At Wolff Olins we’re enmeshed in the business of brand – consistently surprised, delighted, and challenged by what we see. While you can’t quite hold a brand or put one in your pocket, a strong brand – from chocolates to cleaning products – has the power to move you, sometimes to love.
This Valentine’s day we thought it right to express our love for our favorite ones and explain why it is they rock our world. Here’s to you, sweet brands…won’t you be ours?
The following were compiled in our New York and London offices:
I love Muji because they don’t impose their identity on mine.
I love Target because they democratise design.
I love Google for all the great things they allow me to do.
I love Jacques Torres ‘cause I use chocolate medicinally and they’re right around the corner.
I love the New York Times. I’ve been reading it since I was twelve.
I love Post-It because they’re still relevant and quirky in a digital age.
I love Vintage Seltzer for its blue and white label and because it’s so normal.
I (heart) Sol Moscot and Grenson. Two brands with a long line of tradition, both of which do not rest on that heritage while keeping their quality high and their brands fresh and contemporary.
I love Apple. The Mac and the iPhone changed my life, can’t live without my iPad.
I love Mrs. Meyer’s cleaning products ‘cause they smell so good and all natural.
Uniqlo. What’s there not to love about this brand? In a recent brand campaign in New York they focused on the aspect that no matter what age, gender, race, income, their products can be worn by anyone. Plus every aspect of their expression and experience is really engaging too!
I love TIDE detergent. I want my clothes to be washed with only that. It takes me back to childhood and maybe a field of flowers.
I love Trader Joe’s because their employees give the best, most honest, recommendations and are outfitted in Hawaiian shirts. WIN.
I love PBS Masterpiece Theater. Why? Consistency (in storytelling, high production value, great acting, and intelligent, witty, entertaining programming, and nice online content to complement the show and grow viewership). (read: I love Downton Abbey)
I love J. Crew because even though their vanity sizing is absurd, Mickey and Jenna are retail visionaries.
I love Urban Outfitters– the Starbucks of casual wear. It may not be cool to admit you shop there, but I can rely on them for the basics I need with a fashionable twist, at affordable prices. Any young-ish woman who denies shopping there is lying!
I have a thing for Aveda Hand Relief. There’s just something about pausing in the middle of your day to put it on. I still remember the first time I used it and the soothing voice of the saleswoman who gave me that first sample in the Aveda store.
Equinox. Cold eucalyptus towels, top of the line machinery, no waits, great classes. Who knew I’d actually be excited to go to the gym?
I really love Burton. With these guys, there’s an obvious authenticity that really comes through in everything they touch. From their solid products to the content on their website (snow porn!) to how their flagship stores are designed, the brand is clearly built for snowboarders, by snowboarders.
I love the Mets—but it’s a seriously dysfunctional relationship.
What are the brands you can’t live without? Share your favorites with our team @wolffolins.
I’d like to think I’m a pretty socially aware gal. I recycle. I volunteer. I buy organic, sustainable products and use a reusable bag whenever and as often as I can. But I’ve always had a weakness for clothing—lots of it.
Once a year, I perform a ritual “closet cleanse” and donate all the clothing I haven’t worn in the past year to the Salvation Army. It’s helped me realize (not proudly) how little I once considered the social and environmental impact the production, manufacturing and purchasing of clothes has on the world.
Since 2008, Americans have spent $250 billion on clothing and accessories every year. Worldwide, the fashion industry employs 25 million people. That’s an enormous amount of lives being impacted by American spending.
In my search for easier ways to shop consciously and understand the impact this pleasure of mine has on the world, I recently came across a new column in Good Magazine, Ethical Style: Fashion Advice for the Socially Conscious.Its author and creator Tabea Kay raises interesting questions to both companies and consumers. Why has the industry been slow to respond to its increasingly socially-conscious consumers? How can caring consumers who lack industry know-how spot the difference between greenwashing and actual commitment to better practices?
For companies in fashion, an industry that’s long had a bad rep, this is an opportunity to creatively use brand to change the way they’re perceived in the world. It’s time to listen to the people who buy their products and change their business practices to give consumers (like me!) more ways to feel good about associating with them.
So how do you shift the conversation from apathetic to empathetic, from pretentious to considerate?Some brands are beginning to make headway in sustainable business practices: H&M has integrated organic and recycled raw material in their supply chain and Stella McCartney has been called “a forerunner of vegan fashion.”
Still, in H&M’s case, their sustainability efforts are dulled by a focus on throwaway fashion that only lasts a season. The waste piles up in our closets and then, our landfills. In regards to Ms. McCartney, her line, as ethical as it sounds, is hardly accessible to the main street consumer. The solution doesn’t scale.
Part of the problem is linguistic. Most industry leaders don’t have the language to conceive of what “ethical fashion” could be. To help, a U.K. non-profit called the Ethical Fashion Forum has begun creating guidelines for sustainable fashion. They call it the “triple bottom line.” Ethical Style summarized it briefly as “a sustainable company must consider the people, the earth, and the bottom line.”
I applaud the EFF for providing information and sustainable guidance to fashion industry leaders, but there is still another gap that needs to be filled. Consumers also need better language and information to guide their shopping decisions; in this sense, fashion is several large steps behind the food industry.
As consumers become more aware of their role in the global economy, new factors affect all of our buying decisions: What we buy and where it comes from reflects who we are. Right now, this presents a challenge, but also a unique opportunity for fashion companies to educate and engage their customers. What if they looked to the food industry as a model for how to build consumer loyalty by giving them more information?
