Today, Target unveiled six massive vinyl billboards in Times Square. The billboards were designed by four emerging artists, and according to Target, “capture the enthusiasm and vibrancy of New York and the Target brand.”

The billboards will come down at the end of October, but they won’t be dragged off to the landfill. Instead, the vinyl will be repurposed into 1,600 Anna Sui-designed handbags. The bags are selling for $29.99 on Target’s website, where buyers can choose which artist’s work will adorn their tote.

Target has found a clever way to recycle and repurpose its marketing dollars. It’s found a way to do more with less. 

1. Pop up stores build urgency.

By having a limited lifespan, pop up stores motivate people to act fast. Otherwise, they could miss out.  

Nike's LeBron Zoom IV NYC Pop Up.

Nike launched a pop up store in Soho to promote its LeBron Zoom IV NYC basketball sneakers. The shoes were only available at the store, which was open for a mere four days. With that small a window, sneaker aficionados didn’t sit on their hands.  

2. Pop up stores turn unused spaces into vibrant places.

The economy has left many retail spaces empty. Shoppers see signs of failure and deadness - stripped spaces, empty shop windows. Then, suddenly there is sound, color, and energy. 

The Doodle Bar, a London-based pop up bar, lets customers draw on its walls, furniture, even its bartenders. The interior of the bar and café is a constantly evolving, community art project. Initially slated for the summer only, the bar’s success has led to an extended stay. The owners have taken an abandoned space and turned it into a creative space that hosts drawing contests and yoga classes.   

3. Pop up stores focus entirely on the customer experience.

Popping up cuts down on the financial commitments of store ownership, like long-term leases and ongoing payroll. Brands can offer customers an experience that’s more extravagant.

 At Alcoholic Architecture, another London-based pop up bar, patrons don’t drink their gin and tonics - they breathe them in. Upon entering the space, visitors are fitted with protective plastic suits and led into a room where a humidifier vaporizes drinks, creating a walk-in cocktail cloud. 

Alcoholic Architecture

Pumping drinks into the air probably isn’t the most cost effective way to run a bar, but Alcoholic Architecture was only open for a few days. As a result, the curators of the event-meets-space, jelly makers Bompas and Parr, were able to focus on a buzz-worthy experience without getting too hung up on their bottom line.

4. Pop up spaces offer a firsthand experience of a brand.

Customers experience retail brands inside the store. For companies whose products don’t headline a traditional retail space, pop ups allow them to bring customers inside their brand.

vitaminwater promoted new flavors with a Manhattan-based pop up store. In the store, customers could try free samples of the fresh flavors, check their email, play foosball, and hang out in a lounge that hosted a revolving cast of DJs. The store connected customers with vitaminwater’s brand more than they ever could have in the grocery aisle.  

5. Pop up spaces show off exciting, unseen products.

Often, brands use pop ups to gauge customer interest on a small scale. For visitors, the space gives them the opportunity to see what’s new and be the first to try it out. After all, who doesn’t want to see things first?  

In 2004, French fashion brand Comme des Garcons opened a pop up store in Tokyo. The company teamed with Apple to create a Comme des Garcons branded iPod, which was only available at the location.  According to allbusiness.com, the six-month run of the specialty iPod was expected to generate $1.1 million in sales.

Comvert is an Italian company that lives and breathes skateboarding. The company was founded by skateboarders and makes clothing for skateboarders. So, perhaps it’s no surprise that the centerpiece of its corporate headquarters in Milan is a massive skate-bowl.

The skate-bowl’s presence in the space is impressive to visitors and it serves as a visible reminder of the company’s core concepts and culture.

Comvert moved into its new headquarters, located in a 15,000-square-foot converted theatre, to bring its entire operation under one unified roof. The space houses its administrative offices, design studio, warehouse, and a flagship retail store.

The skate-bowl, which is in use throughout the day, is suspended above the retail space. So, consumers in the store can see and hear the company’s products in action. They can experience the sport and take part in the community of boarders that flock to the location to talk shop and try out new tricks.

The bowl’s elevated location is also directly across from the design studio, (which was built on the former theatre’s balcony). This position, as Arch Daily points out, saves space and establishes a visual and spatial relation between the skate arena and the design studio. The bowl’s proximity to Comvert’s designers ensures that the sport informs and energizes product design, while keeping the company focused on skateboarding.

Photo courtesy of www.archdaily.com

On Tuesday, Amazon was granted a patent for the “ornamental design for a building structure.” The patent, filed in October 2007, could mean that Amazon will be opening bricks-and-mortar mini-storefronts. We’ve seen retailers develop e-commerce sites, but is Amazon going the other way? Stay tuned.

For images of the design, check out Techflash.com.

Photo Courtesy of Ron Knoth

Diesel just opened a flagship store on Fifth Avenue that’s an eye-catcher. Especially the window display.

The window doesn’t have anything in it you’d expect to see: no jeans, no wristwatches, no Diesel merchandize whatsoever.

Instead, it looks like you’re peering into an elegant Upper East side apartment. You see a table and chairs, a lamp, some paintings on the wall.

Everything seems normal, except there’s a hole in the ceiling, a pile of rubble on the floor, and a giant bronze head of a Mohican lying in the debris. The head, apparently, has crashed through the floor from the apartment above.

What’s this have to do with Diesel? Plenty.

