Deal with Beyonce's Mom Shows Walmart Does Celeb Brands Right

Just as Target (TGT) seems to be losing its grip on the celebrity brand phenomenon, Walmart (WMT) has launched a label that seems to have the right balance of credibility and star power, even if it doesn't look like it at first glance.

Walmart is launching Miss Tina apparel, a brand developed by Tina Knowles. While not necessarily a household name, Knowles daughter is among the most A List of A List celebs today, Beyonce.

Now, the idea of Walmart launching a line of clothing from Beyonce's mom might seem like stretching the celebrity brand idea, but its not, particularly not for the target audience, hip hop-influenced young people. Knowles has built street cred into a full-line fashion business. She started out designing costumes for Destiny's Child, the group that launched Beyonce. That led to the fashion business, House of Dereon, in which Beyonce is a partner. So, she is affiliated closely enough with the Walmart product to be a viable part of its promotion.

The rags to riches element involving Beyonce and her mom -- while more like middle class to riches, but that's close enough -- will be attractive to shoppers whose music uses that theme as its central narrative. But the relationship works as well. Walmart can build on the mother/daughter partnership to expand the brand's appeal. When Macy's (M) launched a fashion brand by Madonna and her daughter Lourdes, the company understood that shoppers -- overwhelming women to this day -- would cozy up to the idea of the collaboration's family theme. Similarly, the tale of Tina Knowles working on costumes to help her daughter achieve success then going into business with her -- family triumphing over the pitfalls of fame -- has the right ingredients for a warm and fuzzy marketing that's right up Walmart's alley.

There there's the dark side of the American dream angle. Tina Knowles is becoming a lot more famous in the wake of a divorce from Beyonce's dad and manager as word emerged that he had fathered a child with another woman. While it's not the most pleasant of considerations, the media interest in the divorce will make Knowles more widely known, inevitably publicize her clothing lines and put her in an even more sympathetic light.

On a more conventional business level, Knowles designs have shown up not only on Destiny's Child but also in movies and in department and specialty stores, so Walmart has a glamor factor available. And it the retailer can use the light of fame to burnish product that is made to meet its shoppers needs including for prices in the $20 range.

This blog criticized Target for trying to hype greeting cards from singer Taylor Swift, noting that if celebrities are used to push products that don't involve their own expertise, credibility is abandoned. When retailers resort to slapping celebrity faces on product just to grab a little attention, all the work that has made brands such as Martha Stewart, Kathy Ireland, Jaclyn Smith, Rachel Ray and Emeril work in mass-market retailing is potentially undermined.

Celebrity plays a role in making those brands work, but the credibility has to be there. Not long ago, Walmart launched a Miley Cyrus brand, but it paired her with a legitimate designer so that its shoppers would consider it more seriously. These days, it seems as if Walmart and not Target or even Kmart -- the jury's still out on actress/singer Selena Gomez's brand -- is the retailer that has the discipline to do brands right.

Related:

• Walmart Launches Miley Cyrus Apparel Connected to Tour and Youth Strategy
• Jaclyn Smith Is at Her Kmart Peak but Cristina May Eclipse Her
• Will Taylor Swift Usher in a Celebrity Brand Apocalypse?
• Macy's Sets Up Momsen as Fall Girl For Madonna Brand