JAMES ROBINSON

December 25^th in most Western and some Eastern churches has long been the day on which Christians commemorate the birth of Jesus Christ. However, in recent years, Christmas has arguably become less of a commemorative religious event and more a modern brand capable of mobilising consumers in their billions with the irresistible allure of all things shiny, comforting and festive. It is now a tool that businesses and corporations use to enhance their marketing muscle with an injection of seasonal charm and sex appeal to leverage maximum spending.The origins of the Christmas brand image as we recognise it today can be traced back to Scandinavia when people would come to celebrate the winter solstice and the onset of lighter days. Fast forward to the Fourth Century AD, when church officials decided to make Jesus’ birthday a holiday and Pope Julius chose December 25^th.

In the centuries that followed, significant brand developments have occurred including: the addition of the Christmas tree in the 1500s (German fir trees were decorated symbolising the paradise tree in the Garden of Eden), Santa Claus in the 1700s (Dutch colonists in New York changed the spelling of Sint Nikolaas to Sinterklaas) and American poet George Webster immortalising Santa as a citizen of the world by saying he lived at the North Pole, in his piece ‘Santa Claus and His Works’. The first company to fully seize the opportunity to leverage the Christmas brand was Coca-Cola, creating the first ads featuring Santa in 1931, illustrated by Haddon Sundblom. ‘The new Santa’ was introduced at the 1931 Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade. Whilst the general look of Santa had already been introduced in Thomas Nast’s illustrations, it was the Coca-Cola Santa that truly established him as the ubiquitous icon for Christmastime.

Coca-cola adopting a popular festive icon as a figurehead of their marketing strategy arguably marked the start of the large-scale commercialisation of Christmas and symbolizes a departure from the more traditional religious aspects of Christmas. Indeed, in an increasingly consumerist world where Christmas brand icons include images of Santa, reindeer, snowmen, Christmas elves and Penguins, there’s barely a Baby Jesus or an Angel Gabriel in sight.

Last year David Blunkett MP told the Radio Times: ‘Charles Dickens published “A Christmas Carol” in 1843, introducing the world to Ebenezer Scrooge and Tiny Tim. It remains perhaps the most popular Christmas fiction story of our time. But since it was written, it saddens me that Christmas has become so commercialised and over-hyped that its true meaning has become lost beneath the welter of fairy lights, tinsel and extravagant presents’.

It isn’t hard to see how household brands now employ some of the classic themes associated with Christmas such as togetherness, sharing, love and family to emotionally engage us and encourage us to make direct purchasing decisions.

The power of advertising to re-shape our view of a traditional event can be seen in some widely recognised ads – for instance, as showcased in this advert by Coca Cola, we now commonly associate the colours of green and red with the festive season and arguably they are now the official brand colours of Christmas.

‘Holidays are Coming’

In the UK, the John Lewis Christmas advert is now a national yearly event, ushering in the mass shopping season. This year’s stars a cute love-sick penguin, named Monty – who of course has now been heavily merchandised.

‘Give someone the Christmas they’ve been dreaming of’.

Sainsbury’s faithful recreation of the emotionally-charged First World War Christmas ceasefire has received much praise but has also been subject to criticism from viewers who believe that the advert was merely an insensitive and distasteful way to drum up sales.

‘Christmas is for sharing’

There can be no doubt that Christmas is one of the most, if not the most successful brands of all time, capable of harnessing all of our emotions and hard wiring them into a perceived need to buy stuff. If that statement sounds cynical, well, it’s because it is: so much about the Christmas brand has become superficial. Deep down we all know we’re being led blindly like moths towards the pretty lights, but that does not mean that we have to lose the essence of what makes Christmas special.

Amidst the shopping frenzies and fake snow, what is still undeniable is that Christmas can bring people together, families, friends and communities. It is an historic brand that has been hand-crafted by the people, for the people and it is open to interpretation. Whatever your traditions, however you wish to celebrate this time of year, religious or not, it is possible to do it without spending vast amounts of money just for the sake of it.

