Putting a Wombat in Your Window

Way back in the ‘60s, Esso had a hit advertising campaign with the strapline “Put a Tiger in Your Tank,” featuring one of the big striped cats in a variety of poses – all in an effort to sell more gasoline.

Fast-forward half-a-century and animals still strike a chord when it comes to making a statement. In London, Harrods department store has its entire east-facing elevation devoted to windows featuring animals; and yes, there is a large feline. This time, it’s a black panther.

The sculpted panther in question is poised and about to tuck into a large piece of meat displayed on a butcher’s block. The aim is to tell passing shoppers that there is food as well as fashion in the “top people’s store”. The other windows follow suit with everything from a Scottish grouse to a lion – all aimed to promote the store’s luxury food and wine offerings.  

Across the Channel, Le Bon Marché, one of the three big luxury department stores in Paris, has, until a week or so ago, had a stand of pink flamingos filling its windows. In this instance, the promotion represented the collaboration between the Parisian store and Miami luxury department store, The Webster, on their White Collection launched last month.

Once more, it is the animals, more than the merchandise, doing the talking. Talking flamingos? Well maybe not, but what they lack in lexical power, they more than make up for in terms of visual impact.

Perhaps the point is that animals, in whatever context, continue to have the ability to be showstoppers, and if you really want to cause a stir, then cats, dogs, giraffes – almost anything with four legs – will probably do the trick.

Putting a tiger in your tank sounds pretty specific, but maybe a wombat in your window could also work. Go figure.   

John Ryan is a journalist covering the retail sector, a role he has fulfilled for more than a decade. As well as being the European Editor of VMSD magazine, he writes for a broad range of publications in the U.K., the U.S. and Germany with a focus on in-store marketing, display and layout, as well as the business of store architecture and design. In a previous life, he was a buyer for C&A based in London and then Dusseldorf. He lives and works in London.