Beyond Branded

Ross Haxton is a Strategic Brand and Design Consultant, based in London. He works with UK and Global clients in a wide variety of sectors. Positioning, culture, communications, environments and design for all brand touchpoints within the physical and digital experience. Specialising in  Retail, Real Estate, Financial and Corporate.

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Euroshop 2017

Following last week’s visit to Euroshop, I’ve posted a few shots showing some of the most inspiring stands that I visited with a few mentions of the notable highlights. Like previous years, the best halls for me were the lighting and design areas, which didn’t disappoint - great design and a few exiting new product developments. 

Fortunately, I was at the exhibition over 3 days and had plenty time to walk the halls to get a good feel for what was new and different. As expected, the use of digital screen technology was commonplace, so finding genuinely innovative products was a challenge. Smart Pixels were grabbing a lot of attention with their projections onto static products (a white shirt and trainer) - the aim was to show how technology can help customers customise their own designs to create something personal to them.

The Village (by Ansorg, Vitra, Vizona) also stood out with their ranges of retail display products and The Circle by Schweitzer had some interesting LED lighting products illustrating ideas for supermarket displays.

A number of stands showed innovative uses of material developments, such as Muratto’s geometric cork panels and several stands showed clever uses of cutting, folding and manipulating paper and cardboard shapes. 

For those of you who like neat screen technology in retail, there were some very elegant shelf label solutions, a big departure from static printed POS.

Thanks again to KL Druck for allowing Global Image Management to co-exhibit on their stand and I’m hoping to develop some of the relationships that we made over our time in Dusseldorf!

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Moscow Jewellery Factory, AFI Mall Flagship

The jewellery market in Moscow has a number of well known and well respected chains, each occupying their own niche. MJF specialise in diamond ranges and they have a large number of stores in Russia. In working with them to create a new flagship retail concept, I focussed on an initial 1,000 sq.m. site in AFI Mall, which includes a VIP experience zone. New ranges are displayed within an inviting and welcoming environment, which promotes browsing throughout the open plan space. Digital displays punctuate the floorplan with scrolling communications and friendly, well trained staff offer information if asked. Seating areas offer restful zones for customers who are pondering options and a newly developed monogram appears in strategically placed locations to emphasise the evolving brand signature.

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Barilla, Manhattan

What a great environment for authentic Italian food! Barilla is a very friendly, comfortable and versatile restaurant for a casual dining experience. With mixed seating options for groups, couples or singles the layout lends itself well to providing a nice balance of privacy and openness. Digital menu panels sit within served zone bulkheads and visual merchandising adds a bit of drama to the theatre of the pizza oven and prep areas. Graphic wall graphics help adorn the predominantly timber environment to bring a bit of Italian flair to the space. Great menu!

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Sonos, Soho, NYC

The Sonos store which opened in July showcases a range of speakers within a relaxed and comfortable environment, designed to replicate areas of the home. With mini living rooms taking the shape of small houses, into which you can close yourself away, customers can experience the full Sonos surround sound experience with tablet touch control panels. Friendly staff, informal pay bar and unique browser experience, makes buying into the Sonos experience a compelling option for any speaker freak.

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Google, Soho

For a Pop-up store, Google’s new flagship in Soho NYC certainly achieves the brief - to create a sudden buzz of excitement for their new range of tech products. With a top of the range digital phone (with a special light adjusting camera function), voice activation for home functions (such as light dimming) and a virtual reality experience, Google has put down a strong challenge to its established tech neighbour the Apple store. According to the staff (who brim with helpful enthusiasm), visitors queued in lines around the block when the store opened, to catch a glimpse of this inspirational, experiential environment. Worth a look, before it moves to a more permanent residence!

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Accessorize Love the new store at T5, the digital header panels around the upper walls of the store do what many stores have no doubt thought about implementing for some time. Dynamic, impactful and eye catching - perfect for the impulsive, browsing shopper!

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Amalthea at Skolkovo

Here are a few updated shots which I took this week from one of the rapidly developing projects that we’re working on, called Amalthea at Skolkovo. The ground floor level is in place, so the interior building volume is now as it will be. The glass roof and building cladding is now being added to the structure and lighting to the ribs on the building facade are now being applied, giving a very dramatic effect to the exterior impression at dusk.

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Algorithm Business Centre

At the end of last year Algorithm Business Centre opened, it is owned and managed by Corporation A.N.D. and designed by SCG International.

The class A business complex is located in the prestigious area of the South Western Administrative District of Moscow, opposite the attractive Vorontsovsky Park. The centre is a modern 19 storey hi-tech building, which meets the highest standards of workplace requirements in terms of space efficiency, engineering utilities and ergonomics. The total office area available for rent is 23,700 m2.

