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John Dodds over at Make Marketing History has a nice post about the differences between Nokia and Apple in their retail experience.

He compares two stores in Oxford St, London and concludes;

The Nokia store is a gallery.
The Apple store is alive.
The Nokia store staff are tech sellers.
The Apple store staff are tech users.
The Nokia store is a place where you browse.
The Apple store is a place where you use.
The Nokia store is about surface.
The Apple store is about corporate DNA

In essence, it's clear that Apple has a brand and Nokia doesn't. This was fine for Nokia when they had the mobile world to themselves, but it looks like they need some serious brand work to prevent Apple from taking some major share in this space.


Posted by Ed Cotton Department stores have been trying for years to turn their private label offerings into real brands.

Most attempts have failed because they are just names with no deeper meanings making it impossible for them to compete with the genuine article.

JC Penny clearly understood the weakness in this approach and went outside to the brand master, Ralph Lauren to create its latest offering, American Living.

What's interesting about this concept, is although it has touches of Lauren's style all over it, he's created another world for the department store. Lauren's past success has been driven by the clever balancing act between present and past, His ideas were classical, but they were always believable in a contemporary context.

American Living is different, it's unabashed in highlighting the past as its inspiration. The web site suggests that the concept is anchored around the General Store and is rooted in a time when American's were practical, had a sense of humor and dreamed of a better life. This is no daily commute from the suburbs.

It's fascinating to see such a shift to the past in a country that's usually so wrapped up in the future.

Something has changed and perhaps the future no longer looks so bright.

In such a world, we are going to cling to the icons of the past for re-assurance and confirmation of who we are and where we stand.

American Living is just one example of the nostalgia for the past that America is now craving in everything from its cars to its politicians.

It's a force that cannot be ignored.


Posted by Ed Cotton At the end of the last century, every brand was rushing to participate in a new form of commerce, e-commerce.

With everyone shopping online is there now more of a value on the real shopping experience? Is the retail-shopping environment, one of the most popular pastimes of global consumers, the place you need to be establishing your brand?

This isn't about participating in the retail business as a retailer, but using it as a core part of your branding strategy.

With media costs escalating out of control and reach becoming increasingly questionable, the retail store is fast becoming the branding tool of choice for brands that are looking for global reach and to leave an indelible mark in consumer's minds.

Brands that aren't tradtionally retailers are making the leap across into this space.

Obviously, it also helps if you have something to sell, but it's especially interesting to see some surprising new entrants.

The global soccer organization FIFA has just opened its first store in Singapore airport and plans to open others in London, Tokyo and Los Angeles.

Then there's Ferrari, who many would have expected to be the last brand to open stores, are using stores as a branding tool and a revenue generator. The company is opening them at a fast pace. In 2007, it opened Beijing, Los Angeles, Shenyang, Barcelona, Al Kobar, Abu Dhabi and Macao and this year will see openings in San Francisco, Miami and Honolulu.

While opening retail outlets might seem strange in a world dominated by technology. However, it's clear that certain areas of specific cities- Rodeo Drive in LA for example or Las Vegas are quickly becoming experience retail centers. Places where people spend time and indulge themselves in experiences. This is not shopping as chore, but shopping as entertainment and it certainly makes sense for certain brands to be present in this emerging media channel.

Retail allows brand to create a media that performs two functions; a brand experience and if done correctly and with the right partners, a revenue generator that allows the brand to recoup some of its expenses.

It will be interesting to see the role agencies and media buying companies will play here, but I somehow can't imagine anyone putting global store openings as a line item on the media plan.

Perhaps, it would be the mark of true integration, if one of the large holding companies could make this type of cross-functional thinking happen

Posted by Ed Cotton Back in March, Influx suggested the charismatic Mr.Lampert might lack the skills to turn around the ailing Sears brand.

Now Fortune magazine has written a detailed story on the topic and seems to agree.

"The litany of problems at Sears looks to be getting worse, not better. Sears is neglecting many of the basic strategies that attract shoppers, including renovating stores, stocking the right merchandise and taking timely markdowns. Though a pullback in consumer spending has compounded the company's problems, people who know Sears well say many of the company's troubles are self-inflicted. (Neither Sears nor Lampert's office responded to questions for this story.)

Conversations with several of Sears' suppliers, who spoke on condition they not be named, paint a picture of a company adrift, hobbled by high turnover in the merchandising ranks, and veering from one idea to another. "Sears does everything it can to chase away the customer," said one of its apparel suppliers. Company executives, he said, have become disproportionately focused on the numerical side of retailing, obsessing over profit margins and inventory turns, at the expense of larger merchandising issues - such as stocking products that consumers want to buy."

Posted by Ed Cotton The folks at Tesco just posted a video of a quick tour through one of its new Fresh & Easy stores.

From the fleeting video, it looks like a brand with values, not perhaps as extreme as Whole Foods, but a step-up from your average grocery chain.

The same can be said for the overall experience.




Posted by Ed Cotton Brand voice has the power to transform how people see your brand, especially if you use it in the right places.

In 2006, Barclays Bank in the UK undertook an interesting experiment to try and transform the branch experience.

While most typical branch enhancements revolve around design, this transformation was all about language.

The objective was to use the materials in branch to forge a new conversation based on new language. The goal was to move from the old world of bank as powerful, but patronizing to a bank that's more approachable and human.

The whole exercise was illustrated by the shift from chained black pens to free pens with slogans.



Posted by Ed Cotton