January 2012
1 post
Robocop and Augmented Reality
By Sion Jones
What do you think that big helmet is on Murphy’s head after he becomes Robocop? That’s Augmented Reality (AR) working at its best. The user, in this case a police officer, is being fed a stream of data and information to enhance their vision and understanding of what’s around them – i.e. knowing where the bad guys are.
Murphy uses his head-mounted display to see things like his...
December 2011
3 posts
By Ian Thomas
The growth in online shopping has raised a whole new set of issues related to waiting in for deliveries. Retailers have been aware of this issue for a while now, with more and more offering a “click and collect” service and online grocers compete as much on their delivery capabilities as they do on quality and value. In order to secure the much coveted Christmas Shop delivery...
A lot of bottle
By Craig Addy
The term ‘the simpler the idea the better it works’ is a phrase that’s frequently bounced around our industry. The point being the cleanest and simplest thought tends to be the stronger ad. This clip has nothing really to do with advertising but is an example of a simple and effective idea not many can trump it. This one sells itself. Watch and be impressed at the simple...
Festive or frugal
By Sarah Leccacorvi
As we steadily approach Christmas with a backdrop of falling sales and a crippling European economy, it will be interesting to see if our much adored season will be as festive as Santa’s grotto or a frugal as Christmas at Ebenezer Scrooge.
The impact of the economy has knocked consumers’ confidence and pushed them to be even more smart and savvy than ever before. We’ve...
November 2011
5 posts
Get on the floor
By Jacqui Gray
And no I don’t mean throwing some signature moves on the dance floor at the Christmas party, I mean the shop floor. I’m talking specifically about getting out onto the floor of a grocery retailer, and as often as possible, as there really is no substitute for experiencing the shopping experience first-hand.
So I am suggesting that put your shoppers hat on. I’m not talking...
The beauty of understatement
By John Jessup
I have to admit to being attracted by certain signs. I am particularly partial to the ones with pictures of dogs and ducks, monarchs and such like. They welcome me to gentle imbibing, and mirth filled conversations. With these things in mind I found myself strolling down a soft white beach in Jamaica, with the warm Caribbean Sea playing around my feet (sorry got a bit carried...
Bye bye, Best Buy
by Alan Treadgold
The recent news that Best Buy is to close its UK superstores is hardly a surprise but certainly causes pause for thought. As well as being very expensive to open in the first place, large superstores selling consumer electronics can lose a lot of money quickly and be horribly expensive to shut down. Sadly, this has been Best Buy’s – very expensive – lesson. Best Buy is a...
Cyber ATM
This is a pretty unusual idea. Russian bank Sberbank is in the process of developing a cash machine that can tell when you’re lying; it has the ability to ask you personal questions, analyse your responses and your voice (presumably making it really hard to get cash out when you’ve had a few), as well as scanning your retinas and fingerprints. Why so high-tech? So that it can process complicated...
QR stamps
Croatia’s ‘2011 Postage Stamp Day’ marks the twentieth anniversary of them, er, using stamps. The Croatian postal service is celebrating with clever QR-coded stamps. When you’ve sent a letter you can receive instant delivery confirmation, as well as tracking all the places it’s passed through on a dedicated mapping site. Making up for lost time in impressive style.
...
October 2011
10 posts
After 24 years New Zealand did it....just!
By Caron Beith
After 45 days it’s all over. New Zealand are Rugby World Champions after 24 years in the waiting! And well deserved.
A gutsy, gritty finish to a fantastic Final. They have been the best team throughout the whole tournament. France though last Sunday were amazing and impressive. Rougerie, Trinh-Duc, Yachvili and the incredible Thierry Dusautoir put in inspirational efforts. New...
Bloomin' lovely
By Paul Faulds and Chris Rambridge
The days might be getting shorter and the leaves turning a nice shade of golden brown, but over at Westfield there’s still a feeling of summer in the air - or rather on the wall.
This ‘living poster’ was created by wine company Banrock Station to mark the launch of its new special edition wines, which will contribute £30,000 to Natural England’s campaign...
Adidas Secret Popup Shops
One would initially think that only telling a few people about your new store was strongly counter intuitive. Adidas has, however, strongly proved otherwise. They have set up stores in Germany, Austria and Sitzerland and only given invitations to those deemed worthy via social networkign sites. The stores can be set uup in one day and sell the ‘Ransom’ and ‘Blue’ limited...
Nokia/Foursquare Gift machine
A really lovely idea by Nokia here. Check in with a hashtag, share it on twitter and receive a random prize. Simple. Effective. Prizes are as broad as chocolate, phone accessories and even new phones if you are really lucky.
