at beauty brand Conair. "This hiring demonstrates our continued focus to advance our digital capabilities which have been a fundamental part of our business success contributing to record-setting profitability in 2021 and thus far in 2022,” CFO Voin Todorovic said.
Natalie Knight is set to depart the role of chief financial officer at Ahold Delhaize. Knight served as CFO of the Netherlands-based grocer since 2020. In six months, Knight told the company that she will pursue another career opportunity in the U.S. after 25 years in Europe. Ahold Delhaize started the search for a successor.
Natalie Knight (Courtesy photo)
Lands’ End is making a series of leadership changes, which are effective Jan. 28. These come as Andrew McLean is set to step in as CEO in a previously-announced move. The changes are as follows: