New STORY to tell

A retail space that changes every 4 to 8 weeks. 

OK, that's insane. 

We've seen small retail spaces do this across multiple brands but never one that is curated by one brand. Not that actually closes and changes the fit-out each time! Well, now we have seen and what we saw was truly impressive.

But first, to back up a bit.

This trip to NYC started off feeling a little bit conservative. Talking to big brands and getting the sense that they thought change was something that happened on the moon, we started to feel disappointed. So off to find something of interest in the big apple. Surely this great city hasn't slowed down and got boring all of a sudden. Heading out down the High Line (which is amazing btw) we dropped in to Chelsea and chatted to a few locals. The talk of the town? Stories. A project curated by Rachel Shechtman with a single vision: Retail has a new STORY.

We finally found it and upon entry was surprised to find that this was not a low key, cheap approach to retail in an attempt to be different for different sake. It was good. Really good. Excellent branding. Superb interiors. And of course, a great story. The story. At this point, relief. Relief that that sense of worry just passed on by. NYC was back and ready to deliver.

Story is more like a magazine than a store. In the same way as a mag, the store completely changes to reflect a theme, trend or issues. Originally set up as a matchmaker between brands and consumers the space just keeps going further and further. From making pasta to hosting TED talks. 

Each story has a relevance to issues, trends or events happening at that very time. Previous stories include Good, Love, Made in America, Art, Wellness and of course Home for the Holidays, happening right now.

As part of the talk at the A.R.E. we talked about the importance of pop-ups and the sense of change they bring to a community. The fact that this sense of change keeps people coming back to bricks and mortar. As a whole, the US don't really embrace this new opportunity but this store, this goes way further than anything we've seen anywhere in the world! 

Could this be done in the UK? Would it bring a sense of something new to a town on the cutting edge? Eh, yeah! To the Westfield's of the world, get in touch with Rachel. This the next big thing.

The first ever store in the World selling emotions...

The Worlds first store to ever sell emotions. A few seedy locations in soho may well challenge that but nevertheless, this is a bold claim. Not the 'Worlds first' part, the 'selling emotions' part. Could this blacked out retail unit in Chelsea, NYC, really sell emotions? Lets see. 

Step inside and we're greeted by an unexpected coolness. This definitely isn't a dodgy sex shop. A white box with flora and colour everywhere. Wonderfully propped with Manhattan style art and bell-domes neatly arranged on a long, slick white table. And the smell...the smell is hard to pin point as there seems to be a collision of tones in the air but its nice. Its warming and ever so slightly homely.

A host greets us with the uncanny NYC charm, asks us to sign in and register our bar code. Then we're introduced to Katie and Mel who lift one bell-dome at a time, explain each smell and teach us how to smell the different scents. 

After this we are walked to a circular space with 5 doors. A bit Alice like and equally intriguing. Each room has been set with a theme. Relax, Flirty. Slightly cheesy but fitting. Step in to each room and there is a unique smell, each with photo opportunities for you to capture the essence of the room and embrace mood.

In fairness, the fun was over after the second room. The rooms become overpowering and your nostels felt abused. Not that that stopped SJR getting half naked in an attempt to win a prize that didn't exist. The experience over and yes, I did feel different and had certainly felt emotional at times. But where was the sell? Where was the trade of emotions for some other commodity? 

It was only when we went to leave that we flicked through a book on the side and then realised who and what product was behind it all. And what a surprise. Totally unexpected. 

Glade. Glade candles. The store was selling candles! Now I'm not a candle type of guy but wow, I'd buy of the back of this. We love this kind of disruption. Flat out bonkers but relevant. A totally different way to sell candles, not just a new logo or new brand.

So is the claim justified? Its pushing it a bit so questionable. Was it an amazingly unexpected immersive experience that blew our minds? Hell yeah! Truly original and wonderfully executed. Only addition we'd add? Have a separate route out so as not to give it away on entry and display the product for grab and go purchases. You'd make a killing.

Hats off to Glade for one of the best and most unexpected finds on Manhattan.

Keith goes KITH

The level of cool in the sneaker industry has gone through the roof recently. With the emergence of ATHLEISURE as a trend, guys and girls alike are going crazy for limited editions and sports wear that can rival a pair of Jimmy Choos or an All Saints jacket.

On a recommendation, we were directed towards KITH in NYC Soho. The sneaker store on its own is legendary but it just got extended to adjoin the adjacent apparel store. And what a environment! Super slick, white installation-like space with sparing visual merchandising and subtle art pieces with everyday objects. From all white sneakers en masse to white, grey and black pencils used to make mesmerising works of art, this feels more like a Jil Sander store than an urban sportswear brand.

But, and there's a big but. As cool as it was, it was possibly the most disappointing stores we visited. It was the only store we visited in NYC that had staff that just didn't care. They were too cool for school and as such totally spoilt the experience. A real shame but it just goes to prove once again....you can design the best space in the world but if the staff don't live and breath the essence of the brand and make people welcome, forget it. Save your money, go on a spanking holiday and start something else instead.

Tactile Digital experiences: We just don't see the point of doing digital experiences in store...

That is, we don't if you're just going to stick in an iPad or a touch screen to give customers access to your web site. What's the point? We'd much rather surf the web from the comfort of a sofa with a beer, safe in the knowledge the kids are, at last, in bed! Add to that, everyone from our eldest at the age of 3 to Nana at the age of 92 can, and has, used a touch screen. The novelty factor has pretty much worn off. 

So how can digital offer more in the real world?

Everyone is talking about digital. At Euroshop earlier this year, everyone was talking about the impact of digital on physical space. Yet few we're actually saying anything at all (unless it was back end operational processes....yawn). 

This got us thinking and we reckon there is an answer that makes digital in the real world totally unique. Tactile Digital experiences.

Think about the main reasons we flock to physical retail spaces:

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1. We like to touch things 

2. We like to smell things

3. We like to discover things for ourselves

4. Its convenient 

5. Its social

Think about pretty much every digital experience you've ever had in store. Its cold. You're never really 'in it' or 'part of it'. Just a mere controller of pre-determined routes.

Think differently. Try to imagine a digital experience that you become part of. One that is activated by something physical rather than touching a button or a screen. This is a Tactile Digital Experience.

Our first ever experience of this type of experience was back in 1992. Disney had just opened the Alien ride/experience in Florida and when the Alien escaped and ran around the building in the pitch black, air jets behind your legs sent burst of air at the same time the surround sound made it seem like he just ran behind you. Oh, and when he was shot, they shot jets of water at you that felt like the aliens blood. Lovely. We now know this as Haptic technology and it will become part of the home 4D cinema experience within the next 5 years.

Although this is a theme park ride, its parallels with retail are vast. At the end of the day, this is true theatre. And this is what landlords and brands want to recreate in the retail world. Experiences that you are a part of, that you can feel. That make you smile and want to tell your friends about.

Bring it right up to 2014 and there have been some superb examples of Tactile Digital Experiences. 

Audi City with their RFID enable car configurator that has changed the way you buy an Audi today (click here to read more). Pick up any swatch from the colour wall and whilst your personalised Audi is displayed on screen, place it on the table and the car automatically changes colour. You didn't touch any buttons, you didn't ask it to, it just did. And why did you pick up that Flame Red swatch instead of the black you choose on screen? Because its vibrant and looks lush in real life that you just can't appreciate on screen.

Klepierre's inspiration tunnel is another wonderful example whereby a whole immersive experience is kick started by the products you have just bought. Through ID recognition and push notification messaging you are invited to a world of inspiration that again would be impossible to do within the restrictions of the real world.

Next up was an experimental installation at the Digital Revolution exhibit at the Barbican recently. The last room was almost pitch black, filled with smoke and had lasers pointing downwards. Step up to the laser and you could knock it away from you by pushing it, kicking it, bumping it. But it would always come back like a pendulum. You could bounce it between friends or put your arms around it to trap it. Although purely experimental, you could almost feel it as you touched it. It felt like it had a physical entity. And what made it a true Tactile Digital Experience was that its impossible to recreate online.

Not all Tactile Digital Experiences work out though. The highest profile example of this is Burberry Live on Regent St. Pick up a handbag and hold it in front of a mirror. The mirror magically becomes a screen and then shows you the bag....turning round. That's it. The same bag your holding is now turning round on a screen. Why on Gods earth did someone think this would heighten the shopping experience? The content of the digital has to go way past what the physical space will allow. 

Don't get us wrong, there are some awesome digital experiences out there that aren't touch screens that work beautifully. Inamo's projection tables, the Boots app, The Pepsi Max bus shelter, Disney MagicBand, Emart Sale Navigation, they all offer more to enhance the real world experience. Tactile Digital Experiences just go that bit further and push it in a whole new direction.

So how do we define a truly worthwhile Tactile Digital Experience? 3 key components:

1. It has to be initiated by something physical

2. It has to go further than the limitations of physical space

3. It can't be recreated online

TYC are currently working on a Tactile Digital Experience for one of our clients who wants to change the UK public perception of health retail. This experience will allow customers to engage in a sector that currently seems almost impossible to understand and in a way that just seem natural. We'll be able to share more details shortly as it will hit the high street in December.

In a time when everyone is talking about saving the high street and reshaping the physical space with digital, these type of experiences may very well bring the excitement back to bricks and mortar and provide a reason to step away from the mouse. Go the real world!

Solar Frickin roadways - its the future!

As our agency mantra is all about 'Only working with clients who want to change a sector or create something remarkable' we're always on the look out for those who are working in a same way.

And oh boy, have these guys change a sector! Solar Roadways are a US company who have come up with an ingenious idea to not only change roads, but how to solve part of the world energy problem. 

Solar Roadways have created a modular paving system of solar panels that can replace any conventional road surface! Amongst many other cool features, the panels generate renewable energy and can even heat the road in icy conditions! 

And what a way to promote such an incredible invention! Watch the video and be prepared to fall in love with this brand.

A great approach and it just shows bluesky thinking can become reality and change the way we live. This summer, Solar Roadways raised 2.2m$ on Indiegogo, which was more than double the original funding.

Not sure if we'll ever be able to change world energy problems but we'll certainly tackle each challenge on at a time. Yesterday, the retail landscape of TfL alongside changing the UK publics perception of Health retail.

 Who knows what tomorrow might bring? But whatever the challenge, it'll be frickin awesome just like Solar Frickin roadways!

The French blow us away with an Inspiration Corridor

Everyone talks about meaningful digital experiences and yet rarely do we see them in retail.Recent highlights have been Emart digi navigational shopping and Tesco QR wall, both in South Korea.

We're always on the search for ways to take a digital experience 'out-of-the-computer' and this little beauty has blown us away!

French Mall operator Klepierre have teamed up with DigitasLBi Labs to create an Inspiration Corridor. A corridor that demonstrates the future possibilities within retail using location marketing, body scanners, product scanners, high-tech touch screens combined with a geo-location enabled App.

Bought a pair of shoes and not sure how to put a look together around them? Not a problem. Step in to the corridor and it scans your body and clothes to understand the basics. Then scan your shoes and the corridor will begin to put collections together based around different social occasions.

Swipe the screens to find the right look for you. Now for the really smart part in terms of its connection with the real world. Your choices are sent to your smart phone through their App and it then shows you a floor plan of the mall and directs you to the store to make your purchase. EPIC!

See for yourself how it all seamlessly works together and be prepared for your view on the future of retail to be changed forever.

The smart part of this experience is how it takes the best of both worlds. Endless possiblities in the digital world that you just can't do in the real world (your stock holding would be bigger than Amazons warehouse!) combined with that tactile, hands on experience of touching and trying on an item of clothing in the real world. Truly connected experiences like this are the future.

Hats off to both parties involved for a great piece of innovation.

Watch the news board on TYC website for new digital experiences that we're about to launch that take the digital experience 'out-of-the-computer' to make it more meaningful, delightful and surprising.

Seeing is believing

Sometimes we see things that we know can't be real but the mind tricks us and common sense goes straight out of the window!

So hats off to Pepsi for blowing our minds and 'Maxing' out the world of possibilities with this exquisite piece of augmented reality!

We won't spoil the awesomeness by telling you how they did it, but click the video below and be prepared to see aliens, tigers and abducting monsters right in front of you!

Skating is back and going straight to the top of cool!

For anyone who ever doubted it, skating is still cool. And to prove it, its headed straight to the top of the cool list by opening up a skate park at Selfridges!

Take a look at the pics and see for yourself.

For those who participate in the act of all things skate, get down there and check it out!

Turning Charity on its head

We all do it! We go to a shopping mall empty handed and leave with bags of shiny new things, some of us wondering what just happened and how did I afford all this!?

Brazilian advertising agency Loducca is radically encouraging a change in this habit. 'A Loja Vazia' or 'The Empty Shop' first popped up in a mall in Sao Paulo last year with the simple instruction – 'bring clothes to the shop instead of taking them from the shop'.

The reason? To collect clothes to help those in need.  An innovative new way of approaching charity and the collection of clothing donations, 'A Loja Vazia' is a sleek pop-up store that starts as literally an empty shop in the middle of a mall acting as a drop-off for donated clothing.

Stylists man the shop each day and create fashionable displays of the donated clothes as if the store were a typical high-street fashion store. The store is emptied each night ready for the next days donations and the process begins again. The result? Well, VillaLobos mall managed to collect 3.2 tons of clothes and help thousands of people in need!

Amazingly, the project has been designed as an open-source platform meaning any individual or company can access the plans, communications campaign and all other details for free!

'A Loja Vazia' has already hit the UK, with the first popping up in Manchester's Arndale in  earlier this year.

Who would of it thought, charity becoming premium!

Meet The Yard Creative, new vid for 2014

We decided that it was about time that we invested in a proper video and here is the result. All new for 2014 with our refurbished office, Steve talks about the kind of work that we do and why we like to do things a little differently. We hope you like it! Let us know....

Meet The Yard Creative! from The Yard Creative on Vimeo.

Big thanks to Dom Stuart for production and Ben Wiseman for music!

EuroShop 2014

So the growing beast that is EuroShop is here once more. And what a trip!

The sprawling mass of wears for the retail world felt endless. I mean, how many mannequins does the world really need?! 13 hanger-style halls showcased the worlds best innovations and products our weird little world has to give. It was vast.

Shifting through it was challenging (an epic 5472 Nike Fuel points gained on Sunday alone!) But don't get us wrong, look deep and you'll find some gems.

Kendu have potentially changed retail fitout forever! Using a simple banner technology that has been around for years, they have now integrated it within a system to create a space that you could realistically change the entire ambience of a store within a matter of hours! Instead of wall finishes the banner system creates the entire ambience of the space integrated within the retail system, cupboards, drawers and doors.  Add interactive lighting, magnetic panels and solid fitting structures behind the system and you have and totally changeable physical representation of your latest campaign. Genius.

Baro lighting took the lighting hall by storm. Demonstrating LED technology in such a simple, elegant and relevant way that was reminiscent of the iGuzzini set up of days gone by, they engaged and wowed visitors with every step. Clever trick too. Hiring two stands either side of the walkway and forcing visitors right through the centre of the stand by bridging at both high and low levels.

The Visplay stand once again oozed excellence and precision but with an unexpected twist this year. The stand (probably one of the biggest) was constructed of recyclable plastic storage boxes promoting Visplays ever green credentials. Their new systems have yet again set the bar another notch higher and be sure, the rest will copy.

Schweitzer went all out with their Dept 3.0. A completely different approach from Visplay, their stand was based around the experience of retail and the wonders that can be achieved in the physical world. Crossing design, PM, rollout and bespoke construction, they have definitely carved a niche for themselves. Their freestanding kiosk designs were inspired by a piece of genius! Unrestricted by plumbing needs, they turned the requirements of water volume in to a talking point that mesmerised visitors beyond belief. Something so pure in such volume looked beautiful and yet it came from necessity. 

Slightly geeky, was the dynamics of quick lay vinyl flooring from Polyflor that looked just like any normal floor but without the need to adhere it in place. Once again, great for speed of fit out and no different from any normal vinyl flooring.  

For those in food retail, Norpe have developed a super slick fresh food chiller with clever double tier display. The top for fresh, the bottom for pre-packaged, leveraging the trend of associated-quality for convenience.

Also in food, Ansorgs illuminated wine bottle holders made the product look stunning! Imagine a store with almost no ambient lighting and walls lined with these holders.....! Nice.

What really stood out though, was the divide between digital and physical. Which was strange when you consider how all the talks (most, shockingly low in content) where about the two worlds coming together to create a new experience in retail. You only had to stand back and look at the expenditure on both sectors stands to clearly see where the largest proportion of cash was being spent. The physical-worlds stands dwarfed those in the digital arena, perhaps proving the physical need and desire of the customer is still very much at the forefront of retail.

When most talked about digital it was embarrassing. Missing the key component, wonderfully highlighted by the Managing Director Leasing at ECE, Klaus Striebich, was the emotional value on the retail experience. The talk titled the future of Omichannel would yet again take us down the path of the Google bread checkout experience if they had their way. One that becomes void of human interaction and simply a box ticking exercise. If that's what the future of physical retail holds, give me a hut on a deserted island any day.

The one truly incredible integrated experience came from LK-AG. Utilising the recently launched iBeacon technology, they demonstrated the ease and beauty of proximity marketing. Whether for sales or experience alone, this technology goes past permission marketing and NFC to give real value through cross platform retail in the real world. And for £100 for 3 beacons, great value too!

At last Verifone iPhone mobile payment device was on show readily available to the masses. So perhaps the day of the cash desk is no more? Especially with rumours that Apple may be about to launch their own payment system powered by iBeacons and the new iWatch. Watch this space.

Axis Communications have teamed up with Visualise and are offering analytics through their security devices. Providing quantifiable data to help understand customer behaviour it will only be a matter of time when all stores have this integrated as part of their storer design. As Google have shown, data is key.

As always, alongside the giants were the newcomers and those challenging convention in their own way.

NUD we're displaying their beautifully simple colour flexes with an array of wonderful lamps attached. Want a cheap but visually stunning lighting feature? Why not try stringing up 50 of these up and see the impact they make!

In the 'Made in China' section, there were some beautifully crafted mannequins most noticeably the 'face-on' ones. You could have some real fun with these.

Multplx were milling around too with their super-fresh range of incredibly well designed security devices for mobile and tablets. Taking inspiration from Apple designed goods, security never looked so sexy. 

And lastly, the beautifully holistic concepts from Molo. Using paper and recycled PET, Molo has created naturally inspiring lights, screens and tables that challenge the considered normal constructions. The 3m high acoustic screen actually cut out all the noise of the show and created an area of calm in an otherwise bonkers environment.

In summary:
1. A great show not to be missed, though be prepared to dig deep to find the good stuff. 
2. The worlds of digital and physical are still massively separated
3. Never underestimate the emotional connections forged by face to face experiences

Ps apologies for the lack of our usual info sharing through twitter. One of the worlds biggest shows had no free wifi and wanted to charge 8 euros an hour! Epic fail :(