Welcome to Brand Experience Week! Every day this week I’ll be releasing a new Brand Experience Brief, a video audit and analysis of a new or interesting restaurant or retail concept. My goal is to identify the elements of a great brand experience so that you can apply the learnings to your customer experience design. Today […]
Today’s headlines about brick and mortar companies are troubling. Office Depot just announced it will close 400 stores. Radio Shack wants to close 1,100 stores but its lenders are resisting. Sears is looking to sell off chunks of its real estate. The prevailing wisdom of retailing strategy seems to be minimizing investment in brick and […]
Today’s Brand Experience Brief is about what happens when you cross a bank with a cafe. It’s about Capital One 360 Cafes, which are “unique community spaces where you can learn new ways to save time and money while you tap free WiFi and enjoy a great cup of coffee,” Check out this video audit […]
This Brand Experience Brief builds on my recent post, “RH Is a Great Brand In the Making,” in which I described the full-scale transformation that Restoration Hardware is undergoing. Their luxury brand marketing strategy is establishing them not simply as an upscale furniture brand, but a luxury lifestyle brand, which I saw for myself when I visited […]
I’m concerned about the retail industry. Earlier this month, a Federal Reserve survey reported that retail sales had weakened in many areas because of winter storms. As retailers report their first quarter results over the next few weeks, I’m sure we’ll see the fallout from the bad weather. We’re already seeing the aggressive price promotions that retailers […]
A thorough write-up about RH (formerly known as Restoration Hardware) in a recent Businessweek caught my eye. As Susan Berfield documented in the piece, the approach that CEO Gary Friedman is taking with the brand. I couldn’t help but draw parallels to several principles in my new book, What Great Brands Do: The Seven Brand-Building […]
Modmarket was named one of the top 5 hot concepts of the year by Nation’s Restaurant News. What distinguishes it from the other fast casual restaurants serving better-for-you food? Check out this brand experience brief. related brand experience briefs: True Food Protein Bar Fresh2Order transcript: This brand experience brief is about a restaurant company with the […]
The McRib is back! As the masses hurry into McDonald’s for the perennially successful product, other fast feeders are hoping their latest new creations will inspire similar loyal followings. And new products aren’t just the lifeblood fast feeders — most every type of business faces the challenge of introducing new offerings that will catch on […]
My most recent Harvard Business Review piece discusses retail industry trends, specifically big brands and other progressive retailers like Whole Foods, Starbucks and Lululemon Athletica who are increasingly shedding their national standards and conventions to achieve a more local brand image. Given the successes reported by these pioneering retailers, it’s likely we’ll see even more companies moving in this […]
brand-as-business bit: The combination of listening to customers and digging into data is only one of the many fascinating insights revealed in Brad Stone‘s expose on Amazon and its CEO Jeff Bezos, THE EVERYTHING STORE. In the book, Stone relays how random customer anecdotes are as valued at the company as spreadsheets of customer […]