Ultimately, what has not been lost, is that for many of us, it is still a time to take stock, celebrate life and to remember what is really important in our lives.

Sitting in the top trending stories last week were 19 Worst Selfie Fails Of All Time, which makes for pretty hilarious viewing if, unlike me, you are not sitting opposite your boss at work.

By definition a selfie is an image that one takes of oneself, typically with a Smartphone or a webcam and shared via social media. But what’s in a selfie – what’s the point?

Well Dr Apter, a psychology lecturer at Cambridge University, believes that we take selfies in search of self-definition; we take these pictures to help us figure out who we actually are. Selfies help us to accept our own internal experiences, thoughts and feelings in such a way that helps us to better understand how we interact with the world.

Picasso, Matisse, Van Gogh, Hockney, Munch, Hopper, to name but a few, are all artists who have turned a canvas into a mirror.  Whilst they couldn’t publish their self-portraits on social media, these works were their own form of personal legacy – a form of “self-advertisement”.

But selfies are also about self-transformation.  Selfies that we publish show us how we want to be seen by others, meaning we take control of our own ‘brand image’ and portray the person we wish others to believe we are, be that sporty, funny, courageous…

What’s the outcome?  Selfies represent a moment in our lives, but are a veneer to perhaps misdirect others from understanding our deeper motivations, insecurities or self-doubt.

For example, were Bilbo Baggins to take a selfie on his journey to the Lonely Mountain, I’m pretty sure he would be smiling whilst in the far distance would lie a panorama of the unknown.  This image would portray to others a happy, go-lucky hobbit not fearing the adventure in which he was partaking.  Actually this is a far cry from the truth.  As unadventurous folk, hobbits would never elect to leave the Shire; Bilbo never wanted to leave Bag End and was pressurized by Gandalf and the dwarf brethren to do so.  He would much rather have stayed in the comfort of his home, smoking pipe-weed and avoiding any excitement whatsoever.

So next time you take a selfie perhaps you will ask yourself why.  On our never ending journey for self-definition and transformation, perhaps an introspective glance of what drives you to take that selfie will help you towards knowing yourself better and, in so doing, help you “to thine own self be true”.

By Emma Goodall

JAMES ROBINSON

Many people are by now familiar with Tuesday’s Twitter storm after a (probably now unemployed) member of Sainsbury’s Romford Road, Stratford team accidentally put up a poster meant for the staff room in a shop window. The poster was asking staff to encourage customers to spend more during every shopping trip in a concerted sales push towards the end of the year.

The offending poster created quite a stir as TV freelancer Chris Dodd tweeted the picture @ the Sainsbury’s Twitter account along with the caption: ‘Not sure this is supposed to be in your window…’ Cue articles in just about every morning newspaper going and the inevitable office water cooler conversations about that Sainsbury’s poster.

Whilst the Sainsbury’s brand will never scream its value message in the way that rivals Asda and Tesco do, this does somewhat seem to go against their most recent brand promise of ‘Live Well for Less’. Historically Sainsbury’s have opted to take a more subtle approach than their rival discounters in an effort to appeal customer emotions. However, whilst they might not necessarily make a noise about competing on price their current strap-line definitely implies that customers will be getting more for less and it is easy to see how loyal shoppers would be well within their rights to be angry after this picture was published online.

In a nutshell – Sainsbury’s appear to be promising something that they are not delivering.

Call me cynical but it does seriously make you wonder how many companies (especially in the food retail sector) actually intend to deliver on their brand promises.  With the amount of money companies spend on convincing us that their brand is superior/sexier/better value,  this sort of thing is often hard to judge at face value. In this case however, the speed with which people are prepared to jump on the anti-Sainsbury’s bandwagon after an incident like this is very telling.