Ikea's Manland
IKEA in Australia have come up with a rather ingenious new idea - give men a play area while their wives shop. This was the brilliance behind Ikea’s Manland. Leave your husband in an area full of sports on TV, video games, arcades, unlimited hotdogs and drinks. Despite paying by the half hour, he may not want to leave, so you are given a buzzer to remind you to pick him up.
Jude Leon,...
Has the loss of Jobs shaken Apple to the core?
by Robbie Smith
Last week was one of the most eventful for Apple inc. ever; the main event being the death of their former CEO Steve Jobs. Not only was Jobs CEO of Apple, he was the co-founder, designer, developer and marketing brain behind their most successful and pioneering products – as we would say in Arc – he was a true Brand Activist
Another significant event for Apple was the...
How well do you know your customers?
By Tania Ebbecke
This was one of the many subjects discussed at the World Retail Congress, which took place recently in Berlin, where more than 900 industry experts gathered to tackle a changing world.
Indeed, what makes today’s customers tick? What do they want? Where do they shop? When? How? What are their expectations?
Never before has it been so important to understand the...
The app that changed the world
By Ian Thomas
The IGD recently issued a review of mobile apps that, in their view, are set to “change the world of grocery retailing”. A bold claim that captured my interest. In January 2011 Apple users downloaded 10billion apps and Google’s Android users are set to overtake this amount by the end of the year - that is a lot of apps out there able to influence our behaviour.
The majority...
Where physical stores win over the web
By Peter Batchelor
The weekend arrives and my son and I turn our thoughts to all things bike related. Whilst for me my addiction to cycling focusses on road bikes and the daily commute, for my son it’s all about mud, jumps and hacking round the local woods. The only problem being that his bike was built for gentle trips round the local park and the wheels, tyres and front forks are all...
A trip to Ramsgate
By Michelle Whelan
I had the pleasure of travelling around Kent this weekend (for various family events) with an over - night stay in Ramsgate. It was my first time in Ramsgate and I was very pleasantly surprised. Well how could I not be…a beautiful coast line, sizzling hot temperatures, a beach at the hotel’s front door and a whole day to lounge around in the sun with a long lazy lunch...
September 2011
6 posts
60's Tesco at Goodwood Revival
Tesco’s went all out for the Goodwood Revival Festival. They rescreated an entire store with products, staff and signage as accurate as possible. This is a great exmaple of playing to unique passions to show customers you care about what they do too…
The worlds first Pop Up Mall
By Richard Galt
BOX PARK 08/2011 from Roger Wade on Vimeo.
Boxpark Shoredtich is claiming to be the world’s first Pop Up Mall. It is using unused space on Shoreditch High Street, next to the Tea building, to lay 60 shipping containers and create an eclectic, experimental, creative microcosm for retail.
Even though it is opening in January it already has on board brands as large as...
A couple of nice new promos
Stella Artois have completely changed the front of its pack to make the beer case look like a shelf full of DVDs, keeping only its logo and the promotion out front. The Belgian beer offers 1 DVD per pack as a free gift-with-purchase. This bold promotion has tremendous standout thanks to the full front-of-pack makeover.
Lurpak is offering customers fresh herb seeds to plant and grow as a...
Where the web wins over physical stores
By Peter Batchelor
Back to school time and my son announced his need (desire) for new trainers. I had managed to steer him away from the Nike store, towards the discount ‘shed’. I was full of self-congratulation at this achievement (and the money I knew this would save) until we entered the shark feeding frenzy that is Sports Direct on a Sunday in early September. Piles of trainers...
Ocado's “virtual shop window”
By Peter Batchelor
Online grocery retailer Ocado is launching a “virtual shop window” at a shopping center in London, which will let consumers with iPhones or Android smartphones scan physical products to fill online baskets.
Shoppers have to download the Ocado On The Go app before they can buy products from the ‘window shop’.
Ocado spokesman Ben Lovett said, “The shop will be a printed...
So...where's the app?
By Rob Mitchell
It’s a mandatory these days … whenever presenting new marketing work and new ideas for a brand, there needs to be an image of an iPhone lurking in the presentation with an image ‘comped’ on to illustrate that the new fantastic idea can work on mobile and that they should create an app.
But I challenge how many ideas actually get taken through to the ‘app’ development...
