Your Shopping Bag is More Important Than Your Radio Spot

”Customer experience needs to be thought of as a strategic agenda item on par with and actually integrated with corporate strategy, managing the brand, and new product  development”

Michael Kanazawa & Dr. Robert H. Miles,  Big Ideas to Big Results

You’re no longer in the business of selling stuff.

You’re in the business of entertaining your audience and engaging them in meaningful behavior. If you do it well enough, they will not just buy your products and services repeatedly, but they will tell their friends about it. (Given your products and services are top notch.)
And we all know that a recommendation from a friend is worth so much more than any radio spot in the world, no matter how clever the spot is. It’s how brands become market leaders. Period.

Read complete article on Slideshare

Mojito: First Drink To Get Its Own Dedicated Embassy

An embassy for a drink? Really?!?!?

The Havana Club has created a pop up shop of a different kind to promote Mojitos in the best possible way: an environment that oozes fun, freshness and Cuban lifestyle in an experience that speaks to all five senses. The colors, aromas, tastes, sights and sounds seduce visitors of this Milan pop up store to take a brake and be taken away to Havana for a real, freshly made Mojito while strolling a small market, enjoying live Cuban music and entertainment.

Apart from the fact that summer has started here in Montreal and that I really love Mojitos and the smell of a freshly cut lime, I feel the interventions will be a huge success in communicating the the brands vision and values in a very engaging way. NO need to preach about the advantages of fresh, high quality ingredients over pre-prepared, ready made Mojito mixes, when an entire Mojito embassy is dedicated to spread the good word.

Instead of creating a message and sending it through conventional channels, Havana Club shares its passion for the best possible Mohito through this engaging live intervention that allows the audience to experience the message directly and through interaction with the real people, zipping away real good Mojitos.

I feel like going to the market to grab some limes myself now…

(via Trendland)

Free Extended Naps in Selected New York’s Furniture Stores

‘Try before you buy‘ is a well established approach to allow potential customers experience the product before the actual  purchase.

ECO furniture designer COCO MAT from Greece takes the concept a step further creating hotel like show rooms where people can take an extended nap of several hours. Taking a brake from the huzzle and buzzle of NYC’s busy street’s in such a comforting and inviting environment allows you to get a real sense of the quality of the product. Furthermore the founder, Paul Efmorfidis doesn’t mind if “nappers” don’t turn into buyers, but aims to increase top of mind awareness and positive word-of-mouth for COCO MAT with this intervention. The free orange juice, espresso and Greek foods complement the experience, speaking to all 5 senses and making it so much more inviting, without the need or pressure to close a deal.

An expereince that’s totally on brand while generating lot’s of earned media for the company.

(via Springwise)

Discover how interactive art can alleviate suffering for children in a hospital waiting room

Imagine you’re 6 years old, you don’t feel well and your mom takes you to a hospital for the first time.

On top of really not feeling well, you’re in this unfamiliar and big scary place, not knowing what will happen to you. As you sit down in the waiting room you notice some colorful lines that move over the wall and you want to find out what this is all about. You discover you can actually play with the lines, move them around, and as you do that you hear sounds. Before you know it you make music and another kid you did not know before joins you and together you discover a new and exciting way to play and have fun with music. Suddenly the hospital doesn’t seem to scary anymore and you also think you feel much better.

Something along those lines must have been the thinking behind a new interactive wall at the Saint-Justine, a mother-children’s Hospital here in Montreal. In an attempt to make the waiting room area more inviting and less boring or scary, Montreal-based Moment Factory (who were also responsible for the spectacular visuals and stage design of Madonna’s  half time show at the Super Bowl) conceived this interactive wall, inviting children to discover their creative side, playing with sight, sounds, colors and movement. All this can be done by several children at the same time, enabling them to explore, discover and create  together.

What a great way to engage children around art in an environment that most of us associate with discomfort and suffering, creating new associations, potentially turning a hospital visit into a more positive and playful expereince, at least partly. Another inspiring example where art can improve the quality of life, and in return help the Saint-Justine Hospital to offer better services.

(via Grafika)

Experiential Design In Prison

I never thought of a prison as a subject I would write about in my blog, but here we are…

The German artist Markus Linnenbrink created an incredibly colorful journey in a tunnel in a prison in Duesseldorf (Germany), where visitors pass through to see their friends and loved ones.

If you take a took at the images you get a sense of the space. Imagine what the tunnel must have been like before the transformation: a claustrophobic, long winding space with monochrome white walls and those ultra functional yet hideous neon lights. What a depressing expereince it must have been for the visitors.

The new tunnel is so much more interesting, inviting and playful. It nearly makes you forget where you are. I like especially the juxtaposition of the graphical use of the colour with the the roughness of the dripping paint. The paint drips feel like imperfections that really make the experience more human, and playful, and less “academic”, allowing visitors who might otherwise be intimidated by the art work, access to the piece more easily. And even if you don’t care at all about art, these new walls are bound to improve the overall prison experience for the visitor. It must be hard enough having to go through this ordeal. Why not look for ways to improve a dire situation using art as a catalyst. I love it when art improves people’s live with such simple means.

I hope this example will inspire other decision makers to think of ways to improve an often neglected environment. If you have any other examples, comparable to this one, please let us know.

(via Fubiz)

 

School without walls

Danish architecture firm Rosan Bosch has developed this incredible playful space for the Swedish Free School Organization Vittra. The school wanted to have a space without walls that stimulates the children’s creativity, “where the physical space is the school’s most important tool in their everyday and pedagogical development”.

Five learning spaces were created to accommodate the various situations that children and teacher are facing in a regular day at school (though nothing seems regular about that school). The spaces are: ‘The Cave’ (a private space for learning), ‘The Lab’ (experimentation and practical work), ‘The Camp Fire’ (group process), ‘The Watering Hole’ (a place for encounters and impulses), and ‘The Showoff’ (a stage to show off progress and discoveries).

Apart from being such an colorful, playful and engaging space (which is always a PLUS in any work related enviromnet and I will talk about it in one of my next posts), what interests me most about this project are the social and behavioral implication. How the various spaces, compositions, textures, colors and overall atmospheres of a space like that contributes greatly to the overall happiness of the people living and working in it. I’m curious to find out more about the level of happiness, physical and mental well being and performance of children and staff. What sense of self does a child develop in this environment. How adapt is a child learning and growing in such an open space. Will children be more open (minded), more understanding, more collaborative human being when they go out in the world? I’d be surprised if not.

Hopefully this example from Stockholm will inspire other decision makers all over the world.

(via DesignTaxi)