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Thanks to you all

TYC team

A scent of a story

We often talk about the stories customers can tell about our clients brands. And recently we've discovered a little retail experience in Redchurch street that we've been dining off for weeks now!

It's called Le Labo and its an Agender perfumery shop, no bigger than 500sqft. From the street it just looks like another shop, very beautifully designed in an urban-cool sense, but nothing to stop you dead. 

Inside, on first glance, much the same. Polished concrete, raw steel, Georgian glass and wonderful visual merchandising. But the surprise comes when you engage with a member of staff. 

"There are ten perfumes, all Agender, and they range from very light and fresh scents on the left, going through to heavier, musky scents on the right. Once you have chosen the scent that you like, let me know, chose a bottle size and I'll make it up for you".

"I'm sorry, did you say make it up for me?"

"That's right." 

And as cool as you like, she walks off. 

Now it's worth mentioning that I'm not big in to perfumes. There are so many out there and the thought of wandering in to a perfume hall and playing lotto with big brands that give promise of a more perfect me just because I wear their perfume, sends me in to a spin.

However, here's a simple 'scale' of smells that you can understand and then they'll make it right in front of me. 

Once I'd chosen (Bergamonte), the technician opens a huge fridge, pulls out several brown, medicinal bottles and with scientific precision measures dosages and mixes my perfume. I can then customise my label, it gets boxed up and I'm good to go!

"Don't use it for 5 days as the perfume needs to go through the macerate process to bond together. After that, you're away!"

An incredible experience that saw me buy perfume for the first time in over 10 years. Why? It was simple to chose and amazing to watch as something was created for me. 

Now that's a real status story.

Question: What stories do your customers tell about your brand?  

HintHunt London

Last night the TYC team had an adventure north of the river.

We like to get out and about and see what's happening in this amazing city of ours but I wondered how this particular activity got signed off.  Spending an hour trying to get out of a small, locked room wasn't exactly my idea of a good time.  Luckily, behind the inconspicuous door just down the road from Euston a little place called HintHunt has made being locked in a room fun.  Good clean, mystery game fun.

After being split into two small teams and shown to our separate rooms we had to work out how to best utilise anything and everything in there to solve clues and crack codes in order to escape.  Can't go into more detail than that as we'd hate to spoil the surprise for you but the hour flew by.   We shrieked every time a clue pinged up on the screen above the giant timer and hilariously, even the most laid back of work colleagues found their (very) competitive steaks.  Can happily report that both teams made it out with time to kill, beating the 50:50 odds.

We left feeling exhilarated, if a little ashamed of the far to frequent group high fives.
The landlords at the ‪Times Square Center in Dubai have already seen the commercial value of HintHunt, it's a perfect offering that will drive traffic to malls looking for more leisure activities.  Ahmad Al Saheb, a partner at HintHunt Dubai summed up the local response in a statement “We are so delighted with the positive response the game received as soon as we announced we were launching it in Dubai. This reflects people’s need for a live group fun activity away from online gaming, where friends can de-stress and spend a good time together interacting, sharing and creating a special memory”.

The HintHunt concept also lends itself well for experiential marketing and could be a really fun way of engaging customers through direct physical immersion into a brand.

- Amy, TYC Studio Manager & Customer Advocate

It's time for shopping malls to get fit

The explosion of health is so hot right now! Betterment is a macro trend, Athleisure is killing it on the runway, lycra is trendy and every corner now has a juice bar on it!

At the same time, you have the overwhelming success on malls over the high street. Convenient shopping destinations that offer most aspects of modern day, social life within a huge expanse of urban space.

So it was only a matter of time that the two worlds would collide. But how and where?

With the announcement that Toyko has been named the number 1 city for Quality of Life by Monocle, its no surprise that this collision has happened first in Japan. The Osaka Air Track is a development pioneered by the Tokyu Fudosan Holdings Group where a 300m running track has been suspended above and built as an integral part of their new Q Mall!

And oh my, how they have smashed it in every sense! 

Opened in April 2015, the project was a result of the property group working with local residents to understand the needs of the local area. The outcome is a mall with Sports & Fitness at its core. Macro trend No.2; Local Love, tick! Love the neighbour, include them in the process and they will come.

