People have been doodling on and customizing their apparel for ever. Fashion dictates, in some circles, that you make it your own.
Converse is doing some pretty cool stuff. Chuck Taylors have been a wardrobe staple of rock n roll, youth and old guys like me for ever. In recent years they have really hit their stride and opened up their brand. (For a glimpse of what they’re doing click the link below —be sure to click “MUSIC”.)
Their Blank Canvas program which has been event based is popping up in Utrect Art Supply Stores. It’s such a simple and beautiful idea: plain white Chucks and the means to make them you own (with Molotow ONE4ALL Paint Markers). They’ve been doing this as event/promotion for years. Now they’re bringing it to retail.
This is a perfect example of Principle #10 of the Principles of Consumer Centricity. Write the shared story of the brand & consumer together. Let your customer choose how to converse (that’s conVERSE, not CONverse) with the brand and allow the experience with the brand to be personalized and customized to develop deep emotional ties.
I subscribe to a lot of stuff. It’s amazing how much one needs to know. I have always had an affinity for design. I love and respect what designers do. ConsumerX collaborates with designers everyday. Our consumer-centric strategy informs the design and execution of products and spaces and all the digital ways people interact with stores and brands.
So as I was reviewing my “intelligence inbox” this afternoon I came across this little item from a site called Charles & Marie http://bit.ly/9LSuCF . I have always loved Braun products and to see the AB1 available gave me pause. Even better is their sharing of Rams’ thoughts on good design. I had to share them too. Here’s an excerpt from their site. Thanks Charles & Marie.
The seventies, the decade when cars were too big, pants too wide and side burns too long. But also the decade of Braun, the design powerhouse led by Dieter Rams that created some of the most iconic pieces of consumer electronics ever designed. Unfortunately that design sensibility is long gone and since it was purchased by P&G it has joined the rank of many other dull consumer brands, churning out bland and dull design. Not ‘good design’ as Dieter Rams called it.
Ten principles defined Dieter Rams’ approach to “good design”:
Good design is innovative Good design makes a product useful Good design is aesthetic Good design helps us to understand a product Good design is unobtrusive Good design is honest Good design is durable Good design is consequent to the last detail Good design is concerned with the environment Good design is as little design as possible
Back to purity, back to simplicity In 1971 Braun introduced the AB1 Alarm Clock, designed to do what is required — keep accurate time and wake you up in the morning — no more no less. By adhering to design principles, Dieter Rams and Dietrich Lubs, created an icon of modern design.
For nearly 30 years Dieter Rams served as head of design for Braun until his retirement in 1998. He continues to be a legend in design circles and most recently designed a cover for Wallpaper* magazine. Many of his designs — clocks, coffee makers, calculators, radios, audio/visual equipment and office products — have found a permanent home at many museums over the world, including MoMA in New York.
Now the last batch of the AB1 was recently sold and we got our hands on a good chunk of them. If you want to get your hands on what is undoubtedly the most quintessential alarm clock ever designed before they are all gone – forever – then act fast, those won’t last long.
If you even remotely appreciate good design go buy one of these. But get in line behind me.
I finally got to see the first season of Mad Men. In season finale our (anti) hero Don Draper knocks their socks off with a complete re-think of what could have been a pedantic, feature-focused advertising campaign.
Kodak has a rich history of understanding and communicating its rational and emotional place in its customer’s lives. Was it their ad agency that first pointed this out? I’m sure the facts are not as dramatic and rich in poetry, but this my friends is one well-written and produced piece of entertainment. It works on so many levels, not the least of which serves to inspire professionals to be this passionate and engaged in our work. It’s worth another view.
The word “Wonderland” evokes many things. Alice comes to mind for most. I'm involved in a project here in central Ohio called Wonderland Columbus. It’s a not-for-profit (’m on the board) that is operating the building and programming.
Wonderland is a catalyst of economic and cultural development for the creative community. In the great tradition of things like KEXP (www.KEXP.org) it’s a place for the creative community to work, grow their businesses and for all to experience the results.