Sainsbury’s were quick to dismiss the suggestion that it was deceiving customers by saying that the poster was merely ‘a bit of fun’. Whether or not this is the case, it was clearly not a well-thought out strategy, the damage is now done and Sainsbury’s are left clearing up mess in a fiercely competitive market place. The FT has now published an article that describes the UK Groceries market as being in a war-of-attrition-like state and that Sainsbury’s were expecting a decline in sales in the run up to Christmas following a 3% dip in sales in the second quarter.

What we absolutely loved was how quickly German rivals Lidl reacted to Sainsbury’s unfortunate mishap with this genius ad and a great hashtag in this morning’s metro.

In our new technological age everyone is armed with their own weapons of mass communication and there really is nowhere to hide. When a traditionally well-loved food giant like Sainsbury’s makes this kind of slip-up, people are all-too savvy and eager to grab their moment of glory by exposing a large corporation for all to see.

And of course, as with Lidl, competitors are always waiting in the wings ready to reinforce their own brand values and capitalise on such a situation in order to seize a slice of the market pie chart and educate people as to the benefits of their brand. The moral of the story – “Brands! Stick to your promises, be transparent and be careful”.

EMMA GOODALL

Stop a person in the street and ask them to describe a sports car.  Chances are their answer is likely to include the following: it will be red, the engine sound will be the roar of a metallic wildcat, and its appearance will invoke a feeling of Christmas morning.  The construction of this particular sports car schema can be attributed to Ferrari’s contribution to the motoring industry since Enzo Ferrari’s first car was constructed in 1946.

LaFerrari (F150) 2013

So when it comes to branding the basics, Ferrari have pretty much nailed it.  There are a multitude of books written on branding, so this blog will focus upon three key ingredients to a successful branding recipe: identification of brand values, communication of these brand values, and customer requirements, all the while relating it to Scuderia Ferrari, the F1 Racing division of the company.

BRAND VALUES

The bedrock of everything that Ferrari stands for is also the reason why Enzo Ferrari called his company Scuderia Ferrari when he founded it in 1929.  The translation of Italian Scuderia means horses’ stables – he wanted to bring the ‘racing stable’ to the people and allow owner-drivers on to the racetrack. Therefore, from the stables to the racetrack, Enzo Ferrari’s and now Ferrari’s ‘passion for competition’ is the thread that binds the Ferrari tapestry in ‘One Brand, One Range’.  In the competitive spirit, a Ferrari’s performance both on the racetrack an on the road is not only fast, but faster than the competition. The inspiration for design of all Ferrari road cars is born from Scuderia Ferrari.  ‘Ferrari’ signifies the strong familial identity that promotes the brand’s values.

COMMUNICATING VALUES

It has been said that Ferraris are not advertised on TV because people who can afford them are not sitting at home watching TV all day.  However, Ferrari doesn’t advertise at all.  Well, that is to say, it doesn’t advertise itself in the traditional way. Instead it implements advertising through success in Formula 1 Grand Prix.

F1 Ferrari 2014, Next racing in Singapore on 21 Sep 14

Formula 1 Grand Prix team, Scuderia Ferrari, is the oldest surviving team in the Grand Prix.  For those who don’t know their F1 from their shift key, ‘formula’ denotes a set of rules by which all competitors must abide, ‘1’ is the highest class of single seat auto racing that is sanctioned by the Fédération Internationale de l’Automobile (FIA) and ‘Grand Prix’ translates to ‘Great Prizes’.  The Grand Prix comprises a series of races with a points system that determines the World Championship winners both in Drivers’ and Constructors’ categories.

With F1 car speeds of up to 220mph (360kph) and capability of lateral acceleration in excess of 5g*, the technical capability of the cars depend on electronics, aerodynamics, suspension and design to deliver winning performances. Ferrari has had the most championship winners of all the teams competing in F1 today, with 15 years Drivers’ Champions and 16 years’ Constructors’ Champions.  The team has also had the most consecutive years at the top during Michael Schumacher’s reign: 5 years from 2000 to 2004.

