Go Logo! A Handbook to the Art of Global Branding

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Go Logo! A Handbook to the Art of Global Branding114

A

strong brand is vital to most businesses today, and that emphatically extends

to all retail in this global/local world. The phrase, “Bring the brand to life by

creating ideas they can see,” really says it all. This is a key priority for success-

ful marketing and merchandising in retail. Each of us is exposed to thousands

of impressions a day. The retailer’s concern is to create an impression that will be iconic

enough to be memorable. While there is truth to the adage that the big will get bigger and

the successful more successful, there is also a parallel adage taught to us by biology prin-

ciples. Just prior to the collapse of any species, it attains its largest presence in size. In other

words, the big will get bigger—until they don’t.

Today’s mega-mergers grab the headlines, but the quiet story is that the largest growth in

retail continues to be by the independents. In developing parts of the world, such as Asia,

South America, and Africa, retail is still very much an activity between an owner and a

customer or the producer and the consumer. This phenomenon is not totally without logic.

Who knows the customer better than the person who lives in the community, than the

next-door neighbor whose needs and wants are no different from those of his customer?

Independents have a significant competitive advantage, due to their ability to respond “just

in time,” whether or not they are impacted by the weather or by changing community and

social rhythms. When neighboring retailers start a price war, introduce a new product range,

or create new, innovative presentation formats, the independent merchant can respond

very quickly. The giants find it difficult to achieve this degree of market awareness. It takes

intelligence, personal energy, and nerve to be a just-in-time-at-the-right-time retailer.

Iconicity: Standing Out in the Crowd

KENNETH NISCH, Chairman of JGA in Southfield, Michigan

Kenneth Nisch is an architect and chairman of JGA, a retail design and strategy

firm in Southfield, Michigan. Named one of the industry’s “Most Influential” by

DDI (Display and Design Ideas) magazine, Nisch applies his knowledge and en-

trepreneurial insight into consumer markets to create concept and prototype

development, brand image positioning and architectural direction. JGA’s clients

include Godiva, Yankee Candle, Brookstone, Levenger, Hershey’s, the Henry

Ford Museum, Greenfield Village, and the Saks Department Store Group.

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