Heather Asker is a merchandising and marketing manager with a background in neither.
Instead, she’s more of an analyst, drawing on her interests in sociology and business software.
That’s how she landed her first position at Bella Notte Linens. “Nine years ago I applied for a job in back office reporting,” she says. “On my resume I alluded to my love of spreadsheets – and they called me in.”
Excel is her go-to choice for analyzing things. “It serves me well in my merchandising and marketing capacity,” she says. “I bring a different perspective to the creative process, and it balances the left and right brains.”
Now she puts her analytical skills to use by telling the story of purples and silvers and their role in design.
Purple, as in Fig, a rich new tone that saturates all Bella Notte’s fabrics, trims and threads. And silver, as in Moonlight, a mid-tone gray, created to commemorate the company’s 25th, or silver, anniversary.
“Purple is a regal color, a rich tone, and definitely a color of royalty,” she says. “There’s a harmony in combining the energies between blue and red.”
Fig is only enhanced when used together with the lighter tones of Moonlight. “It’s beautiful when it sits next to Fig – it’s absolutely stunning,” she says. “Moonlight is gorgeous – it could be overshadowed by Fig, but they work well together.”
Historically, white has been the color du jour in the bedrooms of most consumers, but now the uptrend is toward more colors – and more accessories. “Fig is for bedroom styles, because it’s such a strong color,” she says. “It’s being used in accents – throw pillows, but also coverlets on the bed to inspire more spirited and daring designs that people are craving.”
The big idea here? “We wanted to branch out and show how color plays a huge role with design – in deep, saturated jewel tones,” she says.
And as the company’s target market emerges from a year and a half of pandemic-induced isolation, Bella Notte’s Fig and Moonlight are waiting for them.
Says the analyst-turned-merchandiser-and-marketer: “We’re talking to a little more adventurous consumer, one who’s romantic and elegant.”
And probably, more than a little regal.
For more, go here.
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