Beijing-based designer, Yoshimasa Tsutsumi, has created a pixellated interior using long cubed boxes for the Diesel Shibuya store.
The space is effectively moveable and many of the products are actually embedded in the wall: push and pull to your heart’s desire. This is a great way to customise a retail space and showcase objects of all shapes and sizes.
It’s hard, when you’re out furniture shopping, to picture what something will look like in your home. To solve this problem, London- and Helsinki-based start-up, Sayduck, has created an augmented reality mobile app that demonstrates how a piece of furniture looks in a room. The app is interactive, too: digital lamps turn on and off, and you can follow step-by-step assembly instructions in real time.
FlightCar in the US aims to put vehicles left in airport parking lots to good use, by offering them up for short-term loans.
Where similar car-sharing companies aim to link owners with those requiring one-off loans, FlightCar takes advantage of the fact that most people driving to airports will be leaving the country for a fair amount of time. (Thanks, Zoe)
Piperlime, the e-retail site known for its smart blend of brands, price points and inspiring style guidance, is making a move to bricks and mortar.
The New York store will engage savvy shoppers by bringing aspects of its website into the real world through novel merchandising interpretations – for example a ‘trend wall’ will present the freshest looks and act as a ‘homepage’ for the store. Perhaps for the first time, an online brand has translated their audience’s online habits and expectations into something meaningful and useful in-store – an interesting development for retail.
Nike brought Venice Beach to a standstill while shooting a video promoting the launch of the new Jordan CP3.VI. (Nice one, Alex) Check out: http://youtu.be/tf4wHNhtlj0
The ‘Cut Through LA’ shoot featured dozens of Chris Paul body-doubles, posed like different frames of one continuous play. The camera passes alongside the lookalikes as they dribble, have a caricature done, grab an apple and finally go up for a backboard-shattering dunk.
When IKEA moved its store location in Bergen, Norway, they decided to ask for volunteers to help with the opening – a clever way of engaging with the local community. Volunteers could sign up on a website to do ‘favours’, such as making a speech during the opening, assisting the mayor at the ceremony, planting the first tree outside the entrance and hosting the customer radio. Check out the campaign video here: http://vimeo.com/50387281
We’ve seen a few retailers adding digital interaction to their physical stores recently – often with the goal of creating more engaging spaces for customers. McQ’s new flagship on Dover Street in London features a touch-screen table that visitors can use to manipulate in-store screens. And Burberry’s latest space on Bond Street has been inspired by the brand’s website, featuring mirrors that turn to video screens at the flick of a switch.
Canadian DJ Kid Koala’s new album comes with a kit that enables listeners to assemble a functional, miniature turntable and play a special flexi-disc on it. (Keep ‘em coming Tim!)
For £14 ($22, €17) fans receive a cardboard gramophone kit along with a two-LP set and a digital mp3 download. The contents of the flexi-disc – a spoken message from the artist’s mother-in-law – may not be especially exciting, but enthusiasm over the kit has amplified the media buzz surrounding the album.
Mitt Romney needs to up his game – for 7-Eleven shoppers have already decided on President Obama. According to 7-Eleven’s ‘7-Election’ poll, which allows coffee drinkers to pick a blue cup for Obama or a red one for Romney, Obama is leading with 60% of the ‘votes.’
© Haymarket Media Group Ltd.
