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Monday, September 12, 2011

help us choose a Mini Moe Logo and win one for the little mothers


The first time I made a 'Mini Moe' was when Missy Zip was 6 years old, she is now 21. 
The Baby Born doll was the biggest fad since the Barbie, and like all the other girls her age, high on the Christmas wish list. 


Month before Christmas, as the queue for the doll reached frantic level, I still needed to find tidbits like clothes & accessories for the doll, running out of time, I brought in the cavalry to stand in line, my mum. 
I left her with a look that smacked of "be nice" I went in search for the extras, surmising that it would be at least another half an hour
One hell of a ferocious person just by her look, mum never stood any line for anything very long. 
Mean mums come in handy for moments like these.


I was still gulping back the cost of the hefty priced outfits, which started at $48, and the Baby Born carrier was double that, when mum came up with the doll leaving behind a trail of curse mutterings from those still left in line. 
She demanded we leave real soon, or there might be a posse of irate mum's waiting for us in the car park.
"But I haven't got any clothes for the doll........"
With Troll, a then bub in the sling, it was mum who suggested or more like an inpatient scowl "make them yourself" as she pointed to the sling.
Looking past me, she said "Quick, give me the sling". I didn't need to turn around to know that there was a troop of angry shoppers with an agenda coming up behind us.
Transferring sleeping Troll in sling from me to mum was done in less then 30 seconds, she shoved me aside, pushed out her boobs, cracked her knuckles one at a time as she faced her self induced foe.
It worked every time, they slinked away.

Mum was as embarrassing as many times as she was right about things. 

I guess growing up in the slums of a European city ravaged by war & other atrocities, she came accustomed to casually stepping over fist fights in the street as she did stepping off a curb to cross a street.

That night I made Missy Zip and the Baby Born identical twirly floral dresses with matching flip up hats and a coordinating stripe Mini Moe dolly sling. I had to wait till she went to bed before commandeering The Chef's body as a guide for the Mini Moe dolly sling. Just 2 years older, he was used to being a live mannequin for all the Aster Moe Kidswear designs; boys & girls wear alike. 
Couple of years later it was a different story as I had to chase him around the house to get him to try on an outfit. "I'm not getting into a dress, FINAL!" he protested, hurdling couches, sliding across the kitchen bench island, as I pleaded in hot pursuit "I just need to check dimensions that's all. Honest it will be quick, pleeeaasse"

I couldn't wait till Christmas for missy Zip to have the Baby Born Doll and the various other outfits I ended up making. That doll was going to be the best dressed doll in town.

As with Missy Zip it was a hit as it was for our Aster Moe customers.
Mini Moe Dolls Clothes was born that Christmas and lived for another 10 years, selling at all the various markets we did.  All the designs were replicas of the of the Aster Moe range, many times the dolls clothes sold out before the children's clothes did. At Christmas time there would be queues of people, 4 -5 deep grabbing at the dolly clothes.  These days there is case of left over Mini Moe dolls clothes and a naked Baby Born, which has Texta makeup to rival the scariest clown in town in permanent non use under Little Miss Mischief's bed. I guess she didn't like Baby Born's as much as Missy Zip did.
 
The Mini Moe Dolly sling though, is in rampant use by little Miss Mischief & her BFF - Bailey. Sezah, her rabbit along with Snowy & Jasmine the resident guinea pigs all get daily rides as LMM lullaby's them with her own fairy & unicorn songs in the garden.
I'm thinking, singing lessons might not go astray in the new future..............


I have experimented with the Mini Moe Dolly slings for a long time, but kept coming back to our original version, thinking that maybe a ring sling version might give better sizing to accommodate different shapes & rapidly growing bodies. I experimented with parachute style versions, thinking that little kids could relate easier with that style, but there were already a few on the market and it seemed to contradict what we were about. Mostly parents spoke about their little toddlers grabbing the sling that was used for them and putting their teddies in, but it was too big; so back to the original once again.

Like a lot of things in our lives, we put a lot of projects to the back burner, due to life as we know it being so full as it is.

This time I did I got the legals in process before anyone saw the revised Mini Moe Dolly Sling; a little but very important thing called IP protection!!!!
Nothing is more heart braking than having your design that you have spent countless hours researching developing only to have it stolen away by the lack of an A4 sheet of paper. I've seen it happen to so many people in the past and it's not such a big process once you've don't it once.

We're really happy at the response we have had within our control groups, the retailers who have 'proof tested' the product and at Perth's PBC Expo last month a hit with the general public.

The product itself is finished, though we are still finalising the choices of logo's done by the fabulous Bec Marr from  RubyRuby designs and the marketing material such as packaging and other things that go with a new product......... so much to do! 
The staff & I just can't seem to settle on a favourite, so we thought it might be nice to have our fans & readers have an input in choosing the new logo for our Mini Moe Dolly Sling.

 As a reader of this blog, there's a chance to win a free Mini Moe Dolly Sling, from the following concepts, which logo would you choose? Post your answer in the comment section below. Who ever chooses the final design will get a Mini Moe of their choose, there's are 15 cute selections to choose from 



10 comments:

  1. I think Ab is bold . bright and unisex because my son would love this and it would look great with any fabric !!

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  2. Hi, I Love the mimi moe sling, my girls and boy would love them too,(to match my bubba moe).I think they are all nice, I will vote for D.

    Thanks
    Louise

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  3. Oh Bec just did my logo and i faced the same dilemna it was nearly impossible to choose but my vote goes to bb

    Good luck with the decision

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  4. Hello. As usual Bec's work is AMAZING!! (She designed my logo too!!) I am drawn to CB, my eye just keeps going there....but I don't think you can wrong with any of them. I love your products too!

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  5. Cant agree with you more Jeni & TigerPickles, Bec is fabulous.....
    All the designs are so good we just cant settle on any one, thats why we've called in the calvary......the public.
    My personal favourite is Cb, but D seems to be gaining a lot of favour, the staff are equally divided amongst the other ones.
    We're using the old logo for the prelaunch but we cant finish our support material for the proper launch until the logo is decided.

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  6. Such a brilliant idea, I know my daughter would love to carry her dolly 'hands free' and snuggle up to her. I really like Aa design. From a marketing perspective things on yellow back ground or writing are easy to read and I think this design is stunning. It is also a great unisex choice. If you want your design to appeal to girls though I would choose Ba. Goodluck on choosing - RubyRuby Designs did a lovely job!

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  7. Just saw your last post (that you are deciding between Cb and D). Both are attractive but Cb is my pick, very sweet.

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  8. Maybe you have already chosen but, for the record...my general fave is D but I think Cb works best because it matches the 'full sized' logo.
    :-)

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  9. Ladyluxe, Virginia, Katie and Tigerpickles, Jeni & Katie Parker could you please email me your address at sales@bubbamoe.com.au so that we can send you a Mini Moe....we are still deciding, its running even stevens at the moment

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