We are all students of brand in one way or another, and I believe we begin  that learning early, in our  formative years. I remember sitting with an Etch A Sketch for hours and being completely engrossed in little lines drawn in a field of silver dust. A few shakes and I got a completely new canvas. Amazing. Maybe that helped shape my future as a designer and if so, thank you Etch A Sketch. But I suspect there is another brand that, at the very least, helped shape my love and fascination for the automobile. Could there be a cooler brand than Hot Wheels?

I admit to still having my very first Hot Wheels car, a red ‘68 Custom Mustang that is my sole prized possession. It is missing a hood, a bunch of paint, the wheels in the back are curled up like many did back then and it has some original dirt that I happily applied as a kid. It never lost a race. Somewhere, playing with that car flipped a switch in my brain and I’ve loved the automobile ever since.

I could get philosophical about the Hot Wheels brand and how I think it mirrors many aspects of the time in which we live. About how the graphics on the packaging can be seen as an indication of trend and how it becomes a miniature testament to the actual car brands themselves. About how the proprietary designs from the Hot Wheels design studio draw from many aspects of modern culture. Ask any young child what you call the little tiny cars and I’ll bet that you’ll get the correct answer 9 times out of 10. The folks at Mattel have done a great job over the (40!) years of providing a consistent message, keeping true to their calling while managing to leverage their asset across a vast array of other products, from PJ’s to fruit snacks and Saturday morning cartoons. It’s a great historical brand case study and one that continues to be relevant.

A casual glance at eBay will provide you with over 10,000 opportunities to purchase a Hot Wheels, some for thousands of dollars, none of which seem destined for ripping down an orange track and careening down the hallway. But, that doesn’t change the fact that for 99 cents and a little pile of dirt, a kid can still enjoy a truly distinctive brand and maybe launch a  lifelong love affair as well. Thank you, Hot Wheels.

There’s little doubt about it, Corporate Citizenship has become a force within many brands and organizations. Some of these efforts are very large in scale and highly publicized (think Pepsi Refresh project). Others are as simple and small scale as creating an office recycling program. Either way, it seems as if people within organizations of all sizes and types are actively seeking out opportunities to be better corporate citizens. The momentum behind the movement seems so great that it almost seems assumed that something must be done by each and every brand and organization.

One question must be asked, though, when considering whether or not your brand should engage in an activity;  what is my motivation for doing this? That’s right, I said it. As much as it pains me to say, your brand better have very specific reasons for being a better corporate citizen, or you may be doing more harm than good.

I’ll spare you the lecture that economist Milton Friedman would give on this topic. I’ll just say that anything that takes a brand’s eye off of the singular focus it was created to achieve makes the brand a little less competitive in its market and a little less viable as an ongoing concern. In an ever more competitive world, it doesn’t take much of a slip to lose your competitive edge and set you back. So, if you’re considering doing something in the Corporate Citizenship realm, you need to ask yourself a very important question. “What is my brand getting in return for this effort?”

The problem I see with the body of knowledge on the topic is that nobody really knows how much these efforts drive purchase. Aside from some very specific situations, there is simply nothing but anecdotal evidence suggesting that engaging in these activities will actually drive people to purchase your brand more than a competitor. There have certainly been research efforts suggesting that X% of people believe it is important and that people are willing to pay $X more for a product, but this research is riddled with overstatement and social bias. Nobody wants to say that it’s not important to them. Is it actually enough to overcome the objections they already had that were keeping them from buying you in the first place, though?

The best advice we can give at this point is to evaluate these efforts as you would any other opportunities your brand has. A holistic business case should be built before you go green or start to give a portion of your revenue to a certain charity. Keep in mind, this case does not need to be built strictly on an expected increase in purchase behavior by your customers. Keeping employees or other stakeholders engaged and happy can be every bit as valuable as increases in sales. There could also be other financial benefits such as tax incentives or savings on fuel expenditures. 

The bottom line is this; don’t do it just because you see everyone else doing it. Make sure that a thorough investigation has been conducted and that there is a clear benefit to your brand. Otherwise, you might be wasting valuable resources and energy.

Having read the article about the half-mile-long beaver dam in Alberta, Canada, it occurred to me that those beavers exemplify something frequently overlooked in the retail design business, the idea that it’s okay to fail.