As Formula 1 is the highest class of racing it is therefore the optimum medium to convey the high performance promise that the brand is based upon.  Ferrari takes all the F1 cars’ attributes – both technical and design – and delivers premium performance for all those who invest in a road car.  With Ferrari (and Mercedes) as the only teams in F1 to build both engine and chassis in house, the promise of matching good performance from F1 to road cars is well founded and it matches Enzo Ferrari’s desire to give owner-drivers ‘a racing car for the street’.

That is why advertising is not necessary.  Performance-based results in Formula 1, demonstrated by the best drivers in the fastest cars, sing louder than any advertising song and this is what drives their marketing strategy.

To quickly tip our hat to the finances behind F1 vs. advertising, Ferrari spent $167m on F1 in 2011 whilst Mercedes spent $210 million US in 2011 on advertising.

*fighter jet pilots are not permitted to operate above 9g.

CUSTOMER REQUIREMENTS

So let’s talk about the logo.  There is a misconception of ‘branding’ that it is solely a matter of logos.  But branding is actually about the product to people interface.  Consistency is key; every ‘touchpoint’ is another chance to reinforce brand values.  The component parts of the Ferrari logo are the content, and colours.

Ferrari Prancing Horse Logo: Cavallino Rampante™

The Cavallino Rampante (Prancing Horse) has heroic origins.  It was the personal emblem of Francesco Baracca, Italy’s most successful airman during WWI.  Baracca was first a Cavalry Officer then a fighter pilot and he had the Cavallino Rampante painted on the fuselage of his aircraft.  Following his death the Baracca family offered Enzo Ferrari the opportunity to adopt the emblem for the Ferrari logo, which he did.

Francesco Baracca (1888-1918) standing by his wartime Spad VII aircraft

But in addition to representing the bravery and success of Baracca, the Cavallino Rampante also stands for heritage for Enzo Ferrari was himself assigned to the 3^rd Alpine Artillery Division during WWI, horses providing the power pre-mechanisation of the army’s artillery and cavalry.  Furthermore, it is a visual reaffirmation of Enzo Ferrari’s ambition to bring driver-owners on to the racetrack (ref. stables).

The colours of the logo represent much the same things.  While traditionally the colour of Ferrari cars is red: ‘the colour of blood, the colour of passion, the colour of love’, the logo is predominantly Modena Yellow, the birthplace of Enzo Ferrari, where the company was founded and where Francesco Baracca undertook his military training.  This colour choice reinforces this message of history, heritage and a sense of belonging.  Sitting atop of the logo are the colours of the Italian flag: green, white and red.

If a ‘logo is a visual representation of everything [a] company stands for’, Ferrari’s logo is strongly symbolic.  It represents history, bravery, competitive spirit, a strong drive for success and a familial heritage.  These values that have promoted 60 years of ‘expertise in engineering and driving performance’ underpin the promise that Ferrari pledges to its customer base.

What makes people want to buy a Ferrari?  Bearing in mind that prices start at around £100k, buying a Ferrari is not only about buying a car that signifies success.  It is about becoming part of the Ferrari ‘tribe’ buying into the Ferrari name, the Ferrari family.  If the brand values are ‘pillars’ of the Ferrari religion then customers buying the product do so as a demonstration of faith and belief in the Ferrari promise.  The demographics of those who have purchased a Ferrari then reinforce this spirit of belonging, as Ferraris are a marker that ‘you’ve made it’.  This gives the brand exclusivity, luxury, wealth as well as the name.

For those who cannot afford a the car, Ferrari has gone down the route of increasing brand awareness by merchandising and creating market alliances with such names as Oakley and Microsoft XBOX.  From model car collectibles, Ferrari branded luggage, to sunglasses and gaming accessories, the Ferrari merchandise allows the mass market to be able to access and tap into the brand.  This is a tactical nod in recognition that not all motoring enthusiasts are in the wealthy elite; motoring enthusiasts, like Enzo Ferrari was himself from a young age, span all ages, creed, socio-economic backgrounds and gender.  By opening up the market to all, now everyone can buy into the Ferrari tribe, but it doesn’t erode the brand exclusivity.

