The book, “Visual Marketing - 99 proven ways for small businesses to market with images and design” and is full of all kinds of creative and inexpensive marketing ideas to grow your business. Each of the 99 examples in the book are from actual business owners who have successful implemented the ideas. Many of the business owners profiled in the book have niche businesses.

The book is a quick read, the 99 ideas are in the format of “mini cases studies” only two pages in length. Most of the case studies involve a mix of online and offline marketing strategies. So whether you are a novice with social media or an early adapter, there will be something of value to you. Once again what makes the book special is it is from actual business owners who have had success with a particular marketing strategy.

(Disclaimer:Mannequin Madness is one of the businesses owners in the book. I don’t earn a commission for recommending the book, it is actually a book I would have bought, even if I did not get a free copy.)

photo and styling by keith dillion

Male and female mannequins are usually segregated in window displays. Males in one window, females in another. Don’t you think that is a bit outdated?

The window display above from a florist on Valentine’s Day (mannequins aren’t just for clothing stores) evokes sex and romance. Who doesn’t want more of that?  Window displays that evoke emotion, attract a lot more attention and generate more sales than retail window displays with just the product in the window. Imagine how boring this display would have been with just bouquets of flowers in the window.

Retailers that sell products connected with romance – bridal wear, bath products, lingerie, party clothes, flowers – should try putting together “vignettes” of male and female mannequins having contact with each other.

We sell pairs of mannequins on our website that are interacting. The fact that they are touching each other (as opposed to side by side or in opposite windows) implies that if you wear one of these outfits, you will attract the opposite sex. Once again a scene from a play, helps people imagine them “starring in the play.”

Segregation by sex in retail window displays is so commonplace, we take it for granted. Try doing just the opposite in your window displays and see if your windows attract more attention. S

The new book by Tony Morgan boasts some excellent photographs of the best recent windows in London, New York, Paris and beyond. Morgan takes us on a personal journey with his writing, which shines through his passion for display. The book is well structured and looks at windows from different perspectives in seven chapters such as Colour, Lighting and Theatre. The book covers the top department stores from New Yorks Bergdorf Goodman to London’s Selfridges (Morgan worked as Head of Visual Merchandising there for 18 years), designer shops such as Prada and Moschino, as well as high street fashion concepts by TopShop and Zara.

With relevant images and captions he shows how a window is more than just a useful space to promote products. “Today these glazed canvases promote the store’s brand identity, keep the customer informed of fashion trends and ultimately drive sales.” He explores several ways to make the stores windows stand out from their competitors. Would a tyrannosaurus Rex eating a mannequin get your attention? He quite rightly argues that good windows are the talk of the town.

The book successfully highlights how different elements of window design can inspire and increase sales. Morgan celebrates ”the creative retail gurus” who design the schemes. I always wonder who designed the windows, therefore I wish he would have explored this further. Overall I strongly recommend the book.

Tony Morgan teaches visual merchandising at Fashion Retail Academy and is a guest lecturer at London College of Fashion. His previous book is called Visual Merchandising: Window and In-store Displays for Retail.
All images by Laurence King Publishing.

Every Tuesday we feature a guest post from an internationally based blogger to give you examples of sensational window displays from all over the world. Of course we tend to think all window displays look better with mannequins in them, but we appreciate ALL kinds of creative visual merchandising in window displays. Let’s bring back “street theatre” and have more dramatic eye-catching window displays like back in the day when people went “window shopping” instead of surfing the internet.

This blog post came from one of our favorite blogs, The Window Display Blog. It is written by a Kaisa Leinonen, a London based visual merchandiser who is as obsessed with store window displays as and we are obsessed with mannequins.

 I like the ideas presented here because this is something that retailers with smaller budgets could emulate. And of course we like the windows with the juxtaposition of the mannequins and the photograph. We can’t help you with the photographs but we can sell you a new or used mannequin 

Enjoy the post.

This post looks at two things that I love: photography and visual display. I’ve always loved the 3 dimensional play between the backdrop, the oversized props, the mannequins, the text on the glass.. I find windows are often artistic and playful, where as a fashion photograph with a model gazing into the viewer’s eyes, can can stimulate a much more subtle yet a strong emotional message about the brand.

The advertising shots are usually the epitome of the marketing campaign so no wonder brands are using them in their windows. Large-scale photographs are most often used as backdrops, whether to set the scene with a location image or as a pure advertising shot.  During my window walks I discovered  innovative uses of merchandise and other elements in the windows that make the photographs seem a lot more three-dimensional.

I love the backlight behind the woman in the photo it really makes the photo come alive. Although I am not sure if the mannequin display is strong enough to compete with the background.

Read the entire article…

If you are new to mannequins, all the mannequin choices available may seem daunting. There are as many brands of mannequins as there are brands of cars. And each brand has a variety of choices within the line.

When it comes to mannequins, one brand in particular stands out as one of the most coveted (and most expensive) – Adel Rootstein mannequins.

