More and more companies are introducing modern contemporary, open-concept, creative, bright and spacious working environments.  With corporate giants such as Google and Pixar demonstrating great success with their non-traditional workplaces, an increasing amount of people are embracing the idea.  These new concepts have proven to be a stimulus for the human mind and an inspiration for innovation.  Open-concept office work space encourages collaboration and synergy amongst all teams making for a more productive and effective work environment.  Most of all, it emphasizes the company’s creativity and personality.

Debuted in 2009 NRF, Frog design and Intel worked together building a point-of-sale kiosk design. The kiosk combines the experiences from a real life shopping experience with the informative benefit of online shopping. It contains touch screens on different surfaces to allow unique and dynamic employee-customer interactions. The interactivity of the display allows users to view reviews, recommendations, store information and sales. "The design also provides opportunities to increase revenue through digital signs, intelligent cross-selling tools, and targeted ads."

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A peak at the surrounding Parisian cityscape. 
What would retail experiences be like if all major companies integrated their brick and mortar stores uniquely to their local environments?
What if there were no such thing as 40 page in-store guidelines to adhere to?

The theory behind using atmospheric scent is that smell is considered to be the strongest of the five senses. The olfactory bulb is directly connected to the limbic system in the brain; this is the area that controls behaviour and emotion. (Refer to diagram below) Scents help trigger memories and evoke emotions it can also help consumers associate with a particular brand.

This ambiance tool needs to be carefully used, what may draw one person into the store may repel another! Therefore subtle more neutral aromas are likely more fitting. The scent should also complement the product offering i.e. baby powder fragrance in a children’s apparel store or coconut oil scent in a swimsuit department, which UK retailer Harrods used.

What are your thoughts? Do you think scent branding provides an improved retail experience?

Diagram of Olfactory System¹

¹ Diagram courtesy of diy-stress-relief.com

New Yorkers are lucky to have the recent addition of the Bowery Nike Stadium in their neighbourhood for the World Cup this year.  Completed in May 2010, Nike Stadiums are multi-purpose event destinations.  With stadiums already in Berlin, London, Milan, Paris, and Tokyo, the Bowery visual-experience can be summed up as an organically-strewn triangle sports party. 

Featuring an interesting use of pegboard for visual effect, the layering of micro pegboard over macro not only provides a sense of depth and acts as a product highlighting tool, but also paves the way for huge functionality and versatility in the future for the mixed-use environment.   From the images, it appears that the walls and merchandise can be playfully planogrammed like a game of tangrams – indicating a sign of smart and adaptable retail design.  

But that is just the start. To be successful a company needs to have all of its marketing ducks in a row. Is the mailing list up to date? Does the email blast include recently released products? Is the take away properly branded? Are the show promotions organized? Are appointments booked? Are the scripts prepared? Has the website been updated? And on and on it goes…

Yet prepared we were! As an exhibitor unlike any others, Red Leaf Retail Concepts provided visitors an engaging experience, different from that offered by the myriad of consumer electronic manufacturers. While most attendees were looking to secure product to resell or checking out the competition, Red Leaf tantalized the retailers and stirred the imagination of CE manufacturers with it’s fresh approach to in-store shopping.

The response was overwhelming. Both retailers and manufacturers agreed today’s consumer needs a reason to leave home to shop. Store environments must reflect the expectation of the modern shopper. Consumer electronics need to be showcased to engage and excite the potential buyer.

We did that at CES! We engaged through interactive media and through dynamic presentation and delivery of product information and specifications. We excited through the use of holographic messaging and via product purposed lighting. We positioned product to be accessible.

And visitors to the booth got it and embraced it!

This exhibitor’s experience at CES 2010 can be summed up in one word…. exhilarating!

Check out the video below to learn more. Be sure to select 720p HD in the bottom right corner once the video starts to get the best resolution!