VMSD - July 2013 - (Page 21)

in. She also acquired and provided links for the digital team to launch on Facebook and Twitter, promoting special offers. “Social media became very important to understanding our demographic and adjusting our visual programs,” she says. While some retailers see social media as keeping customers out of the store, others have used it creatively to drive traffic into the store. Selfridges, the British fashion department store, created a social media campaign for its shoe department launch around a digital character called Shoeper Hero, who interacted with customers on Facebook and Twitter, giving them shoe advice and inviting them to share their experiences. The result, boasted the retailer, included writeups on the top 10 fashion blogs including 43 reader comments on Park & Cube, 35 re-tweets of @LDNfashion and hundreds of likes on Facebook. And when the department was finally launched, “it was so well-attended that the Oxford Street store had to be closed,” said the Selfridges’ website. But retailers are finding that technology – whether assisting shoppers or promoting merchandise – can’t overpromise. Shoppers are armed with their own devices and a great deal of information. “Millennials all carry smartphones and have access to all kinds of apps,” says Bartrug. “If you overstate product benefits or comparative information, the millennial customer has the resources to call your bluff.” An app called Open Object, created by a Cambridge University engineering student named Jessi Baker, allows a consumer to accumulate objective information about a product just by pointing her smartphone at it. “The big picture behind this was my genuine frustration with the lack of knowledge people have when they’re shopping,” writes Baker in a blog for DesignBridge.com. She developed the app in London as part of the Royal College of Art Innovation Design Engineering program. “To me, it’s incredible that the only information we really have to make a decision is the information that’s in front of us – which is 100 percent from the brand owners – and that seems quite biased to me.” As much as today’s younger shoppers revere technology, they also respect retailers who support causes – another opportunity for today’s visual merchandising. Another recent Selfridges campaign was called Project Ocean, to raise awareness about overfishing. This multi-media blitz, done in cooperation with the Zoological Society of London, began with eye-catching graphics like “NO MORE FISH IN THE SEA?” on the Oxford Street store exterior and in windows. The store’s ground floor was transformed into a rallying space to talk about a huge range of ocean issues, including a weekly series of talks and debates on ocean topics, featuring celebrities (such as Prince Charles) and experts from around the world; screenings of oceans-related films; displays of marineinspired fashion (including Lady Gaga’s lobster hat); and parties in some of London’s tonier venues. “It was old-fashioned visual merchandising,” Bartrug says, “coral windows, a couture octopus dress by Iris van Herpen and chefs holding instructional seminars on which fish are safe to eat.” They developed a line of Project Ocean products, but this wasn’t just about selling merchandise, it was public advocacy in Selfridges’ own, distinct voice. They created a custom app enabling customers to text donations to the cause and, by doing so, used retail to promote change. This may be taking the notion of selling an idea to its furthest length, but it’s all part of the challenges and opportunity for today’s plugged-in visual professionals. “The successful visual merchandisers have their fingers on the pulse of our society,” says retail veteran Eric Feigenbaum, chair of LIM College’s visual merchandising department. “They tap into what’s going on. Retail, after all, is a reflection of the world – of politics, sports, art, movies, TV, news, culture. So good visual has to be about being in touch and in tune.”  vmsd.com | JULY 2013 21 http://www.DesignBridge.com http://www.vmsd.com

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of VMSD - July 2013

VMSD - July 2013
Contents
From the Editor
Vmsd Editorial Advisory Board
The Goods
Design Detail
Brand Ambassadors
Visual Edge
Chambers of Fashion
Fertile Ground
Showroom
Showroom
Ad Index
Checking Out

VMSD - July 2013