And this isn't it. Oh no; Futsal courts, climbing wall, fitness centre, swimming pool, all necessary facilities and of course a plethora of retail stores to support this way of life.

 
The track itself is the main attraction and visually puts the mall on the map, quite literally: the green astroturf standing out beautifully against the surrounding cityscape. Whether you're in the walking lane pushing a buggy or putting in your PB, the track welcomes all and encourages quality of life with the convenience of everything else the mall offers all in one place. 

At TYC we often talk about the trend of Status Stories, and how experiences are starting to hold court more so than material objects in social circles. What more of a story could a mall hope for than this? Its uniqueness gives it visitors a wealth of experiences that don't just involve stores taking their hard earned cash.

Sure, UK malls have the odd gym and health food store, but is this something we should be considering? Consider that 67% of men and 57% of women in the UK are over weight, could malls have a major part to play to help improve the health of the UK public?

With major new developments on the horizon at Croydon and Brent Cross, perhaps these could be the first UK malls to embrace health at its core. After all, The Wellthy consumer is using peak physical and mental health as their status symbol and what a better way for malls to become central to that status.

Times are a changing. Time to get fit.

Project Story: Creating a brand and retail offer for an energetic entrepreneur

PART #1: BRAND CREATION

From the very first moment that we met Carli we were completely smitten by her charming character and undeniable energy and drive. Amazingly Carli has been building her business offering over the past five years by providing personal training services supported by nutritional advice and more recently providing healthy meals and drinks as a full solution for healthy living.

This is our story of how TYC and entrepreneur Carli Wheatley have worked together to take her business to the next level and land on the British retail landscape with a BOOM!

We first met Carli on the 12th Feb 2015 and from the outset it was clear that her persona needed to be at the forefront of the brand, cleverly she had already surrounded her self with a great team but the focus needed to be distilled. We discussed our suitability to work together as a team and decided it was a great match.

Week 1 - Project kick off (20th May)

To kick off the project we organised a creative day where we had great fun getting to know Carli and her opinions and beliefs in regards to health and fitness. Phrases such as "you are your home" and "do it for yourself" kept reoccurring and Carli shared that she had stopped trying to be someone else pleasing others and instead decided to be true to herself. A strong message to convey.

By no stroke of luck Carli had already secured not one but two retail units in the sought after Canary Wharf shopping mall with some serious backing. Feeling bang on trend with the current Wellthy and Sweat Equity movements we set about designing a brand that would take Carli's message to a health and fitness orientated customer demographic.

Week 2 - Brand workshop (1st June) and Brand review (3rd June)

So the team had chance to think things over and now was the time for the ideas to hit the paper; the first step was for the team to set about brainstorming brand name options, taking the insights that Carli had given us about her brand on the creative day and looking for names and strap lines that embodied those defining factors.

After pages of options and a workshop with Carli we settled on a name and tag line that represented Carli's ethos of being true to yourself and putting your health and well being first; "Protein Haus; your body is your home".  

Next step was to create a logo mark that would visually convey the message and again we designed a several options from the colourful and contemporary to the sleek and polished. Again following a brand review with Carli a clean design was chosen that was bold and strong.

Week 3 - Brand presentation and approval (8th June)

The final element of creating the brands graphical presence was to take the logo and apply it to other business communications such as menu boards, product packing and staff uniforms. The simplicity of the logo allowed the secondary graphics to be fun, bold and exciting but also changeable in the future whilst keeping the core element of the brand consistent.  

 

All of these final ideas for execution of the brand were pulled in to a brand presentation that was presented to Carli and the main stakeholders of Protein Haus, with approval of all brand components being gained from just 3 weeks from the start of the project.

The next phase of the project is designing a physical environment for the brand that gives it an explosive start from the blocks. The brand will be applied to both an external and internal kiosk, website and packaging.

Follow our blog to read the next part of our journey creating a brand and UK retail presence for Protein Haus.

Long live LUSH

We have been banging on about LUSH for many years now. We regularly take clients on What’s New tours and a trip to LUSH is often on the agenda because it is hard to beat the theatre surrounding the product and the super immersive customer experience – there’s hardly a digital screen in sight. So we already love LUSH.

