NEWS RELEASE
For Immediate Release
April 30, 2010

Media Contact:
Beth Ling
Director of Public Relations
Interbrand Design Forum
(937) 312-8803
beth.ling@interbrand.com
Dayton, Ohio—Lee Carpenter, founder of Interbrand Design Forum, has appointed current president and COO, Bruce Dybvad to CEO. Carpenter, who has served as CEO of Interbrand Design Forum since it’s founding in 1978, will now focus solely on his role as CEO of Interbrand North America, a position he’s held since 2006.

Dybvad joined Interbrand Design Forum in 1980 and was named President in 1998. He added the additional role of President of Interbrand Cincinnati in 2006. A resident of Cincinnati, Dybvad has a B.S. in Design from the University of Cincinnati’s College of Design, Architecture, Art and Planning (DAAP). He is a member of the Retail Design Institute and sits on the editorial advisory board of VM+SD. Dybvad is now also CEO of Interbrand’s Cincinnati office.

“We will continue to concentrate on helping clients create and manage brand value,” says Dybvad. “There’s some pretty exciting synergy happening between the Dayton and Cincinnati offices as we bring together smart strategy and game-changing creative. Our common focus on Shopper Sciences is something savvy companies understand. We have the ability to deliver the power of their brands across all touchpoints. That’s what it takes to drive choice at retail today.”

In his position, Carpenter will continue to shape the strategy and growth of Interbrand across North America, which in addition to Interbrand Design Forum’s offices in Dayton and Los Angeles, includes Interbrand offices in New York, San Francisco, Cincinnati, Toronto and Mexico City.

Under Carpenter’s leadership, Interbrand Design Forum has developed a business model, unique to the retail design industry, which folds brand strategy and shopper insights into the creation of the optimized retail space. The firm’s innovative methods continue to evolve in answer to a retailer’s survival-need to discover what makes their brand relevant and engaging.

In 2002, Design Forum became part of Interbrand, extending its reach to help brands globally develop sound strategies and ground-breaking new brand experiences at retail. In 2008, the company added Interbrand to its Design Forum name to reflect its place in the world’s largest branding consultancy.

About Interbrand Design Forum
Since 1978, we have been creating retail brand experiences for companies around the world. Interbrand Design Forum’s talent for game-changing innovation led us to create a business model that integrates analytics-based strategy—the first and only company with such a comprehensive offering. We are part of a network of 1,200 associates in almost 40 offices around the globe. For more information, please contact Beth Ling (937) 312-8803 or visit www.interbranddesignforum.com.

About Interbrand
Interbrand (www.interbrand.com), the leading brand consultancy and authors of the annual ranking of “The World’s Most Valuable Brands,” published by BusinessWeek, combines the rigorous strategy and analysis of a management consulting practice with the entrepreneurial and creative spirit of branding and design. The company offers a comprehensive array of consulting services that guide clients in the creation, enhancement, maintenance and valuation of their most valuable asset – their brands. For more information visit the world’s only online exchange about branding, produced by Interbrand, at www.brandchannel.com.

Retailers looking for great examples of wirelessly connecting with their shoppers have three great brands to look to: American Eagle Outfitters, Netflix and Amazon.com. The continue to differentiate their shopping experiences with intimacy, responsiveness and relevance.

Even with millions of items for sale, Amazon connects intimately with customers, from its one-click ordering to its ability to become more relevant with each visit. The result is a “barrier to exit” that other brands envy.

American Eagle excels at aggressively integrating multi-channel marketing tactics into both its traditional and digital campaigns. It connects at all the right touchpoints, which goes a long way towards achieving brand loyalty. This year, AE included a mobile filed in its loyalty program, and used mobile as a point of entry into sweepstakes as well as an alerts program. Calls to action were posted on social networking sites, such as Facebook and Twitter in the form of banner ads, status updates and tweets.

Netflix invites feedback and gives customers what they want. The movie provider uses crowdsourcing to find ways to improve its service and offerings, and recently generated a lot of buzz with a million-dollar prize awarded to the customer who could improve its movie recommendations by ten percent—a classic way to allow customers to interact positively and co-create with the brand.

