For years, the majority of cash at quick service restaurants has gone “through the window.”  The growing car culture has dictated a focus on drive-thru efficiency to the point where the dining room has become an afterthought to operators and subsequently a barrier to customers.

The cost of updating and maintaining a dining room has seemed cost prohibitive to many QSR chains and their franchisees, especially in light of the high drive-thru ratio. But by not offering a unique, pleasant dining experience, they have let the brand image wither on the vine. And it’s now coming back to haunt them. I contend that the high drive-thru ratio is in large part due to customers avoiding the “ick” factor of enduring outdated, smelly, deteriorating environments with no sense of place or brand personality.

The dining room is the brand.
Most customers will, at some point, come inside and that is the greatest opportunity to make a connection. Panera and Starbucks understood this a long time ago and snagged loads of customers that wanted a clean and cozy place to enjoy the product. McDonalds and Burger King have seen the light and announced major remodeling and prototype initiatives that appear to be paying off.

So to my friends in the QSR and Fast Casual game: differentiated, branded and engaging experiences win with customers; there is only so much connection you can make at the pay window. So elevate your brand with every possible touchpoint including the most important and substantial asset you have—your dining room.

There wasn’t an Evolutionary War for a reason. In the pre-dawn of U.S. history, the new settlers wanted more than to just evolve the British rule, it had to be overthrown. A new start, a clean slate. Imagine the pressure that those founding fathers must have felt when deciding that enough was enough, let’s try something new. Today, many brands find themselves in the same place. The status quo isn’t working. It’s time to differentiate. But I wonder if the ideas of “revolution” and “evolution” aren’t being confused.

It’s easy to tell yourself that your brand needs something revolutionary, something that breaks paradigms and reveals new ways of talking to your customers. But all too often, companies follow the evolutionary path—a new coat of paint, a few new fixtures and a new sign on the storefront. A quick win here, a quick win there.

Starting your own revolution isn’t easy and that first step can be scary. One of the most important things to do once you’ve determined to change is deciding how far you can and are willing to go. Look at every facet of your brand, from the most obvious things to the very subtle.  Deep unbiased introspection will uncover opportunity for a new attitude, a new set of guiding principles, a new market space.

In retail, change is life. So overthrow the old paradigms.  Delve into your brand and find that crazy idea, the one that’s worth fighting for.

As I was finishing up payment at the pharmacy, a young male employee strolled into the area and struck up a conversation with the staff by saying, “That new Kotex packaging is sharp!”  Silence.  Then, apparently mistaking the silence as a request for clarification, he continued, “You know, the black packages?  They are really cool looking!”  More silence.  Based on a quick survey of their expressions, everyone seemed to be thinking the same thing, What is an 18 year old guy doing talking about feminine hygiene products?!  

Even as I grabbed my purchase and escaped the awkwardness, I began to contemplate what transpired.  Given that I spend my days knee-deep in shopper sciences, I found the situation quite compelling.  Good packaging should be, in part, disruptive, and the new U by Kotex packaging is definitely that.  The sub-brand is unique in the category, both in shelf presentation and in the “get real” tone of the advertising.  A+ on disruption. 

But…packaging should also be appropriate for the category, and I’m not convinced that U delivers on that part just yet—or that they are justified in bypassing that rule.  The new package grabbed the attention of the young male employee and made it seem accessible to him, but what does that mean for the brand intended exclusively for a female audience?  (For sure, some men do purchase these items for the women in their lives, but they are not stakeholders.  I highly doubt most women ask their male partners to “bring me something new” in the category when passing off the shopping list.)  I am interested to see how women shoppers will respond to this new offering.  Will women view the disruption as a welcome change in category fraught with pastels and euphemisms?  Will it become a signpost—a game-changing brand that other brands will be forced to emulate or accommodate?  Or, will women view it as a garish statement in a category where they are looking for discretion, security, and reliability?

To be most effective, a sustainability initiative must be approached holistically. Sustainability and brand thinking are alike in that they radiate outward from the heart of the business. Just as brand is part of everyone’s job, sustainability can be too. Both brand and sustainability strategies are ideally intertwined, well thought out and well executed from vision to prototype. Typically, companies with this kind of forethought get high marks for differentiation and credibility, such as Whole Foods Market and Starbucks. There’s a direct benefit to the value of the brand.

Whether a company has a long history of social responsibility or a newly awakened desire to conserve resources, there are trusted ways to make decisions based on return on investment. If a large fleet of stores is in need of image refreshing, that’s an opportunity to look at controlling energy costs and sustainable building strategies. Even stores primarily in tenant spaces can look at a healthier environment and LEED certification.

In terms of the cost savings to be realized from energy and operational upgrades, if a company needs to go outside for sustainable design expertise, it’s best to align with a team that’s experienced in retail architecture and engineering. A considered, holistic approach allows a company to have their sustainability expert step in at any point in the store development process to find the most relevant and immediate opportunities.

Companies under pressure to stem margin erosion may jump headfirst into shopper marketing before they are ready. In doing so, they could overlook the need to solve fundamental problems in the shopping experience and end up with unpredictable results in the store.

The urge to dive in is understandably tempting. Brands that invest in shopper marketing are seeing three times the return as compared to traditional marketing disciplines. But the discussion revolves around a very small percentage of brands, such as CVS/pharmacy and Mars Snackfoods, ShopRite and Kellogg’s, Walgreens which just announced it will engage in a shopper marketing pilot with The Hershey Company, and of course the eminence of shopper marketing, Procter & Gamble. All have been working on shopper marketing for years and have an extremely high level of expertise.

Instead of starting with the shopper journey, a company should first seek its own path. Ask yourself, ‘Where do you want to go?’ From there, you need to determine how that impacts your category growth strategies, partner relationships, and competitive advantages. Then you can look at your path in light of the path of the shopper you want to have. Shopper marketing understands the shopper psychology and what drives choice, but who benefits from that depends on what their business objectives are.

The performance-boosting strategy promised by shopper marketing is real. But there are many ways to get lost in the avalanche of rhetoric and the diversity of views among practitioners. Companies need to take the time to understand what separates effective from ineffective efforts.

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.

Have you ever seen a client celebrate as if they’d just won Wimbledon? I got to experience that last night at the Association for Retail Environments awards dinner. The Burger King Whopper Bar took first place in the fast food restaurant category. We were thrilled to see a client who embraces innovation be rewarded for their ongoing commitment to improving the brand experience and delighted to celebrate the moment with an enthusiastic client.