We are doing this in the old Wonder Bread factory in the Short North. The space will have artist studios and production space, a recording studio and rehearsal space, performance space, exhibition space, retail, restaurant and office space.
We are developing programming that will inform, enhance and encourage cross-disciplinary collaborations. We believe that working interdependently yields things none of us can imagine.
We have received up to $800,000 in federal and state historic tax credits, hired our executive director, Columbus College of Art & Design alum Adam Brouillette and established a solid board of directors.
This is and will be a multi-million dollar project that will be self-funded and self-sustaining. It is our business model. In order to make this a reality we are developing a diverse portfolio of revenue and funding streams.
For example, we are up for a Pepsi Refresh Grant of $250,000. That money will help with making the building what we need it to be. We need you to VOTE TWICE each day--online and via text. Go here now: http://www.refresheverything.com/wonderland .
I heart Wonderland. Wonderland Columbus (www.WonderlandColumbus.com) is a mixed use place for the creative community to work and grow their businesses. It’s a place for all to gather to experience great stuff and meet up. Check out this video from SpaceJunk Media’s Mike Beaumont. It perfectly captures what we are building Wonderland to be.
Frank Tyneski, vice president of design strategy and new product development for San Diego-based Skinit, admits to having "almost a perverse fascination with buying behavior...why people buy products and what draws them in." Tyneski is a superstar designer with an award-winning track record. He talks about the movement of design becoming a baseline expectation in consumer products and how important customization is to building the consumer’s experience with your brand.
The closing night of the Portland Institute of Contemporary Art’s Time Based Arts festival—TBA:10—featured iPad DJs AndrewAndrew. To call them DJs or even iPad DJs doesn’t begin to describe the experience. They crafted a crazy mix of social commentary, music from all over the spectrum and technology that wow’ed us.
These guys are smart, funny and pretty snappy dressers. Learn more about their multi-talented, multi-faceted lives here: http://www.andrewandrewdotcom.com/. Be sure to check out the iPad interface and the Neil Diamond and Beyonce cuts they use and of course the parallels they draw between 1970s German terrorism and the current state of the world.
It was the best time we’ve had in a long time.
(Special thanks to our friend Kim W who curated our weekend in Portland O.)
Inspiration is up to you. Are you curious? Do you seek new ideas? How do you do that? Do you allow yourself to be inspired by things, places, experiences you wouldn’t normally engage in?
When ever I travel, I take lots of pictures (and now video). I refer these images to provoke memory. I do this for my clients in order to indicate and communicate strategic points or encourage action. While at some level it is a creative influence, it is more significantly, a specific tool that I use to deliver on my promises. I have tons of this stuff and I’ve compiled my first Culture Junk video.
The idea of Culture Junk is to collect and share inspiration and influence. From Anywhere.
Walking through Brooklyn, I saw and experienced lots of great stuff. I know there’s more, but this is what made it through. I hope you enjoy it.
You may or may not be familiar with the idea of ‘open source’. Its one of those things (like design thinking) that came from somewhere else and is picked up and embraced. The trouble is that the original idea can be muddied or watered down.
Not to get too “meta-idea” but THAT IS the idea of open source. Concepts, structures, ideas are picked up and run with and made into something new. It is a fascinating cultural and psychological phenomenon.
In the article “Forking is a Feature” by Anil Dash http://bit.ly/9LY4PT we learn of the idea of developing many responses to particular situations. Linus Tovalds, in developing an open source operating system—dubbed Linux, not by Mr. Tovalds, but by its users—created what Dash believes is his most lasting legacy. That is plurality trumps duality. We are more and more, embracing and/both thinking rather than just either/or.
Dash’s opening point about Torvalds legacy it true, I believe. I know little of the world Mr. Torvalds has built, but the idea of open-source and the use of what comes of it pervades my world.
At ConsumerX we work with retailers and consumer products companies to build "culture" around their brands. The idea of "forking" (if I understand it correctly) makes a great deal of success in my work.