Ferrari stores, numbering 27 worldwide

BY JAMES ROBINSON

There are a few eventualities we can be sure of if Scotland wins independence – according to the BBC.  The UK will lose: 32% of its land (but only 8% of it’s population); £106bn of Scottish goods and services (accounting for 7.7% of the UK’s ‘Gross Value Added’) and 59 seats in Westminster.

These are statistical changes that we can predict with some degree of certainty if the ‘Yes’ vote wins, some of which may hold potentially damaging consequences for Scotland’s future and some which may be less significant. But one thing that is much harder to predict is how the move away from the UK will affect Scottish brands.

Some believe that Scotland’s independence will have a positive effect on its overall brand image. An article in Marketing Week reads: ‘While Scotland has always been seen as a separate part of the UK, its independence will bolster that country of origin effect and potentially build its appeal. Combine this stronger brand image with more brand awareness and you begin to see why brands such as Glenmorangie or Highland Spring would prosper more in an independent Scotland.’

You needn’t look much further than the Visit Scotland website to see that the Scottish brand focuses heavily on heritage and tradition and of course one of the classic sources for brand associations is provenance.  Independence could potentially strengthen our pre-existing ideas of Scottish-ness and brands that already trade off that association but many businesses and economists are employing a “wait and see” approach before making hard and fast judgements.

For instance, The House of Britannia was created to ‘invest in the future success of British luxury brands’ and I spoke to the company MD, Simon Petherick, about the future of home-grown brands in an independent Scotland.  When asked if they had invested in any Scottish brands he replied: ‘Although we had been looking at buying a couple of Scottish brands, we have had to seriously re-think with all that has been going on… When we started the company last year we never could have foreseen what is currently happening… it’s come as a shock to us all’.

But whilst The House of Britannia may not be investing in Scottish businesses (at least until after Sept 18^th) as part of their portfolio of luxury British brands, Mr Petherick was very adamant that a move away from Britain could be positive for companies north of the border,  ‘They could really use it to their advantage, romantic associations with the country are so strong that they could play on the Scottish branding, for example the Japanese love Scotch whiskey and breaking away from the UK will only serve to reinforce the Scottish brand image that the Japanese love’.

On the flip side however, there are brands that will undoubtedly face a rockier ride in an independent Scotland, for example RBS. Having been bailed out multiple times by the Brits (now the majority stakeholders) not only will its patriotic allegiance be seriously tested but it will also face a significant period of instability during the debate on Scotland being allowed to keep the pound or not, or joining the European Union.

It is hard to believe that other financial service brands based in Scotland will not suffer a similar conundrum should the ‘Yes’ voters emerge victorious. As pointed out by Marketing Week, they ‘face the existential choice of being true to their provenance and experiencing significant volatility in their share price and customer retention as a post-independence fog descends, or head south and face the equally intimidating threat of becoming an émigré brand that appeals to neither the rejected masses of the rest of the UK populace or a Scottish market now steadfastly loyal to the brands that stayed with them’.

When I asked Simon Petherick of The House of Britannia how he thought Scotland would fare as a brand if it stepped away from ‘Brand Britain’, he said, ‘I think Scotland is a more standalone brand than Wales, I think large swathes that make up Brand Britain are English. There is enough royal history in Scotland to create a new story out of Scottish royalty…..I see it as a positive thing, perhaps the breaking up of Britain will focus more on the regional identities’.

Certainly it is hard to see how a break from Britain will damage Scotland’s brand identity, if anything, independence will reinforce Scotland’s international image. What is harder to understand is to what extent businesses in Scotland will prosper as a result. According to research on https://www.scotland.gov.uk/, one conclusion is that international perception of Scotland was that it had ‘a very positive and distinctive image’ but unfortunately ‘awareness and knowledge of Scotland internationally were usually related to images and icons rooted in the past rather than contemporary Scotland’. As a result it was not rated as a ‘place to do business’ in global terms.

