Bronze and Gold Effies for McHappy Day!

I am so thrilled that we've won GOLD and BRONZE for our McHappy Day work.
This was a total team effort and it's thrilling to have been part of it.

You can read here

AdNews: McHappy Day wins Bronze and Gold Effie awards

Or go here for the winning case study in full

Effies Australia Website

Store as brand space

This combines three things I'm pretty passionate about...

1. Innovation

2. Japan

3. Retail

Guess you could say the three fit together........just check out this great example from Adidas in Tokyo. Fantastic example of a brand that's using their retail space as an opportunity to provide a branded encounter. They've set up the store as a run club first, place-to-buy-stuff second. By doing so, they're creating a unique brand experience for Adidas that gives their fans another reason to stay loyal and keep returning over and over. Love it.

Full story + more pics here: http://weekenderjapan.com/?p=15968

Tesco brings mobile shopping into the mainstream | News | New Media Age

Another example showing retail = anywhere a transaction happens....

Check out:

Cover story: Tesco brings mobile shopping into the mainstream | News | New Media Age

Uniqlo Love

It's no secret that Uniqlo are headed our way. They're one of my favourite retailers - innovative, immersive branded experience creators. My first experience with them was in NYC back in '03 ...it was love at 'first shop'. They've just won another award for their '09 Lucky Switch Campaign (below). No surprises there.

Thought the above pic was cool - 580 people already signed up to "bring Uniqlo to Australia" on Facebook....(yes I'm one of them)

Talk about brand loyalty...this is brand love (and they haven't even arrived yet).

Cool.

Inside the magic with Disney.....

Disney have just launched their new retail store....here is a peek inside.
They've done an incredible job blending social media and digital merchandising to create an immersive, highly interactive brand experience.

Retail at it's best..

The Aisle Evolution B&T June 11 2010

I spoke with B&T about brands at-retail. Here's the story...

Towards new dialogue for brands-at-retail.

When it comes to the retail space, I think we risk talking “POS” to death in the marketing media. It feels like POS has become synonymous with the whole ‘retail story’. Don't get me wrong - POS is critically important but it's just one aspect.

We need new dialogue about how to create effective, engaging brand experiences at-retail. Technology plays a key role in this.

Why? At its core, retail is about moving people to purchase.

We need to shift our thinking about retail marketing from its current focus on “the point of transaction” to a conversation about holistic brand interactions. When Apple created their new retail formats I'm guessing that they thought in terms of "brand touchpoints" / "brand experiences" and "retail destination". The POS was part of a bigger, holistic brand discussion. The places Apple looked for inspiration when designing their retail spaces were totally outside the box - to the point where they are now legendary. Apple have taught the market a lesson - the proof as they say, is now in the pudding!

I absolutely believe that when we talk "retail" we are talking "brand." The two go hand-in-hand. By just focusing on "POS" (the “point of transaction”) we risk limiting our thinking about what's possible for retail brands...........what we can do to really make retail work its hardest to deliver brand experiences, encounters and interactions.

It is these things that will drive sales, loyalty and repeat visit - POS should be just one touchpoint in the whole story - not the entire narrative.