WILLIAMS SONOMA & FLOWER CHILD PARTNERSHIP

This was it. I was given the ok to ‘explore’ what a National Brand Partnership for a Fox Restaurant Concept could be. I don’t think anyone understood at the time what I was asking for the permission to dive in to. I still don’t know that they ‘get’ the value of smart, strategic and big partnerships and how they can truly impact a brand and a business model.

So I made a few calls. I brainstormed. I pitched. I bargained. I begged. I smiled a lot. I watched a legal video about brand licensing. I negotiated fees and taste tested and compared. I schlepped work-in-progress unlabeled production bottles of product to and from Flower Child for tastings with our head of Culinary and Sam Fox. I took notes on salt content and separation in the bottle. I worked through the creative development of the packaging with the killer team at Williams Sonoma and ran mechanicals up the ladder at FRC while making a list of influencers to get this in the hands of. It was the most fun (and stressful) thing I’ve done in a long time.

The collaboration with Williams Sonoma was perfect for many reasons: they were wanting to reach a younger and more health conscious demographic and the Flower Child stores planned to be in the same centers as Williams Sonoma’s across the country as they grew, there was a natural brand synergy. For Flower Child it helped to build awareness in key geographic locations where they were coming soon, and also helped to elevate the brand to be aligned with a respected household name like Williams Sonoma.

It took about a year to bring the product to life and the line can be found at Williams Sonoma’s countrywide and online.