August 2011
7 posts
Guilty Pleasure
by John Jessup
Now nobody loves a good, hearty, artery-clogging fry-up more than yours truly, but I have to admit to feeling bad about having had one for at least 10 minutes afterwards. It makes me wonder, are pleasures taken with a little guilt the most enjoyable? A Mars bar scoffed when you’ve just struggled to get into your jeans, or spending an extra hour down the boozer while telling the...
I'd love a piece of cheese
By Jacqui Gray
Many brands question the ROI that handing out samples to customers in retailers delivers, they know it can generate a significant sales uplift on the day of activity, but query the effects long term. The reality is that brands benefit not just in terms of the short term uplift but also what many fail to consider is the awareness that activity creates in-store, which is curious as...
A RIOT OF POSITIVITY
by Paul Faulds and Chris Rambridge
If you’d peered into a shop window last week you were more likely to have seen rows of empty shelves and broken glass than an eye-catching display of branded goods. So it was heartening to see this inspirational window put together by the good people of Peckham.
After looters had targeted a Poundland store in Rye Lane, a local theatre company created a...
FA Community Shield sponsored by McDonalds
The 2011/12 football season has kicked off again already - it comes around so quickly!
Last Sunday saw the pre-season FA Community Shield at Wembley, with two of the top flight Premier League Clubs giving us a great appetiser to the Season. A thrilling Manchester derby between Manchester Utd and Manchester City - with Manchester Utd just winning in the last few minutes of the Game...
SK Telecom Pilots Smart Shopping Cart
SK Telecom has started a pilot test for a new shopping cart in China. ‘Smart Cart’ uses a customer’s smartphoneand a cart equipped with a tablet PC to provide product information, shopping tips, and special discounts in real-time. It utilises indoor positioning technology to determine a user’s location and then displays information on the tablet screen relevant to that area of the store.After...
They've gone small to get big
By Sarah Leccacorvi
With over 48,000 convenience stores in the UK, that make up 20.5% of the total UK food and grocery market and a 6.3% increase in sales yoy, it’s not surprising, that the multiples are getting on the band wagon. Plus with shoppers breaking the habit of the traditional weekly shop, the convenience store is proving a popular destination for the top-up shop.
The latest to...
The changing expectations of the Shopper
By Richard Dutton
On Tuesday 26th July Arc hosted an informal evening discussion on the changing expectation of the modern shopper and the implications this will have on the retail industry as a whole. The evening was based around a piece of propriety research conducted by Arc UK which analysed of the shopping habits and views of 2,000 consumers across the UK. The event was chaired by Ian...
July 2011
4 posts
Zero-waste retail
by Dan Bevis
If you’re like me, you’ll feel an irrational swell of anger in the fruit aisle when you see something like two bananas or a pear shink wrapped on a polystyrene tray. C’mon, seriously? It’s fruit, it already has its own natural packaging!
In an unexpected move, it’s the Texans who are leading the charge against this kind of nonsense, with a new store...
The Art of Fine Dining
by Stuart Royall
Now, we’ll be the first to admit that we know nothing about the art of fine dining. Our idea of haute cuisine is a lunchtime trip to Nando’s. However, even we know that it’s generally not a good sign when a restaurant’s menu has more pictures than words. This is probably the last corner of society where the power of words holds sway over the power of an image. We’re not going to...
Perfect Marketing – Invented in 1903
by Peter Batchelor
The 2011 Tour de France is underway with more than its fair share of controversy, thrills and spills. The defending champion, Alberto Contador, is under investigation for failing a drug test at last year’s Tour and we were treated to the usual spills and crashes associated with a nervous peloton of the first week. Bradley Wiggins is under pressure to perform at Sky and...
Bookshops vs Amazon
by John Atmore
Bookshops have been in the news recently. Firstly there were rumours that the travel bookshop, made famous in the film Notting Hill, was up for sale. For a minute or two I wondered how the shop had survived all this time, given the Amazon effect, but then I realised that it had an obvious USP of its own and would be patronised by American tourists for many years hence, hoping to...
June 2011
6 posts
Celebrate the 100m, but invest in the long...
by Rob Mitchell
The Olympics are coming … the Olympics are coming! You might have heard, although you may not have had your ticket. In fact we’ve known about the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games since 2005, and it feels like some businesses have been busying themselves ever since to get ready whether they are (or are not) an official sponsor.
There are a myriad of initiatives,...
BRC Retail Symposium
By Peter Batchelor
For me, the highlight of the day at the recent BRC Retail Symposium was the talk by Howard Saunders of Ecochamber. He was truly inspiring and managed to fill the difficult post lunch session with imagination. His talk had three points on retailing trends;
1. Push for Posh
2. Anti-Big
3. Einstein Time
He included some great examples of retailers arcoss the globe demonstrating...