You would have to imagine that over the reported 2800 linear feet of dam in what is basically a flat terrain, there’s the likelihood that sometimes it just doesn’t work the way they intended.  The colony has to react quickly to failure to ensure the safety of their habitat. If any of you beavers are reading this post and would like to broaden your portfolio, by all means, give us a call. Failure is an option in design as long as it’s smart failure and failing for the right reason. If it helps the idea move forward, then it might just net out the absolute best result.

In today’s market, retail brands developing a new design concept rarely have the luxury of time. Business pressure demands short design-and-build timeframes, followed by testing and refining. The original concept gets implemented across a variety of locations and architectures the offer the opportunity to engineer a new experience. In some cases,  the opportunities never get the proper amount of attention.  But when they do, the brand benefits. Much good comes from exploring various options, thoroughly test them with consumers and then using the insights to build something even more engaging at the next location. Failing forward.

My experience tells me that some of the most successful projects that I have had the opportunity to be involved with ended up that way because they continue to improve long after the first location is opened. Those brands realize the customer is a moving target whose expectations increase daily. To satisfy them and to keep them coming back, it takes a strong resolve to continuously improve.   

I am always inspired by my surroundings and the story of the beavers is a great case study on design. If and when beavers learn CAD and Photoshop, the design community at large might have some serious competition.

While I spend my days understanding shopper behavior and applying rigorous research and analysis methods to help companies “grow categories,” I spend my weekends shopping like crazy.  With my bank account being the victim of all of these great growth strategies! As you know, retailers and manufacturers are always finding new ways to create incremental growth or, simply put, make shoppers spend more.

One of my favorite places to shop is Target. Before I even make it into the store I have generally blown $20 on the dollar spot. After piling my cart with a bunch of stuff I really have no use for, my second stop is always the shampoo aisle. Regardless of need, I always stop. Something about the colors and the arrangement of the shampoo aisle just makes me feel so clean and orderly and I generally end up picking up something guaranteed to fix frizzy hair or give me more volume.

Well, much to my surprise, my venture into the shampoo aisle a few weeks ago yielded a fantastic new surprise! The new Pantene display! Aisle violators grabbed my attention as they organized the offering by color and hair solution. That’s right, hair solutions–easily found! And not only did the aisle violators frame up the offering, but the bottle packaging was new and perfectly coordinated with the signs. You can image my excitement as I quickly zeroed in on the “fine” solutions area. I left the aisle with a whole new system of hair care.

And as if that weren’t enough, over the past two weeks I have seen TV ads, magazine ads and even a billboard all showing the same solutions-oriented campaign. This prompted me to go to the Pantene website which just confirmed the greatness of this initiative; because it, of course, had the same message.

As a shopper scientist and self-proclaimed expert shopper (at least, that’s what I tell my husband) I just want to highlight this entire initiative to all of the CPG companies out there. It has all of the key elements needed to truly bring growth to a category. First, there was obviously research conducted to understand the category needs. Clearly, the brand understands that women have very specific concerns. Second, shopper research must have been done to understand that women come into the aisle looking for a solution, and that behavior needed to be addressed. Translating those shopper insights into action is critical! Third, the in-store execution is simple, easy to understand and gives the shopper just enough information to get where she needs before closing in on her specific product. Finally, Pantene brings it all together with a consistent campaign across every touchpoint of the brand from TV to website to billboards.

This, my CPG friends, is how it’s done! 

Recently, I had the opportunity to spend some time in our Madrid office collaborating with a cross disciplinary team to brainstorm and develop a cultural food destination concept that would be a reference point for the city of Madrid.  So far project and our ideas are having great success with the client and we are really excited about the potential of the concept.  

The experience of working abroad, for however long a period of time, in another office is fantastic!  If you ever get the chance to work in another office, especially globally, drop what you are doing and go!  It’s a great way to get a fresh perspective on what we do by seeing how other offices/cultures work and engage with each other and their clients.  Anytime you can get exposed to new people and fresh processes and ideas it’s really energizing!  This is true from both parties perspectives as well. The creative tools I brought were greatly appreciated by everyone, since it was a fresh way of working for them.  So, the door swings both ways.  I conducted a brainstorming/ideation session with the internal team only, and it was great to see everyone get excited by this “new” way of digging through ideas to discover the concept.  By the end, our brains hurt, we were a little sweaty and tired, so we went off to the bar to refresh our creative minds.  

