New Retail Blog | Insights and inspiration for the New Retail world

Giant Balloon Dogs & Retail Tensity

Posted on 18. Jul, 2014 by Jon Bird.

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Tweet Many a giant creature has loomed over the streets of Manhattan, at least in celluloid form – most famously King Kong and Godzilla. And now a more benign (but equally huge) being has followed in their footsteps – a six-story metallic yellow balloon dog, which has suddenly appeared on a building on Fifth Avenue. [...]

Great Retail is a Piece of Cake

Posted on 08. Jul, 2014 by Jon Bird.

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Tweet Is there anything truly original in this world? The TED Radio Hour podcast on America’s NPR asked that question recently and answered with a definitive “No.” “As far as we know, the Big Bang is original,” observed TED speaker Kirby Ferguson. “And everything else is derivative,” chipped in host Guy Raz, completing the thought. [...]

Gentlemen, Start Your Boxer Shorts

Posted on 30. Jun, 2014 by Jon Bird.

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Tweet “Clean underwear on demand.” That’s the pitch for FlyCleaners, a New York-based laundry and dry cleaning start-up, currently prowling the streets of Brooklyn with more locations coming soon. Powered by a smartphone app, you simply click, and a few minutes later a “FlyGuy” materializes in a blue FlyCleaners truck and whisks away your unmentionables. [...]

Retail Rules at Cannes

Posted on 26. Jun, 2014 by Jon Bird.

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Tweet The Cannes Lions bills itself as the biggest creative communications festival in the world. Starting out as an advertising show 61 years ago, it now sprawls across numerous categories, awarding work in sectors as diverse as “Innovation” and “Promo & Activation.” Two other festivals have used the same exotic locale over the years. The [...]

Triggers and Treasures

Posted on 02. Jun, 2014 by Jon Bird.

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Tweet One of the best shopping experiences in the world right now is anything but fancy. In fact, it is about as stripped down as retail can get – concrete floors, product on palettes, warehouse ceilings with struts and skylights. Despite the unflattering surroundings, this particular chain also charges customers just to get in the [...]

For A Limited Time Only

Posted on 27. May, 2014 by Jon Bird.

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Tweet Five skywriting planes etched the phrase “Existence or Nonexistence” into the vivid blue skies above Brooklyn last Sunday. What did it all mean? While deep thinkers may get all existential about the mantra, it was actually an art project riffing on the CIA’s statement that it neither confirms nor denies “the existence or nonexistence” [...]

Shopper Marketing: Buzz or Babble?

Posted on 22. May, 2014 by Jon Bird.

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Tweet FMOT, SMOT, ZMOT…WTF? The first three acronyms are from the lexicon of “shopper marketing,” the last one a humble retailer’s exasperated “what the?” response. What does it all mean? And to use another truncation, is shopper marketing just so much BS from a bunch of (likely) MBA’s? I’ve been asked that question many times [...]

The American (Retail) Dream

Posted on 13. May, 2014 by Jon Bird.

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Tweet This is the story of Kevin Plank: who went from a dusty basement in Washington D.C. to Broadway in 18 years. It’s the tale of the then 23-year-old who started a business in his grandmother’s row house and finished up with a “Brand House” in New York City. It’s the fable of Under Armour, [...]

In The Age of ‘E-biquity,’ Are Brands Irrelevant?

Posted on 07. May, 2014 by Jon Bird.

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Tweet The golden era for brand marketers was the time of “Mad Men” ‑ when a snappy slogan or a cute commercial helped to differentiate brands, and build an emotional bond between consumers and their Lucky Strike cigarettes, Chevrolet cars, Hershey chocolate or Playtex bras. As the last season of “Mad Men” floats into the [...]

A Grocery Experience That’s Better than Sex?

Posted on 28. Apr, 2014 by Jon Bird.

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Tweet Ever since Piggly Wiggly (true name) launched the world’s first “self-service grocery store” in Memphis in 1916, the game for supermarkets has been about increasing speed and efficiency. The hermetically sealed outcome, however, has been that a trip to the supermarket for many shoppers is not a want-to, but a have-to…not something to look [...]