7 Tips for Handling Rejection 

Via amexopenforum by Bruna Martinuzzi, Author, Presenting with Credibility: Practical Tools and Techniques for Effective Presentations

This photo first made me laugh. Then it made me think about what Abercrombie and Fitch have achieved in terms of brand building. They've successfully built a very loved and followed brand and their shopping bags are a strong representation and extension of it.

Just a quick search online and I found entire sites dedicated to A&F shopping bags. I've even found a Facebook profile called "I only buy stuff at Abercrombie & Fitch so I can get the shopping bags :)". 

A fan blog called 'The Sitch on Fitch' sums it up best "There is something quite compelling about an Abercrombie & Fitch bag. Many of you even have yourselves a modest collection stashed somewhere in your rooms, or you even use them as art on the walls... Because that is what a bag from Abercrombie & Fitch is - it is art. These bags are not like the average shopping bags from other retailers. No, Abercrombie & Fitch bags are a form of art that you - the A&F customer - are privileged to walk about with...a carry-around art type of deal. We all are obsessed with the iconic FIERCE bags that the brand hands over with our purchased goodies....Walking about the shopping center with an A&F bag makes you an instant attraction! Sure, the chiseled torso of the guy has a lot to do with it, but there's more to it than that..."

Cases like these are incredible studies on what a shopping bag potentially can be. But it's not just individual elements that make a bag successful. It's not just an interesting bag shape or structure, nor is it great graphic design. It all must be rooted in something more substantial than that. It starts with a idea that turns into a brand or a campaign and a shopping bag can be a brilliant representation and extension of it.

So yeah, it doesn't hurt when an A&F shopping bag has a buffed dude's torso on it but the image is representing what actually attracts people. Let's think about it in another way. How many other retailers have used near naked beautiful models on their bags? And how many people have dedicated entire websites, blogs and Facebook profiles to those bags?

(Still laughing about the cat by the way).