A Brand Wake-Up Call

After a long weekend of Canada Day celebrations and graduation parties, it was a little slow-going for me this morning. A cup of coffee, a birthday cupcake, and a few news articles later and I am feeling recharged. Was it the caffeine? The sugar? Probably, but for the sake of this post, I’m going to say that it was all this talk about revamping and re-energizing brands that I came across this morning.

In this article featured on Entrepreneur.com, John Williams shows us how to “spring clean” (i.e. update) our brands without losing the original appeal. While it mostly focuses on logos and marketing collateral, he makes some important points about customer expectations and consistency that apply to retail design as well.

The retail industry is far from static. It’s said that, on average, retailers update their looks every 5 to 7 years. The challenge lies in updating your look enough to remain relevant without completely abandoning the characteristics that your customers have come to appreciate and love. One of the first things F.C. Dadson will do when assisting in a redesign is observe how customers and employees interact with the current design and ask questions to find out what they like and don’t like, what’s working and what’s not. We use this insight to establish guidelines for the design process, telling us what needs to be rethought and what only needs a slight tweaking to bring it up-to-date and be consistent with the new look.

Wal-Mart is a recognizable example of a retailer undergoing a brand revamp. Advertising slogans, store interiors and facades, and now its iconic logo are being changed up in an effort to re-energize consumer and public interest in the company. Know of any other revamped retailers? Have a favorite redesign? Thought of a retailer that needs a makeover? We’d love to hear it!