Mobile before and after shot

Isn't this a wonderful shot? A before and after photo of the iPhone, at first glance as a creative art director I admire the simplicity and clean interface of the iPhones compared of old, but something also struck me looking at this photo, they look rather boring and bland compared to the old versions, they looked like fun where as the new ones look a bit soulless. Where everyone copied Apple, they all now look like iPhones. No personality, same same which in marketing terms isn't a good thing to be labelled with. I understand it's the functionality that is what is going to set it apart but from a brand perspective you need to develop a creative strategy that tells the story of the phone, give it some personality, a human touch, that's what then set's them apart. Currently I couldn't tell the difference between a branded or content piece if it's from Samsung or Apple. Time to stand for something and stand out from the crowd me thinks in marketing terms.

The science and art of shopping

Marketing - Dress to impress

It still amazes me how as marketeers we invest thousands upon thousands of money into various marketing from data research, customer journeys, marketing campaigns, apps, PR, packaging, and shinny new platforms based content, and still as marketing directors we forget the basics of what we were taught when we did our marketing degree which is; when selling your product your customer has to be amazed visually or emotionally or in the case of clothing you look amazing wearing it. Yes I know we're not all size 10 models, but there's things we can do that can make us all look good. The brand sells itself when worn, Lacoste is a fine example in clothing and in-store experience. You build an appealing brand. Steve Jobs understood this basic principle too of marketing when launching Apple products (Just looking at the products you would get goose bumps, so why do so many major brands miss this?) Again I believe they operate in silos and for that the whole customer experience is a bit of a let down. Here’s a great example of not truly understanding your customer, this blogger has shown how major retailers have missed the mark. Fitting rooms should have flattering light and pleasing colours that make the clothes look good but Russian blogger Inna visited dressing rooms in 11 different stores and found they often fail to flatter.

Inna visited clothing stores such as H&M, Mango and Zara and compared her before shot, taken with home lighting, to the shots taken in each room. And even though she was wearing the same clothes, and shot the pictures with the same phone, the lighting and background changed her appearance alot from shot to shot.

So what did Inna conclude based on her research? Brighter lights are more flattering, and red used right will really make you stand out, but a dark dressing room can ruin an otherwise good shopping trip. It might make you look moody but you’ll look drab.

Basic stuff right, and you don’t need to invest in thousands of pounds in research to understand that principle. So next time you are planning your next marketing campaign think about the whole customer experience, not just online but when they enter the store, talk to retail staff, go and visit and see for yourself if you have to, be honest with yourself, if it's not great get them involved, the outcome will be much more appealing for you and your customers.