Also, from a cultural standpoint it was interesting to see and understand the differences between what we have and do in the U.S. versus another culture.  Sometimes there are details that  seem insignificant to me (an American), but make all the difference when it comes to the experience to a Spaniard (ask me about my shrimp experience sometime).  But, being able to work through those details, with people who understand the culture, to reshape the idea to make it work, was awesome!

Finally, speaking as a creative person who is always looking for fresh ideas and inspiration, travel is always a good thing—excuse me, a GREAT thing!  I was able to work in a little sight seeing time both in the city of Madrid and in a small historical town outside the city named Segovia.  In both these places I was able to see some of Spain’s rich history, and experience the different brands and retailers that we don’t have in the states.

All in all, it,s an invaluable experience and I highly recommend it!

Ok, I have spent the last five years convinced that the marketing hype was just that—hype. Mostly from reading countless advertisements for LED lighting products that play on unsuspecting readers with questionable claims, such as Long life! Excellent color! High efficiency!  Brighter!

Well, what were previously exaggerated claims are now coming to be real. LED lighting products are here to stay. And the bubbling pot is about to explode. After years of refinements, and new industry regulation, the products are consistently better performers than the previous generation.

The US Department of Energy has developed a labeling program (I think it is voluntary) that provides a means of consistency for describing LED performance. It addresses Light Output, Watts, Efficacy, Color Rendering Index and Correlated Color Temperature. Or Brightness, Energy, Efficiency, Color Accuracy and Light Color.

It is a little like the nutrition labels on food products. And now I have confidence that the participating manufacturers have accurately represented performance of their LEDs.

Yes, they are here to stay, even in retail architecture. Smart engineers will find the proper application. LEDs are green and fit the sustainability profile—part of a surefire way to promote a green building effort.

Still a little costly in broad application, but they have some ideal applications. Check this one out from Evluma.

http://evluma.com/news/news-gsa_contract.html

Stay ahead of rapid expansion
Singapore, Seoul, and Mumbai are cutting edge markets and this means high expectations. Going into a project as a designer in these cities is intimidating. Shoppers live in aesthetic cultures where every imaginable design has been popularized. These cities are changing organically. It almost seems instantaneous. Within 3 months of being away from Singapore three new malls have opened. It’s all about knowing past/ present memes and looking toward ways of either (1) creating a new twist or (2) breaking the boundaries all together.

Stand out
In most cases Western design tends to fit in with its surroundings. Success in Asia is all about being bold. Whether it be a silly chewing gum commercial or neon signage that puts Times Square to shame, there is always something screaming for your attention. When you consider how busy people are in cities like Beijing and Tokyo, getting someone’s attention takes a strong effort. In my opinion, the solution to this is a simple design that allows for a detox from all the noise.

Design practical and durable
In South East Asia dirt is a big issue. Visual identity systems are often colorful with no white. In places like the Philippines, hot weather and dirty streets make the use of that modern pure white seem like a silly idea. From a culture perspective, the European black and grey palette, that we strive so hard to achieve, is irrelevant amongst cities like Bangkok where the taxis are hot pink and golden palaces litter the cityscape.  

Be Flexible
Living in a “Cultural Salad” means tackling different issues than when in a “Melting Pot.”  Building retail experiences that resonate amongst different segments and cultures means being able to truly understand the differences of the people that make up the cultures. The smart way to approach this is to design a system of parts that can live in any scenario rather then focusing on the actual shell of a location. A clever use of universal imagery and messaging proves very effective. Just look at Wegamama’s (Japanese for “selfish”) in the UK. Their iconic image of a boy eating from a bowl is genius. You understand right away what the image is saying and without a specific identity to the subject, the photo has the ability to be relevant in any region.

