01/RETAIL, WE A PROBLEM!

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Is retail, finally coming to the end of the road?

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The previous and current format of retail is certainly under threat and it’s easy to see why! Large buildings stacked full of products, can easily be replaced with online purchases and goods delivered straight to consumers doors. The online experience can certainly seem better, with the consumers able to search and view products quickly, and all this with a drink, in hand!

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It’s not hard to understand why the list of established retailers that have recently met an untimely end. Under the current format, there will, no doubt be more!

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So, is retail finally coming to the end of the road?

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It certainly is not and in fact, is in a stronger position to survive, in the future market place. Where online retail is limited to the advancement of devices, physical retail is only limited by our imaginations, and of course the higher cost to run. This higher cost would easily be absorbed in the long run, as you get more consumers through the doors, (if there are doors), and for longer.

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Retail, like brands, is about creating/expressing an experience or a lifestyle that a person relates to and feels that they can associate with. So, this relationship between a consumer and a brand begins. Brands, (like retail), have to now ‘walk a mile’ in the consumers shoes and it’s not simply just a transaction of goods for money. Consumers need to feel that they are being catered for, listened to and offered something in return for their loyalty, ‘friendship’ and hard-earned cash.

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Brands need strong cultures and a just cause, that isn’t just ‘lip service’, but something that is instilled throughout the company. Through ‘open-channels’ and the flexibility to change course as your consumers do, can result in stronger brand-consumer relationships. Add in a little courage to lead in pursuing the brand values, will see the retail industry thrive, well into the future.

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Then, we can imagine retail spaces as places that brands interact with their consumers and consumers interact with their brands. Spaces, that may change locations, much like ‘pop-up’ stores and are not restricted to buildings, with four walls and a roof! A place where you could be using the latest technology or simply a pen, a piece of paper and one’s infinite imagination!

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So, retail isn’t at the end of the road. There just isn’t a road to follow anymore!

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02/THE CREATIVE PROCESS FOR AN EMOTIVE BRAND EXPERIENCE

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If you’re not prepared to be wrong, you’ll never come up with anything creative.

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So, is being wrong and creative, the same thing? No.

 

But what it does mean is that by being prepared to be wrong, you will open your mind to the potential of ‘anything’. It drops our preconceived notions of what we think something is, but instead allow it to reveal its true-self. Thus, creating the framework to understanding and solving any brand positioning.

 

From that moment on, we feel the release from our preconceived shackles and are ready to generate new ideas, imagine new possibilities and consider alternative options. In turn, we can make fresh connections, see things in a new way and from a different perspective.

 

By developing these ideas further and evaluating them, and through nonlinear ways of thinking, enables us to see similarities between things that we hadn’t noticed before.

 

Working successfully in groups to tap into the different talents, interests and opinions of each individual, creates ideas that reach deep into our intuitive and unconscious minds and into the hearts and feelings of the end-user.

 

Creativity is deep and affects not only what we put in the world, but also what we make of it and how we think and feel about it.

 

The end-user interprets this creativity in the world through particular ideas and beliefs that have shaped their own cultures and lives. All these stand between brands and their consumers, acting as a filter on what and how they perceive and think about a brand.

 

Getting through this filter is the difference between a user-centric emotive brand experience or just a brand experience.

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