Recently, we created a little chart to help a client understand the role of design and information hierarchy in product packaging.
To keep it simple, we used a milk carton.
We used only three pieces of basic information: the manufacturer (Smith), the product identifier (Milk) and the milk fat content modifier (1%, 2% or Vitamin D Milk). It’s what Americans see everyday in the dairy aisle.
We then explored how design decisions affect the product – the basics like information hierarchy or the use of type (e.g. a script type to emphasize “freshness”), the use of language (e.g. cheerful “Mooo Milk)”, color (to reinforce differences in fat content), illustrations (to tell a provenance story) and even form factors (e.g. glass bottles for “premium”). You can see the complete exploration on the chart, especially when you zoom in.
On the bottom of the chart, there are two examples of how it all came together: ”Good, better, best” shows how design influences quality perception, emotional product narrative and differentiates products. ”Shelf Blocking” then proves the power of design to aid shopability and create shelf presence.
In the end, we were amazed what the humble milk carton taught us about the AWESOME POWER™ of design. Design affects product, and what affects the product affects sales.
JC Penney announced it’s new strategy on Wednesday.At a highly anticipated, star-studded presentation, new CEO Ron Johnson promised to reinvent the “6 Ps” of retail (product, place, presentation, price, promotion and personality).Will it work?
In a world of seamlessly integrated, omnichannel, open commerce platforms, critics may fault this predominately bricks & mortar approach for being old-fashioned and stuck in the past.
However, this refreshingly honest, back-to-basics approach may be just what retail needs right now – a reliable, relevant, and easy experience.
From their spirited manifesto to their tongue-in-cheek TV ads, the JCP crew seems to be very in touch with who their customer is and what they need:
·In response to a growing distrust of institutions, JC Penney’s voice is human, honest and direct
·In a world where consumers demand more transparency and authenticity, their pricing strategy is simplified and predictable
·And during a time when our nation’s role in the world is at question, their Main Street and Town Square in-store strategy conveys a distinctive American pride and point of view
If nothing else, this strategy speaks to the promise of a visionary leadership. In stark contrast to last year’s logo “bake-off” which resulted in an identity redesign from a 3rd year graphic design student, JC Penney’s new strategy is decisive and bold – not to just be America’s favorite department store, but to be America’s favorite store.
The track records of the brand architects are hard to dispute.CEO Ron Johnson, former head of retail at Apple, did the unthinkable by translating the magic of Macs and iPods into over 300 worldwide stores and transforming our expectations of a good retail experience.And President Michael Francis, former CMO of Target, built a brand that turned a Midwestern mass merchandiser into a seductive, exciting cultural tastemaker.
Beyond their credentials, the speed at which they brought the strategy to life is also a tribute to their vision and focus.Johnson’s arrival was announced in June 2011 and madeofficial in November 2011. Francis came on board in October 2011.In less than three months, they were able to crystallize their thought, mobilize a huge internal and external team of partners, and captivate the retail industry with their announcement.
Initial reactions are mixed.Stock prices fell slightly after the announcement. But if anyone can do this, Ron Johnson is a good bet.Especially since he has financial skin in the game - $50 million to lose but hundreds of millions to win.
However, success depends on a lot of “ifs.”
IF the merchandising and in-store experience can deliver on the promise of the advertising.
IF the vendor community will play by their new pricing rules.
IF the customer understands and embraces the new promotional calendar.
This will be fun to watch – if they can really pull it off, the streets will be singing their praises as prescient retail gurus. If not, sadly there will be one more once-great retail giant put out to pasture.
When you consider the global economy, certain obvious players come to mind – but what about the increasingly significant economy that exists off the books?
As Rob Neuwirth outlined in his Pop!Tech talk: Free Markets vs. Flea Markets, this Informal Economy or Shadow Economy or System D economy comprises $10T in annual global GDP and employs 1.8B people worldwide – about half the workforce on the planet. In aggregate, this quasi-legal system represents the 2nd largest economy in the world (behind the United States), and with current growth levels, is expected to eclipse the #1 spot in less than 10 years. By 2020 it has been forecasted that 2/3 of the global workforce will be doing business in this domain.
In recent years, more bike lanes and racks have emerged in New York. The changes in infrastructure and rise in bike riding got me thinking about what the urban retail environment might look like in a five years. Could bike riding transform consumer habits in New York City in the way that cars and freeways did in California in the 1950s? How might you build a retail experience if New York City were designed for cyclists?
Melissa Andrada is a brand and content strategist at Wolff Olins New York. She’s passionate about the intersection between technology, social good and brand. @themelissard
Remember the future? Or at least the future of commerce? Always Open. Always On. Always Available. E-commerce was going to take the place of the so-called brick and mortar stores providing the consumer with convenient and immediate solutions to all theirshopping needs. Want to shop at 3am? No problem. Want free shipping? No problem. Never want to deal with a salesperson again? No problem.
“Banks got bailed out, we got sold out!” is a common rallying cry among the Occupy Wall Street protesters. The deep-seated dissatisfaction with the current banking system has led to a public demand to create real change within the industry. It also points to a major question: how can you innovate in a way that empowers consumers?
BankSimple, now called just Simple, is an exciting possible answer to this question. It opened its doors to its first round of customers this week. Many of us at Wolff Olins are fascinated by the innovative possibilities Simple offers and its potential to turn the banking industry on its head.