    
Respect superstition
Each culture has its own specific set of rules. Going into a meeting with a clear respect and understanding for these rules can mean life or death of a project. I have been in meetings where the general feeling of a downward slopping logo mark was interpreted as negative and almost was shot down. Feng Shui in Chinese culture plays a major role in the designing of brands. I have heard of projects that needed to be reworked after a Feng Shui master came in and commented on how the shape of the logo was sucking out the wealth and positive energy of the organization. Buildings in Singapore have been publicly exiled for being too sharp and therefore allowing the positive energy to flow out of the city into the ocean. The same mood and feelings towards a store plays toward shopper habits as well. Lots of these rules may appear silly but if you really investigate some of the findings do lead to great solutions. It’s like Chinese medicine, no one really knows what goes into them, but somehow it works.

The new Stoli ad on tv caught my eye the other day.  If you haven’t seen it, it depicts Hugh Hefner sitting down and having a drink with himself.  Smoking jacket Hef on one side and a suited Hef on the other.  The conversation gets at the idea that Hef wants the same things as any regular guy, companionship and the like. (I for one, think he’s set the bar stratospherically high in that dept, but that’s just a hunch.)  It’s a thought-provoking display and it made me wonder what a conversation with a brand might be like.

I think that the idea of persona is evident in many brands, but not all brands might have that much to say.  Having a distinctive personality or tone of voice can be such a huge competitive advantage in a crowded marketplace.  I look at the personality that Starbucks has been able to create over the years and compare that to their Seattle’s Best rebrand.  Both sell a similar product, but their voices are much different with how they talk and relate to their customers.  If I sat down with both brands, the conversation from one to the other would be vastly different I think.

What might your brand say if you sat down and had a heart to heart conversation with it?  Would it be a happy conversation?  Would it be engaging?  Would you still be interested after an hour or two or would you be looking for the check?  Your brand has conversations with your customers every day in many ways…do you know what it’s saying, and more importantly, is anybody listening?

There has been a tidal wave of automotive advertising flooding the airwaves the past few months with claims and promises of improved product quality, safety, style, gas mileage. Media spending is way up, with every manufacturer trying to entice customers back into the showrooms.  

But to what end?
Consumers hate car shopping and they don’t want to go back into the dealership. Big surprise—the shopping experience there is still one of the most frustrating, untrustworthy, and manipulative games you can be subjected to.

Add to that the fact that the recession has also caused most dealers to suspend investment in their facilities, and you understand why the thought of venturing into a dealership is bleak. Promising better on TV only to deliver the same old retail experience only fuels consumer frustration and mistrust.

Instead, consumers do everything they can to stay out of the dealership, with online research and shopping being the preferred norm. Now even purchasing online has gained popularity.

Successful brands like Apple, Whole Foods, IKEA, even Walmart, understand how to leverage the power of shopper insights to deliver game changing customer experiences that build brand excitement, loyalty and bottom line results.

Auto companies must do more to improve the customer experience in showrooms! And there couldn’t be a better time. With the  recent upheaval in the industry, the marketplace is ripe for someone with the courage to innovate and completely reinvent the paradigm.  Success will come to those who differentiate.

The upcoming flood of hybrid and electric car provides an excellent opportunity for change. Consumers already perceive these cars as different, perhaps in some ways even more like an appliance. A completely new retail and shopping experience could and should be explored.

Will the automotive industry ever learn?
Give me even one dealer out there—or a player outside the industry altogether—who’s ready to exploit a pretty obvious opportunity. They’d have more business than they could handle. That would be exciting to see.

Once. Twice. Yes, starting very soon, Apple will have done it for a third time: changed the way we buy and listen to music. Apple acquired digital music startup Lala in December and shut the site down in May, leading tech pundits to speculate on the coming of “an iTunes in the cloud,” once the streaming music service is incorporated into Apple’s business model.

Although Apple won’t comment on its plans, as a loyal Lala.com user and Apple fan, I’m fully expecting to enjoy a cloud-based iTunes experience in the near future, and I think it’s great that Apple continues to advance their retail strategy and break paradigms of the industry by sourcing great ideas, making them profitable and bringing them to a larger audience.

I look forward to having full access to my music library anywhere an Internet connection is available, as well as being able to add/purchase songs from any computer with the added benefit of instantaneous downloads to mobile equipment. I hope Apple is able to keep some of Lala’s unique features, such as letting customers listen to an entire piece of music for free before purchasing it. Also, I really appreciated being able to pay 10 cents for the rights to stream a song an unlimited number of times from the Web as opposed to downloading a song.  I think Apple’s genius lies in asking questions like: Why do I have to download music?