You see, much of my world has been consultants (designers, architects, advisors) like me developing a solution to a problem when the reality has been a that a complex situation warrants a set of responses, often times, each with a significant investment necessary to execute.
When we allow ourselves to be inspired by ideas such as open-source we develop structures akin to language. (And subsequently, grammar, and perhaps even poetry.) Just because the words are out there, don't mean nobody knows how to use 'em right.
So, yes the legacy is there. We see it today with the most sophisticated (big and small) companies being open with their culture (that means they need to nail down their purpose) and allowing their customers to make new things. Facebook is the best example of everyday people taking bits and pieces and making new value for themselves and those in their orbits.
This construct actually liberates us from the duality of problem/solution and gives us a plurality of opportunities/pathways. The trick is and always has been, deciding what to do then.
Maybe it's the "Back To" season that's gotten me thinking this way, but let's look at the basics. Each purchase decision has it's own set of criteria; various points along the rational-emotional continuum.
Consumers don't like shopping in stores as much as they once did and that's a problem for retailers with most of their dollars invested in brick and mortar outlets. According to The Wall Street Journal, shopper satisfaction at retail stores is declining upwards of 15 percent a year, based on ongoing research by Interpublic Group (IPG) of more than 10,000 North American shoppers.
Why do we find in-store shopping increasingly dissatisfying? Because we are emotional beings and seldom is the shopping experience (In line OR online--online is mostly about procurement, after all.) engaging or compelling or lasting.
IF these technologies enhance the shopping experience AND help move more merchandise then they may make sense. Right now it seems like a lot more clutter and confusion.
Big Win: Sunglass Hut’s in-store/social media mash-up makes shopping fun and plays on the emotional drivers of the product.
I love contemplating the possibilities for company and consumer alike. One of my favorites to date is Sunglass Hut's in-store/social media mash-up. http://bit.ly/dcSidM
Is it moving more sunglasses? That remains to be seen.
Today’s RetailWire discussion is about Sears Holding’s hiring of David Friedman, most recently president-Americas at Razorfish, to run marketing at the company's Kmart and Sears units. While I don’t usually comment on breaking news here, the saga of Sears & Kmart is a significant American business story. Here’s a link to the original piece http://bit.ly/a64YvI.
Mr Friedman has a significant opportunity for innovation here. He needs to send clear and authentic signals that he's doing something compelling; "cleaning up the subways" from "The Tipping Point http://amzn.to/bPFcRz by Malcolm Gladwell.
He has heritage (which SH unfortunately ignores) established platforms (in line and online)and lot's of experiments & failures in recent years he can leverage.
While SH has a track record of rapid prototyping, it has shown little evidence of learning from and leveraging their innovation process (if you can call it a process-see above).
By now, we should have seen significant and relevant reasons to believe from MyGopher and Layaway or the multitude of store format, in-store web kiosk, or web experiments.
At the end of the day, it's about moving the merchandise. Have you shopped their stores or websites lately? Yikes. Have you bought anything? At all?
My advice: spend the first year shopping the stores (in line and online), getting to know the customers and staff and explore what has worked and what hasn't. Then throw it all away and develop fresh new reasons for us to pay attention again.
While it seems no two of their stores are alike, they seem to have gotten away from the racks and racks approach and matured into a real specialty shop. Hurley, Billabong, Roxy, Zoo York all have their own brand presence but work well together. A refreshing alternative to the others in this category.
Product: Well mixed range of brands. Nice balance of trend and basic pieces.
Price: Higher than competitors, but quality of brands and BOGO offers made it ok somehow.
Place: Sophisticated California modern. The store design is mature and authentic without it being contrived.
People: Eager to engage and help; asked, listened and directed. Attentive without being hover-y. Fun, nice, accessible. Very on-brand while still attending to shopping needs—selection and speedy checkout.
Experience: Loved it. Key pieces from Pac Sun made into the First Day of School Ensemble (caps intentional)
While it seems no two of their stores are alike, they seem to have gotten away from the racks and racks approach and matured into a real specialty shop. Hurley, Billabong, Roxy, Zoo York all have their own brand presence but work well together. A refreshing alternative to the others in this category.