BUT...

A recent visit to the new flagship store on Oxford Street, London sent our LUSH love affair in to over drive!

Let’s take a step back to get to know the brand before we go on. LUSH is a British company born in Poole circa 1995. Their founding members include a husband and wife team and some of the founders have backgrounds in herbal trichology (study of the hair and scalp) and beauty therapy. Originally mixing products in their kitchen for The Body Shop the LUSH founders have always demonstrated their passion for making fresh, hand made products with no excessive packaging and absolutely no testing on animals.

The new flagship store on Oxford Street, London has been open for about three months and is spread over three floors, with over 200 unique products in this store that you cannot find anywhere else in the world.

The store is a feast for the senses, literally, before you have even entered the store the very unique aroma of LUSH is floating across the busy London street (love it or hate it). Once inside the store it’s an explosion of colours and bodies moving about, it feels like you have walked into a fresh food market. Even the product tester displays look like something from a market with crushed ice, oyster shells and natural materials. The shelving systems and product bays are beautifully crafted too, no corners have been cut here.

What sets this shopping experience apart from others is the fact that even though there is not a digital screen in sight, customer engagement and interactivity is at an all time high. Customers are actively encouraged to test products and the highly trained staff are on hand (in abundance) to talk to you about pretty much any aspect of the product and the company – it’s refreshing to speak to store staff that have such devotion to a cause.

I discovered that such good staff is not a stroke of luck – even the interview process is specifically focused to find perfect LUSH employees. Each new member of staff is given an intensive training course that spans a number of weeks which encourages staff to become brand advocates that believe deeply in the core principles of the brand. Now that's how you do it properly!

In the basement there is a LUSH Spa with four treatment rooms and a 'reception area' that feels more like a English Cottage than a London Spa. From the thoughtfully composed birdsong music to the quirky treatments for body and mind, LUSH have created something unique here.

There is a Perfumery too which contains more fragrances than are countable, each one has a story behind it. ‘Dear John’ for instance is designed to be the smell of the creators’ distant father. Follow the flashing red neon arrow and enter the Gorilla Perfume Gallery where you experience the story and inspiration for the fragrances first hand via an audio, visual and sensory manner.

The make-up section has new ranges available and the buzz around the beautifully merchandised area indicates its success. Large oversized mirrors cleverly encourage customers to try the make-up on and then share a selfie.

The hair section is really interesting, the staff there will give you a full review of your hair and scalp, products can even be ‘tried’ but don't worry there is a big mirror and hairdryer to sort out the soggy locks afterwards.

Finally, on the top floor is an events space, used to cater for groups such as parties, learning sessions and PR events. LUSH does an amazing job of selling cosmetics products in a gender neutral way, something that is a tough mould to break in the healthcare industry.

However, the passion and belief in their product is obvious and it is evident in everything that they do as a company from their Charity Pot, SLush Fund, staff training, product merchandising and stance on animal testing. Above all this goodness we love the fact that it’s such an interactive experience in the good, old-fashioned way of face-to-face. Lush, we take our hats off to you!

 Long live LUSH.

A quickie with TOMS in London

This is just a quickie, we visited the new flagship store for TOMS today in London and we liked it so much we wanted to share it with the world.

 

Pretend for a moment you don’t know anything about TOMS . . . walking into their new flagship store, the interior is welcoming and considered in all respects.  Grab an (amazing) coffee, browse the product and it’s just now you will begin to notice an underlying sense of honesty and dedication to their cause.  It’s up to you how much you want to know about how TOMS works,  the humble and thoughtful approach definitely is refreshing.  Once you do a lap of the store and admire the amazing yet informative illustration, you will be blown away by this brand and what they stand for.  

 

TOMS // The TOMS Story from Giant Ant on Vimeo.

Just one (of many) amazing facts we learnt: Each bag of TOMS Roasting Co. Coffee sold provides 140 litres of safe water, a week's supply, to a person in need.

Whether or not you support what TOMS stands for, this store is unique and the products are great (did we mention the coffee?).   The fact they also have incorporated helping those in need so seamlessly into the retail model, makes us wonder why are there not more brands like TOMS.

Could this be the beginning of changing the perception to non-profit retail in the UK???