Pop Up Retail

Pop up retailers are here for a good time, not a long time.  You’ve probably seen them:  stores that you notice just over the holiday period, for example, that weren’t there in the fall and, when you walk by the same spot in February, that store will be gone.  This is the idea of hot trend called pop up retail:  retailers set up shop for short period and then disband when they’ve sold out.  Big brands like Nike, Gap, even Gucci have tried it.

Pop up retail gives retailers a chance to test products in new markets and to build their brand recognition amongst consumers.  It lets small, local retailers take advantage of lower, short term lease opportunities on retail space without committing to large inventories.

An interesting local example is The Latest Scoop often showing up on S. Granville and in Kitsilano.

Mind The GAP

The GAP recently created a furor when they announced a change in their logo from the old familiar navy blue (red at Christmas) to something newer, and what they felt was, more friendly to our digital app-driven world.  The market did not agree and there was a huge public outcry.  So much so that GAP scrapped the new logo.

GAP Inc. ran several social media campaigns to come up with the new logo.  While GAP may not be your thing these days, it certainly is many people’s thing as  GAP pulled in revenues of $14.2B last year and increased sales growth.  The brand just doesn’t feel as relevant anymore, unfortunately.  But consider what’s good about the brand?  While you may not love it, the logo is widely recognized…and given the outcry, clearly loved by many people.

The new logo is pretty bland and looks like it was created by a committee trying to pull elements of the old logo together with what they think might look good on an iPhone app.  Is this the right way to build a brand’s equity, especially for one of the strongest brands in the world.  Also, consider the choice of font:  Helvetica.  Used to be an interesting font.  Kind of cool.  Now, it has become ubiquitous and representative of nothing.  Is that what The GAP wants us for a brand association?  Good move in pulling the new logo and putting the old one back on the box.  Wonder what the next chapter will be…this one isn’t over…

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Old Macdonald Has a Farm

Macdonald’s, one of the most valuable brands in the world, recently joined with Farmville (owned by Zynga) on Facebook for a round of in-game advertising. Mickey D’s now has his own farm, the MacFarm, and visitors who helped grow tomatoes or mustard seeds were rewarded with a Consumable.

The exposure on Farmville for Macdonald’s is huge. While Macdonald’s serves 26 million customers in the US per day, Farmville has 215 million users per month. This is a good example of an in-game branding partnership. Macdonald’s (and Zynga) correctly recognize the target audience for Farmville and saw that the possible branding and sales benefits brought about by the exposure to Macdonald’s during gameplay could be huge.

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Brand Language Periodic Table

Click on the image to download your own copy of the Brand Language Period Table.

Roll over the boxes on the Periodic Table to see definitions of Brand Evolution terms.

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