These mannequins first came on the scene in the 1960′s and  although other companies have tried to copy Rootstein styles and poses – none of come close. Oh they may look similar, but the quality and durability are not there. Sorta of like buying a real Louis Vuitton bag and versus a knock off from a street vendor.

This archived 1994 article from the Los Angeles Times explains the history, mystique and appeal about Rootstein mannequins. A brand new Rootstein mannequins costs now costs arounds $1300, not $800 as mentioned in this article. (Remember the article is 18 years old)

For those people who cannot afford a brand new Rootstein mannequin we frequently have gently used Rootstein mannequins for sale on our website. We acquire them from retail chains or museums who are updating their mannequins and ask us to recycle their old ones.

If you don’t see what you are looking for, send us an email (sales@mannequinmadness.com) and ask to be put on our Rootstein Collectors list Then you can be notified of new arrivals before we post them on our website or Ebay. Many of the most popular styles never make online because the collectors buy them up right away.

These photos and text are courtesy of The Window Display blog  who posted these photos on Valentines’ Day last year.

This window display remind’s us the we just don’t have to celebrate romance on Valentine’s Day – but other things we love – like food and accessories. Great idea!

Harvey Nichols takes this opportunity to sell menswear, food, womenswear and accessories. The white shirt is the stable of these windows, I especially love the ‘O’.

Calvin Klein, King’s Road.

Peter Jones, Sloane’s Square and the tree of love.

Agent Provocateur, Pont Street never disappoint me with their Valentine’s Day windows, cool play on words: ’4 flashes, 1 strip’.

Tiffany & Co, Sloane Street.

This blog post comes courtesy of one of our favorite blogs, The Window Display Blog. It is written by a Kaisa Leinonen, a visual merchandiser based in London who is as obsessed with store window displays as and we are obsessed with mannequins. Every Tuesday we feature a guest post from an internationally based blogger to give you examples of sensational window displays from all over the world. Of course we tend to think all window displays look better with mannequins in them, but we appreciate all kinds of creative visual merchandising.

We have a large collection of “gently used” Patina V mannequins for sale – in a variety of poses and ethnicities. With the current trend of generic headless or egghead mannequins, it is rare to find mannequins with facial features for sale used market.

These came from a retail chain that has been exceptionally profitable so they decided to remodel and upgrade several stores. Many of these mannequins are less than two years old.

Normally these mannequins would cost upwards of $800 if they brand new. We are selling them for $250-$300 on our website.

This is a perfect example of why used mannequins from retail chains are such a great value. Although we also sell brand new mannequins which are imported from China, it is the mannequins that we recycle from retail chains that we are most excited about selling.

We like recycled mannequins from retail chains for several reasons. First of all these mannequins are better constructed, more durable and more realistic looking than the imports. They are made to withstand being in a busy retail environment where they will be manhandled a lot.

Retail chains frequently discard perfectly good mannequins just because they have to follow the latest trends in fashions. So instead of sending these to the landfill, (where they will never biodegrade) the retailers call us to recycle the mannequins. This allows us to offer the mannequins to you at deeply discounted prices. A true – win/win.

A mannequin “urinating” and spelling out the word SALE with his “pee” – is attracting all kinds of attention for Phillip Browne, a men’s wear clothing shop in the UK. The mannequin was surrounded by empty champagne bottles, party poppers and discarded clothes to depict the aftermath of a night out.

This window display generated massive local and even international media attention for the store.And that is what a good window display is supposed to do – get your store noticed. But it should not offend people and apparently enough people were offended, instead of amused by this display, and the local police requested the shop owner change or remove the display.

Personally I think this display was genius – perfect for a men’s clothing store. Because they used a wooden, headless mannequin instead of a realistic looking mannequin, this made it comical – like a stick figure drawing. People get real funny about seeing naked mannequins in the store windows so this was a good way to reduce the possibility of offending even more people.

Perhaps the shop owner was inspired by the famous Manneken Pis fountain in Brussels with the statue of the little boy peeing into the fountain. (I never understood why this fountain was such an attraction. According to Wikipedia it has the same cultural significance of the Little Mermaid statue in Copenhagen)

What do you think – what this funny and amusing or disgusting and offensive?

This display was in conjunction with the 20th anniversary of Christian Louboutin shoes and the release of his book

If you want to try something similar but not quite as ambitious, we have a whole range of mannequin legs for you to display shoes on. Barney’s released a video on the creation of this window display from start to finish, if you need some inspiration. Here it is.

Christian Louboutin: Celebrating 20 Years and the Launch of the Book from BARNEY’S NEW YORK on Vimeo

A vintage mannequin is a unique collectible. And if you need a mannequin, vintage is better than a budget quality new one. After starting Penn Polly Vintage I had many a vintage dress that needed to be modeled on something. I began a longer than expected mannequin journey and along the way learned why vintage mannequins rock.

1. A vintage mannequin is a beautiful thing

I now have a good appreciation for the artistic qualities of vintage mannequins. The faces on many older mannequins are really lovely or just downright arresting. This is particularly true if you purchase a high end vintage mannequin like a Wolf Vine, Greneker, Rootstein, Decter, or Hindsgaul.

read the full article here…