Degrees of complication: Coca-Cola Happiness Truck...
By Richard Dutton
It is interesting to compare two recent experiential campaigns from Coca-Cola in Brazil and Pepsi in the US – both have similar manifestos – Coca-Cola to deliver ‘random acts of kindness’ and Pepsi ‘random acts of sharing’ – but both executions vary hugely in terms of degree of complication. But which one works best?
Looking firstly at the Coca-Cola ‘Happiness Truck’ in...
We’re going mobile….
By Sarah Leccacorvi
With the evolution of smartphones, we have begun to see an influx in apps being developed by grocers to further support their shopper’s needs. From being able to find your local store to building an advanced shopping list, the apps are steadily developing to offer more and more features. The question that remains however, is how useful these apps really are? For example...
QR Codes – another opportunity to crash into...
by Jacqui Gray
QR Codes – Just another opportunity to crash into things whilst you’re out and about?
QR codes are not new. Apparently they have been around since 2007! They have been in Japan and Korea for a long time, in Europe among the Early Adopters for a while, but they have been in the UK mainstream only quite recently. Either way they meant nothing to me until very, very recently. Now...
Shopping Experiences
By Simon McLoughlin
As my area of expertise is experiential – I am always looking at the different ways brands are brought to life. Usually you see the best examples of this at festivals or other big outdoor events but retailers are quickly catching up.
Whilst out on one of my infrequent weekend shopping trips – I noticed that more and more retailers are embracing experiential. I guess the...
May 2011
9 posts
The boy from the black stuff
by John Jessup
I’ve just got back from a weekend in Dublin, which I highly recommend, providing you’ve pre-booked your re-hab.
Anyway one of the big attractions there is a tour of the Guinness factory, or ‘Guinness storehouse’ experience.
Being a tourist, creative director of an experiential agency and dedicated beer hunter I thought I’d better run a jaundiced eye over ‘Dublin’s major...
A Bid for Better Copy
by Paul Faulds and Chris Rambridge
I remember once listening to a talk by the famous writer Peter Souter where he said that examples of good, persuasive, sales copy could be found everywhere - even on the back of a ketchup bottle! So, with this in mind, off to the shops I pop in search of a big dollop of inspiration.
After a quick skip through the aisles it soon becomes clear that the best...
So...did you get your tickets?
by Caron Beith
2012 is going to be the year of tickets and a sporting extravaganza for the UK – London 2012 Olympic Games, UEFA EURO 2012, London 2012 Paralympic Games, not to mention all the regulars such as Wimbledon, Glastonbury, Six nations Rugby, British Grand Prix and more…
There were 20 million requests for tickets to London 2012 (from 1.8m people) and more than 12 million requests...
Shirt Bar
by Dan Bevis
Ever been perusing the shirt rack in your local retailer wondering whether to go for a Winchester fit with double button cuff and cutaway collar, and thought “I wish I was in the pub instead”?
In Sydney you don’t have to choose; introducing Shirt Bar. It’s a bar, it’s a shirt shop, but more importantly it’s a destination.
Customers can choose from a range of beverages from high...
Hubbub
by Dan Bevis
It’s all very well evangelising about the merits of intelligent and conscientious shopping - buying your meat from a butcher and your veg from a greengrocer and so forth, but you need certain key things for that to happen; the actual shops need to be nearby, and you need the time and inclination to do it. It’s even harder for Londoners, with the lack of lettuce-cultivators and...
The Royal Retail Results
The results from the Royal Wedding are in and it seems that Brits have spent more than £500 million on Royal Wedding paraphernalia and consumerables!
In the build up to the big day shops sold out of bunting, flags, and novelty table decorations, whilst the Great British public gorged themselves on cucumbers, tea cakes and strawberries. Waitrose reported a 50% increase in the sale of cucumbers (the...
You can have it all... for £50
by Ian Thomas
It is interesting how a tactical idea can turn into a major strategic driver. Sainsbury’s has recently launched a major campaign to “feed your family for £50”. This is based on meal planners for feeding a family of four, three meals a day. It is an evolution of their “feed your family for a fiver “ campaign which was one of its responses to the perceived price gap between...
Got your attention?
by Kevin Travis
Every clothes shop on the high street wants you to walk through their doors and buy their product. That’s why they have window displays to lure you in. But when was the last time a window display genuinely grabbed your attention like this fantastic window for Elle McPherson did mine?
It all depends on two things as far as I am concerned: 1 – Know your target audience and 2...