Product: Well mixed range of brands. Nice balance of trend and basic pieces.
Price: Higher than competitors, but quality of brands and BOGO offers made it ok somehow.
Place: Sophisticated California modern. The store design is mature and authentic without it being contrived.
People: Eager to engage and help; asked, listened and directed. Attentive without being hover-y. Fun, nice, accessible. Very on-brand while still attending to shopping needs—selection and speedy checkout.
Experience: Loved it. Key pieces from Pac Sun made into the First Day of School Ensemble (caps intentional)
American Eagle, the also-ran that came out of the teen-apparel outdoor wars of finds its own voice in the new normal. The place was abuzz.
Product: Nice assortment; deep, not too broad.
Price: Thoughful pricing with engaging promos.
Place: Energetic without being off-putting; “College Radio” with accompanying video support deepened the experience. Who can resist Salt-n-Peppa’s Push It?
People: Nice enough, but didn’t really help with selection or purchase, lots of maintenance and discussions about schedules.
Experience: Found some good stuff and enjoyed our time there.
American Eagle, the also-ran that came out of the teen-apparel outdoor wars of finds its own voice in the new normal. The place was abuzz.
Product: Nice assortment; deep, not too broad.
Price: Thoughful pricing with engaging promos.
Place: Energetic without being off-putting; “College Radio” with accompanying video support deepened the experience. Who can resist Salt-n-Peppa’s Push It?
People: Nice enough, but didn’t really help with selection or purchase, lots of maintenance and discussions about schedules.
Experience: Found some good stuff and enjoyed our time there.
What’s your favorite New York experience? I’m always on the lookout for those really great, off-the-grid experiences that haven’t made it to the “it” lists yet. Be it retail, dining, hospitality, cultural what is memorable for you? What’s the first thing that comes to mind?
I still love the energy of 5th Avenue and Times Square, and a friend recently reminded me of the fun of Canal Street, but Matise’s “The Dance (1)” at MoMA (http://bit.ly/96OzCk) and Cucina Di Pesce http://bit.ly/aQw7Nx both hold very special memories.
In one of the best retail-izations of a marketplace opportunity I’ve seen in a long, long time, mPower Labs Inc. of Austin Texas debuts the Mango Money Center. According to the Brookings Institute, one fourth of American households are “unbanked”. These consumers do not use traditional deposit accounts at traditional banks. The market amounts to an estimated $106 billion.
I was fortunate to work with mPower Labs on the initial consumer experience strategy and concept designs for the first store. We worked with their very dedicated team to understand the opportunity and embed the key consumer drivers in the design of the experience. The idea of the “double bottom line” permeated everything we did. The double bottom line posits that in addition to creating new financial value, a company can—and should—create new social value. When executed properly the two are interdependent and make each other grow.
Early concepts developed under contract with Fitch.
We came to understand the distrust the unbanked have for the financial system, mostly because their experiences have been riddled with inflated fees and prison-like architecture. They have been treated poorly and mPower Labs set out to create an ideal experience for these people while making a healthy profit over time.
We found when these consumers felt a company was loyal to them, they stayed loyal to the company. We looked at world-class retailers to benchmark the elements that signaled to the consumer that Mango respects them as much as Apple or Starbucks does their customers. We shopped and spent time in the places they did in order to develop the right sense of place.
The main idea of the engagement strategy was to encourage Mango customers to “Learn, Do, Be”. This emphasized the prime directive of consumer-centricity: shared responsibility. The experience of the brand across all the touchpoints needs to create pathways to possibilities by providing transparency, education and empowered self-service in a safe, community-dependent environment.
Mango is the brainchild of mPower Labs led by Roy and Bertrand Sosa who founded NetSpend, Inc, one of the first reloadable debit card providers. You can hear about Mango and their approach in their own words in this clip.
Mango reportedly plans to open more stores in Austin and then expand to every major U.S. city within three years.
