Walt Disney & Retail Design

BusinessWeek.com treated me to a fun article this morning about what today's marketers can learn from Walt Disney's efforts some 40 years ago. It's a good read from a marketing perspective and I encourage all of you to check it out for ideas on how to promote your businesses. But my mind works in strange ways and instead of seeing "marketing," I saw "retail design." (Crazy, I know. It happens, though, when you work for a retail fixture company.) So, for today's post, I thought we could explore how we can use some of Walt's lessons in the retail design arena.

Know the story is king.
Every brand has a story and a successful retail environment immerses visitors in that story. The story lets customers connect with the brand on an emotional level; and we should all know by now that emotionally-invested customers tend to be the most loyal. (They also serve as great brand ambassadors, but that's me thinking like a marketer. Putting the retail design hat back on...)

Have the courage to innovate.
Just because something has been done a certain way for so long, that doesn't mean that there isn't a better way to do it. Especially in times like these, if you can show a retailer a more efficient and cost-effective design or process, I'm certain they will be appreciative.

Stay on message.
One of the first things you learn in marketing is consistency. The message (or story) needs to stay the same across all channels. If we consider the retail environment as being another channel (as we should), we should always focus on designing around that message.

Hey, if we can't learn a thing or two from the man behind the "Greatest place on Earth," than who can we learn from?