In the future, both online and brick-and-mortar retailers will need to focus on customer mobility to connect intimately and immediately with customers. The giving is no longer one-way. These brands clearly demonstrate the digital connections also provide valuable information that allows services and products to be personalized with the crucial insights that help companies stay relevant.

While we can all agree that price matters more to the consumer than ever, it’s not the be-all, end-all of shopping. At some point, the hunt for best price has to stop. And why it stops is up to the retail brand.

Shoppers attach to brand, not price. Brand—the distinct way you do business—needs to provide a reason to activate the purchase, a reason beyond price. It can be trust, convenience, fun, effortlessness, time savings, fashion or many other factors a brand makes itself known for.

Many retailers have learned the hard way that price-based competition is simply not sustainable. To survive, they need a balanced value proposition unique to the brand that makes the shopper confident she has found the right choice among similar offerings of the product or solution she seeks.

This year, retailers have made headway in the battle against “sameness” by negotiating exclusive famous name brands, making sure their private labels stand for something besides “cheaper” and by infusing the shopping experience with emotional appeal. One brand that renewed its value-plus-reason image is Old Navy. After veering off into fast fashion inspired by the designer runway, it has returned to bright basic family apparel surrounded and supported by its kitschy sense of humor. Shoppers are returning to the store and business is on the upswing.

Differentiation is crucial to brand strength. A lack of it kills value of both the brand to its owners and its worth in the shopper’s perception. Without a differentiated proposition, a company has less power to defend margins and create demand.

Copying the latest “hot” retailer is an easy way to stay current, to level the playing field. But imitation doesn’t keep you at the top of the shopper’s mind. When a retail brand displays a unique, creative energy—the J. Crew Liquor Store comes to mind—I get a dose of inspiration like an electric charge. I’m not just browsing now, I’m fully engaged because a particular creative spirit permeates every touchpoint for an unmistakable experience. That’s when the brand stops chasing and starts engaging. Maybe it’s my emotions, my ego, or my sense of fun which is always looking to come out and play.

A great retail concept represents something more than just fulfilling a need. Yeah, I need a shirt but why did I run all the way down to Tribeca to have this particular shopping experience? It’s the kind of thing that inspires affinity—experiential attachment. I think that’s great.

I know maintaining a brand’s creative mindset is challenging. That’s why you have to see the fun side of creativity, the side that plays with your senses and the environment around you. You can twist and stretch ideas to bend old paradigms into something new. No part of the retail experience is too small to consider, since those that appear insignificant are often found to have surprising impact.

All too often, however, I find that retail brands let their most engaging idea run its course. They rest on their triumph or allow others to copy them. Mistake. Ongoing creativity makes you different and keeps you that way.

Businesses in search of competitive advantage are much more comfortable asking design consultants for “innovation” when they should be asking for “creativity,” the birthplace of new ideas. But creativity, with its faint air of mystery and associations with renegade, non-corporate types, doesn’t seem at home in the world of commerce, where goals are achieved through “procedure” and “knowledge.”

Interbrand Design Forum has seen an increase in the number of retail brands deciding to bring creativity to the table, but a negative tendency to have their procurement officers treat it like a commodity—buying it by the pound. That’s a mistake. Few agencies know how to bring about the environment, the chemistry and the provocation that net the great, disruptive ideas that are actionable in terms of the brand experience. The kind that can move your business to a new place.

If you’re searching for creative consultants, look for those who know how to imaginatively frame questions, consider multiple perspectives and celebrate instinct and intuition. Find a team with a simple framework that allows for the unexpected, that can help your company get outside your normal tendencies so you can conceive of something really new that creates retail demand. Refuse to let anyone solve the problem at hand in a habitual way. Not all creative is equal. Truly creative people are contrary in a purposeful way.

Should retail brands be concerned about their brand strategy or should they simply concentrate on sales per square foot? Are we on the verge of a new spirit of innovation in retail to serve “pent-up” demand? How can the virtual environment of digital retail create communities outside the four walls of the store?

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