Our scope and responsibilities have included developing a distinctive and memorable brand identity and communication direction, in addition to a full environmental concept including: landscaping, way-finding and signage, interiors, exteriors and car-parks.

The site exterior benefits from a generous landscaped area into which we have integrated dynamic landscape features to emphasise the directional approach to the main building reception. The façade concept includes linear lighting features to highlight the building form and internally lit brand signage and a cantilevered canopy provide shelter outside the reception entrance.

Inside the business centre, the public areas include a rich palette of colours, materials and graphics to emphasise the contemporary style of the interior and feature lighting is a key component of the concept. Visitors and staff can enjoy downtime within the comfort of the informal café style cafeteria before returning to the office floors. Glazed lift lobbies and graphically decorated corridors lead to individual offices, which have been furnished to a high level of specification.

For those driving to the centre, a well lit and graphically enhanced car-park concept sets this complex apart from other more standard examples.

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Amalthea, Skolkovo

A few updated shots of our live project in Skolkovo, just outside Moscow. Despite the cold weather the work goes on and hopefully we’ll soon be visiting a sealed building. The planned opening is December of this year and the office centre with retail and restaurants will be only one of 7 projects that we are working on at Skolkovo.

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Sirin

Today I met with our new client Sirin to begin work to develop their brand, communications and customer experience. For generations, these Russian Artists who work as a collective have created some of the finest works of art made in Russia. Their designs, craftsmanship, history and passion are breathtaking and conveying this story will be a privilege. From elaborate icons and objects of desire, to 40 meter sculptures to commemorate historical figures - their work is inspirational, yet known by so few. I’m looking forward to learning more about them and helping sell their story.

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Boulevard Implemented

Some shots showing Boulevard Fashion Mall in its full glory. Well done to all the SCG International team who worked on the project - the results are fantastic.

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Boulevard Opens

The long awaited ‘soft launch’ of Boulevard luxury fashion shopping centre, located on stylish Kings Road in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia happened last night. Boulevard is a 10,000 m2 high-end, open-air mall, is aimed at an elite target market and is tenanted by top international fashion brands. Our brief was to evolve the brand identity, develop the brand strategy and create key brand design elements that would transform existing vacant building shell structures. A further aspect of the brief also involved the initial development of the Boulevard website, together with a digital marketing campaign strategy to launch the brand. For more information:

http://www.boulevard.com.sa/english/index.php

http://www.scg.international/work/example/boulevard/

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Algorithm

Interesting site visit today to look at the progress on our business centre project for AND Corporation in Moscow, called Algorithm. It’s shaping up to be a great business destination with exterior landscaped areas, building facades and interior spaces now progressing towards the intended November opening date. We’ve provided a wide scope of services from brand identity and communication (including digital) through to environment concept for all exterior and interior spaces. Particular attention has been paid to exterior landscaping, carparks, reception, cafeteria, offices and public circulation zones.

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The Medicine Garden

The perfect destination for a lazy Sunday afternoon in Cobham, Surrey. The Medicine Garden has become a go-to spot for relaxing, shopping, dining and even wellness treatments. It’s a perfect combination of outside-and-in depending on the weather and appeals to visitors of all ages - from kids to grandparents. You can shop for food, plants, artwork and enjoy a meal or great coffee in either of the 2 indoor cafe’s or at the Airstream Cafe outside in the walled garden. Check out the website at http://www.themedicinegarden.com/

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Skolkovo

Here are a few snowy shots of one of our project sites. At Skolkovo, SCG International are working on multiple projects including: transport hub, shopping centre, event centre and business centres. For more info, visit www.scg.international

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Detsky Mir, Moscow

After the much anticipated development and opening of the iconic Detsky Mir kids shopping destination, I finally managed a quick visit this week. There’s a lot to say about the results, some good things and some bad. The positives are that the building has been magnificently restored and the atrium space offers a wonderful people watching opportunity within impressive surroundings. The downside (and this is my greatest fear) is that there were very few visitors and that there are likely to be even fewer customers. The building used to be synonymous with accessible and affordable items for kids but unfortunately it will now be known for exclusive gifts for wealthy families. Hamleys is a great store but then again, you’d expect that from one of the most famous children’s retailers in the world. The majority of the other tenants sell over-priced items which appeal to premium shoppers who are intent on spoiling their kids. As a shopping destination it has limited appeal and as a mini shopping centre destination it fails on many levels (navigation, dead zones, empty walkways, etc.). I’m glad I visited, I can say I’ve been....Many others will likely say the same.

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JEANSLAB

First prototype store from Jeanslab, multi-brand jeans-wear with casual accessories. One of Tashir's own retail chains, which will now be rolled out across their Rio shopping centres. It was a very quick and good value concept, which was implemented by our client - a few tweaks and it looks great!