There is no doubt that Scottish independence will generate thousands of media stories all around the world and this coverage will draw attention to all things Scottish, thus raising awareness of Brand Scotland. However, how this awareness will impact economically on Scottish brands as a result is impossible to predict. The question is, how many brands will stay loyal and how many will ‘sell their souls’ if the ‘Yes’ vote wins?

Reaping the benefits of raising brand awareness in a worldwide illustrious tournament such as the World Cup cannot go unnoticed. Despite the huge sums involved in World Cup sponsorships – FIFA raised more than $1bn from global brands in 2010 – questions remain about how best to derive maximum marketing value from the tournament. The World Cup is a four-week frenzy when brands fight for consumers’ attention, so achieving cut-through during the event is a difficult task for all marketers especially in a world where we are overthrown and overloaded with excessive information.

Guerilla marketing is one creative way for brands to engage with their target audiences through placing advertising messages that aim to create a memorable impression on the eyes of the beholder. Not only does Guerilla marketing increase the brand perception but it also creates a social buzz that of raises awareness, especially where so many luxury brands are clamoring to get everyone’s attention during the World Cup. By placing advertising in non-traditional mediums, advertisers ‘blur the boundary between the advertised message and its surrounding content making it more difficult for consumers to identify advertising as advertising as it is made less irritating and disrupting of the content.’

A contemporary brand that is successfully implementing Guerrilla marketing during the World Cup is German auto giant Audi, who with the start of the World Cup switched on the lights in its monumental installation on the Brooklyn waterfront, called the “scoreboard”. This 40 foot high LED “scoreboard” uses 28 showroom-new Audi A8 luxury cars to ingeniously display all of the World Cup results; each individual A8 sits inside an open-ended shipping container as the cars’ headlights broadcast football results to New Yorkers from across the East River in Brooklyn. The structure is assembled to form two massive “8” configurations that resemble a digital clock and the estimated cost of this construction is to be around $2.1m.

“Scoreboard” highlights Audi’s dedication to get in on the action and the buzz that surrounds the World Cup. Through this Guerilla campaign, Audi aims to increase its brand perception and awareness, blending its unique passion of German engineering and committed interest in football that has been embedded in the brands’ core values: Audi AG has been a partial owner of FC Bayern since 2002. It is more important to understand however, that Audi doesn’t necessarily need to increase its brand awareness in a market that it already dominates. Even though it can strongly be argued that it can enhance its illustrious position in the US Market, it’s more imperative to recognize that Audi is striving to spread the football culture within the US that is evidently behind other mainstream sports. Audi’s press statement proclaims that the display “will bring the excitement of world-class soccer to NYC.”

Through this unconventional marketing campaign, Audi aims to attract the attention of Americans who have not in the past been exposed to such imaginative solutions to promote football and, more specifically, the World Cup. Formulating a promotion as captivating and interesting as this one, Audi wants to engage emotionally with its audience, aiming to evoke senses of infatuation and excitement. Aspiring to shift the perception of football, Audi is eager to get people to participate in the World Cup hype that is everywhere in the World. Everywhere except in one of the world’s biggest countries where the word football is explicitly associated with another sport.

The whole idea of guerrilla marketing is to get the consumer to interact with the product in a way that is unexpected yet memorable. Audi successfully implements this strategy to get the US population to interact both with its cars and the World Cup hype; giving a brand a new angle and positive energy that traditional advertising is not capable of offering. Whether this campaign will help the US population to make more effort to follow football remains to be unseen, but Audi is surely hitting two birds with one stone and shedding light on the World Cup, quite literally.

By: Burak Serin

Influenced by the article “How Audi Created the World’s Biggest World Cup Scoreboard” by Robert Klara

Sir Ben Ainslie with winning crew members Matthew Millard-Beer, Andrew Brinded, Patrick Tatham and Gareth Watkins – winners of ISC Rating System Division 8D in Fooster.

