Real You: Strong cologne, thumping hip-hop, and 20-somethings with perfect bodies wearing store merchandise. What store are you in?
Posted on | September 12, 2008 | No Comments
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By Kaira Sturdivant Rouda
If you answered Abercrombie and Fitch, you just made their marketing department very happy. Illustrating environmental branding at its best, every component of the store from the merchandise and furnishings to the employees and music reinforces the brand. It is the reason why young people go there in droves to shop. Other retailers like Apple are also wowing consumers with their brand’s experience. Crisp, clean lines, excellent customer service, user-friendly products and genius technology helps ensure consumers are coming back for more. With the recent launch of the new iPod, Apple is bringing back the fun colors of the iMac G3s and adding some color and fun back into their environment.
How your store looks, how your employees dress, and what colors are on the walls are all part of the branding mix. The art of real branding is at its best when you’ve addressed all the ways a customer touches your brand, and they’re all in sync. Environmental branding reinforces a company’s image in the marketplace and helps consumers find them in a vast sea of competition. No matter your size, you are how you look. Your environment is your brand.
Environmental branding has long been a staple in retailing, but now it’s cropping up in offices with increasing frequency. If you’ve been in a real estate office lately, it probably looked like a bank. I had a different idea when creating Real Living.
When you walk into Real Living’s corporate offices, you’re surrounded by the color red, lots of it, and round shapes all visual extensions of our brand. This branding is at work beyond our walls, too, through the creation of an environmental branding program for our real estate offices nationwide. When we open a new office, the new owner can select from a suburban, urban, or rural prototype to fit the market and location. We worked with a national retail design firm to create a specific color palette for walls, flooring, and furniture for each of the settings and ideas for matching decorative accents. When a buyer or seller walks into one of our offices, we want them to feel welcome and comfortable just like they are at home. These types of retail strategies are key because they let your employees and customers know your brand is consistent. Your office is where your brand is living.
When creating your brand, don’t forget to translate that environmental branding to your online office, too. The online and offline worlds have collided, and it is likely that your Web site will be the one making the first impression. Think of your home page as your front door. Thus, online and offline sales and service need to mirror each other.
One of my favorite examples of environmental branding by a retailer is Dylan’s Candy Bar in New York City. The store and the sweets are irresistible! Close your eyes and imagine giant lollipops, thousands of candy bins, brightly colored candy wallpaper and the sweet smell of chocolate bringing the store to life. My intern was just in NYC and snapped this photo of the Project Runway outfits that were made completely from candy wrappers in their window. It is an unrivaled experience. Walk in there and I dare you to leave without buying something sweet. And similarly, visit dylanscandybar.com, and you will feel like you’re in the store. The brand is seamlessly executed online and off.
For more on environmental branding, check out Real You Incorporated: 8 Essentials for Women Entrepreneurs. Come back next Friday for another Real You column.
Kaira Sturdivant Rouda is the creator of Real Living, the first women-focused real estate brand. She has more than 20 years of experience marketing to women and is the author of Real You Incorporated: 8 Essentials for Women Entrepreneurs. To learn more, visit www.RealYouIncorporated.com and join the community or check out her blog.
Tags: Abercrombie and Fitch > Apple > Branding > consumer experience > Dylan's Candy Bar > environmental branding > Real Living > retailers > touch points
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