The Mohican head is Diesel’s logo. It’s as if the edgy Diesel brand has smashed its way into New York society, and must be dealt with.

The surreal tableau thrusts passersby into the middle of a mystery, and teaches us all a lesson: Want to add intrigue to your windows? Ditch the literal and try the symbolic.

Photo Courtesy of Dianadesign.dk

A Wall Street Journal article by Nicholas Casey, “Teen Retailers Close ‘Concept’ Stores to Focus on Main Brand,” talks about the struggles of teen concept stores

In short: Over the past few years, some major retailers opened niche stores that hoped to cash in on small slices of the youth market. These stores chased trends, expanded rapidly, and took the parent companies away from the core concepts that had made them successful.

Now, the chickens have come home to roost.

Aéropostale is moving to close surf-apparel chain, Jimmy’Z. American Eagle Outfitters, due to steep losses, may have to shut Martin + Osa, which targets an older demographic than its flagship. Abercrombie & Fitch has struggled with its RUEHL stores, which have siphoned lots of money to stay afloat.

In contrast to these tales of woe, teen stores Hot Topic and Buckle reported sales increases last quarter. Hot Topic is an alternative rock-themed chain, and Buckle caters to a wide segment of the teen market. Each stuck to its core concept and customer.

Long checkout lines frustrate customers and hurt sales. Fortunately, new infrared technology will help manage cashier lanes for better in-store performance.

Irisys’ queue management system uses infrared sensors to monitor in-store customer numbers, average wait time, average line length, and overall store checkout performance.

If checkout performance slips below a minimum service level, the system sends management an alert. Sent to computer or PDA, the alert gives 15 and 30-minute advanced notices on how many lanes will be needed to meet customer demand.

The system has been installed in ten retailers across the U.S., Europe, and Asia. In the U.S., Price Chopper and Kroger are in trial, and global retailer Tesco, has already installed it in more than 800 stores in the U.K. and Ireland.

Technology is by no means a cure-all, but infrared technology may help retailers manage one of the most tedious aspects of the shopping experience.

Retailers need to consider: What’s the most aggravating part of your store’s shopping experience, and in what ways can it be improved?

Recently, Jack Healy of The New York Times wrote an article, “Desperate Retailers Try Frantic Discounts and Giveaways.” In it, he says: “An era of desperation marketing is at hand, with stores and automobile dealerships adopting virtually any tactic that might grab the attention of frightened consumers.”

Desperation marketing. Sounds pretty severe, doesn’t it? But Healy does a good job bolstering his case.

Stores are trying anything to bring in buyers and move merchandise. Sweet deals, such as three-for-one suits from Jos. A. Bank and free antibiotics (with a prescription) from major supermarkets like Stop & Shop and Giant Food, are being used to increase traffic.

Even big ticket item retailers like car dealerships are getting into the act.

At University Dodge, in Davie, Florida, they have rolled out an unprecedented offer: Buy a 2008 Dodge Ram, get another Ram, PT Cruiser, or Dodge Caliber, free. Two vehicles for the price of one isn’t something you see everyday. In fact, it’s not something you’ve ever seen before.

Retailers are feeling the strains of the economy, but do fire sales send the right message to uneasy buyers?

ROBOTGALAXY sells robots – toy robots – whose parts customers themselves choose and assemble. Think, “Build-a-Bear in Space.”
The store’s experience begins cafeteria-style:

Children pick one of a dozen different robot bodies. Then they select its arms (possibilities include a claw that opens and closes, a drill that spins, a crossbow that fires a projectile, and a searchlight, among others) and legs (again, the options have different functions: one pair of legs walks, another rides a skateboard, and so forth).

Using a key, a ROBOTGALAXY employee locks the pieces together, presents the child with the key, and escorts them to the “Lab,” where the toy is programmed to repeat a few simple words, such as the child’s name and the nickname given to it by the child. (A ROBOTGALAXY staff member said older children anoint their creations with violent nicknames, like “Crusher” and Destroyer,” while younger children opt for softer names, like “Robbie,” “Robo,” and Skater Dude.”)

The robot is placed inside “The Seventh Ring of Saturn,” which is a twelve foot tall  tower with a motorized platform, LED lights, topped off with a replica of Saturn. The tower, whose job it is to power the robot by using energy from Saturn’s rings, doesn’t serve any practical function. But it’s an important emotional part of the experience.

Staff members get the attention of everyone in the store, place the robot on the platform, hit a button, and, amidst flashing lights and a character-specific theme song, narrate the toy’s journey up the tower to Saturn and back.

Once the robot is fully powered, a staff member uses a USB cable, and helps the child connect the toy to the Internet and ROBOTGALAXY’s virtual environment. There, the child registers the robot, sees its avatar, and can play online games. Based on the number of points the child racks up, he or she can win downloads, such as a new sound effect or eye color for their robot.

Depending on the parts chosen, robots range from $27 to $75. Children can also switch out the toy’s limbs, combine robots, purchase accessories, and read about the robots in ROBOTGALAXY comic books. The stores have been profiled on Rachael Ray, Donny Deutsch, and The Today Show.
The retailer has three locations: Freehold, NJ, West Nyack NY, and the Toys R Us Mall in Times Square.

Those of you in Manhattan for the National Retail Federation’s Annual Convention & Expo, may want to hop over to the Toys ”R” Us Mall to see it. The mall is under a mile from the Javits Center.