The annual J.P. Morgan Asset Management Round the Island Race, organised by the Island Sailing Club, is a one-day yacht race around the Isle of Wight, an island situated off the south coast of England. The race regularly attracts over 1,600 boats and around 15,000 sailors, making it one of the largest yacht races in the world and the fourth largest participation sporting event in the UK after the London Marathon and the Great North and South Runs.

In this century of enormous transformation, brands are increasingly aware of, the need to be proactive and establish themselves online in order to escape the consequences of falling behind and lose their competitive advantages. This impact of technology, particularly on content-based products like recorded music and books, is all too clear. The demise of Woolworths – once one of the UK’s largest music retailers – and the difficulties currently being experienced by HMV are perhaps the most poignant examples of how the Internet and digital technology has contributed to changing shopping habits and the retail landscape.

What many retailers nowadays are failing to understand however, is how physical brick-and-mortar stores are still as important as entering the digital landscape. This becomes vital in an era where customer service quality can be the difference for brands seeking to gain an edge over their competitors. Given that more and more people are migrating online, a crucial part of retaining their interest is to offer them the best experience possible in a real-world setting. The new wave of retail stores that thrive on delivering this superior customer service is through conveying an emotive brand experience in what LS:N Global calls ‘The Tomorrow Store’.

Accordingly, this concept explains the change towards delivering customer service through an almost theatrical experience, where retailers are aiming to engage with all of consumers’ five sense in their physical retail stores. That way, by engaging with your customers through an experience, a positive emotional ambiance is created where customers feel involved and an element of fun becomes embedded. This consequently leads the shopping experience to be an engaging and memorable one where brand loyalty can be established.

Great examples of experiential led retail offers have been appearing in shopping destinations over the last couple of years. Apple, which actively encourages consumers to play with their products and offers free workshops to help familiarize potential customers with software products, is perhaps one of the most obvious. In fashion retail there’s youth brands like Hollister, where shop front design, store layout, lighting, music and staff presentation are carefully managed to provide a consistent expression of the brand. Infiniti, Nissan’s luxury vehicle brand, evokes emotion and a sense of excitement when customers are introduced to their brand new car by letting them pull the covers off it, for the big reveal.

More contemporary and innovative examples are set to further revolutionise retailing, most remarkably in the new state-of-the-art Terminal 2 at London Heathrow Airport. According to Airports Council International, income from shoppers makes up 34%, on average, of an airport’s overall turnover. This figure becomes pivotal in getting the retail strategy correct for Heathrow’s new terminal as it expects to welcome 30 million passengers every year. Through its modern architecture and design cues, such as ‘a ceiling-high glass wall that provides a window on to the runway and additional natural light streams’, Heathrow encourages brands to experiment with new retail concepts that challenge the service design principle and status quo.

Adidas, a prominent brand of the 21st century, is capitalizing on this opportunity through its new wave of ‘Home Court’ stores that is set to transform the entire complexion of brick-and-mortars. The idea behind Home Court is to engage customers with more breath and depth of the Adidas brand than ever before where “the store has the look and feel of an arena, with the entrance resembling the tunnel players use to emerge on to a sports field”. The brand experience is further augmented by interactive touch-screens that allow shoppers to search online for products that meet their needs. Ultimately, Home Court stores pioneer a truly interactive retail experience that evokes all senses and emotion that revolutionizes service design and delivery.

Launched earlier this year in Beijing, Adidas has already brought the concept to the Bluewater shopping centre in Kent last month and it is set to take its place in Heathrow’s brand new Terminal 2. Unquestionably, the terminal will accommodate Home Court stores perfectly with a highly intuitive, ‘bright, open-plan layout … designed to help passengers navigate the terminal more easily’. This enables a great visual connection that will almost guarantee maximum exposure to Home Court and the Adidas brand.

Conceptualizing an interactive experience that is delivered inside the physical contours of a brick-and-mortar outlet, modern concepts like Home Court will drive the ‘Tomorrow Store’, combining both worlds of online and offline retail. Thomas Pink and Yo! Sushi are other early adopter brands that have jumped on this bandwagon and have started incorporating technology into their stores. Understanding the value of technology in people’s lives, Thomas Pink utilizes large touch-screen tables in its outlets, enabling customers to design their personalized garments and have them made and delivered to them anywhere in the world. Food giant Yo! Sushi meanwhile, is pioneering a mobile ordering system, allowing customers to order their food from their smart-phone app, transforming the service experience.

Ultimately, it is not difficult to understand that these changes and developments are collectively contributing to a new dimension of delivering a first-class customer service through innovative and emotional pioneered retail solutions. It would be naive to think that online retailers that offer more flexibility and convenience will completely replace brick-and-mortars when nothing comes close to a physical store to provide the real retail experience in the real world.

Importantly, it is paramount to grasp that bland, generic store experiences are no longer enough to lure customers of today. The ‘Tomorrow Store’ has to be social, emotive, and theatrical in engaging all senses at all touch points of the brand experience. Significantly, this has to be coupled with innovation, delivering an interactive shopping experience as technology unavoidably surrounds our everyday lives and will continue to do so in ways that are unimaginable.

The ‘Tomorrow Store’ is here today, and before technology makes it the yesterday store, it is time for brands to take action and transform their retail and service designs to successfully convey a world-class brand experience within their brick-and-mortar outlets that will serve the emotional needs of customers and be instrumental in establishing brand loyalty in the long run.

By: Burak Serin

Influenced by the Article ‘Service Design is Revolutionizing Retail’ (Marketing Week, 2014)

Adidas Group Chief Sales Officer Consumer Direct, Michael Stainer, speaks about the plans for Home Courts European roll-out: 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QIp0R4LXT2A#t=284

As June leaps off the bench this year, it brings with it not just the promise of the Great British Summer but also the excitement of the 2014 FIFA World Cup.

It is almost impossible to escape the surrounding furore, as everyone tries to get a piece of the brand value silverware on offer, through association (officially or otherwise) with the tournament.

Nike were one of the first off the mark, with an ad that at once plays up to their other cinematic spectacles of recent years (complete with a brilliant Hollywood cameo), while also tapping into a grassroots appeal that keeps their campaign grounded. The insight that kids play as their favourite stars while using jumpers for goalposts is an obvious one, and boys playing alongside their heroes is a classic fall-back for sports equipment, but there is a wit and style that gives Nike’s guerrilla offering an edge here.

Certainly over Adidas, whose dark dreams from Lionel Messi may appeal to an older crowd, but their campaign may have missed the nostalgia-fest that Panini and the BBC have also picked up on. Panini’s sticker albums have had a new burst of life, as a new generation of boys raised on swapping sticker albums in the playground have children (or even just a disposable income) to justify collecting again. The BBC, meanwhile, have gone for a Subbuteo style aesthetic, to reassert their position as being a big name in football, but still small enough to keep you engaged in your living room.

The brand with the most at stake, however, is Brand Brazil. With a rapidly growing economy, the huge South American country will be looking to raise it’s international profile, in the way London 2012 did for Brand Britain. Buses have been carnavalised and samba styles have infected many other products looking for association with the tournament. Whether the brand engagement will have the same lasting impact as the London Olympics, remains to be seen – a large part of the brand success came from the tournament’s smooth-running and fantastic show. Brazil has got off to a shaky start already, with its delayed stadium preparations. Whether it can build up a positive momentum of international engagement that can peak at the next olympics will be the challenge. Otherwise, Rio 2016 may have to be a second chance for Brand Brazil. But let’s hope they don’t need it, and the Beautiful Game has a beautiful tournament lit up by its greatest champions.

Adidas – Messi’s World Cup Dream

BBC’s promotion for its coverage of the tournament

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rK2SCh4TPYM

FIFA TV’s official tournament spot