The race of life is long, start now.

Season's Greatings!

(R.O. Blechman is probably my favorite illustrator. This is from 1966)

Building a retail brand from the client out and customer in.

Brand Strategy for Retail

Project date: 1990

“Domaine feels like a place you'd like to move into: i.e., pay the rent and stay.” John Hinterberger, The Seattle Times

Retail brands are defined at the point of purchase. Retail design, signage, display, product selection, return policies, customer service training, all do more to define the brand than the advertising does. The development of a new retail housewares/home furnishings store in a competitive market requires finding a niche unexplored by others. Duane visited every kitchen and housewares competitor in the market area, and identified their strengths and weaknesses and how the market was being served. Along the way noting the ideal way to display nearly every kind of product offering.


Then Duane partnered with his client to source an Architect/Project Manger, a Construction Manger, and various consultants to produce Domaine, a 2,963 square foot up-scale kitchen/home store. He performed a name generation process. Developed a market profile and roughed out a initial marketing plan to guide his design efforts. He created the initial space plan. Developed design themes, and worked with the experts on fixture details, and interior signage. Duane also sourced key material suppliers and helped with initial store management hiring.

The solution:

• By hiring one person with a broad skill set the client saved money.
• Duane's broad background helped coordinate the design thinking of Architect/Draftsman, Cabinet makers, General contractors, Display designers, Signage makers, Logo designers, Product buyers, into seeing the project as a whole.
  
• Duane's client orientation helped the client be more involved in the design process and communicate visual ideas to others in the project team.
  
• That process helped the client define a vision of what he wanted and we could better match that to a gap in the marketplace.
• The discovery process provided the inspiration that every store has similar product selections, the difference is the environment.
• Duane defined the store as "packaging the customer walks through".
• Designed ideal fixtures for product presentation, and a "place for everything" feel.
• Developed neutral color pallet to let product stand out.
• Created finishes for a very polished look.
• Opened to a rave review in the Seattle Times, and survived significant market changes over the course of 20 years.
  

COMPONENT PROJECTS

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Competitive Research
Brand Strategy
Space Planing
Store Design
Fixture Design
Name Development
Vendor Sourcing
Hiring Process

Am I the only one that works this way?

"Call waiting" doesn't work for me.

I found where the "call waiting" off switch is on my new phone. I had it off on my old phone (and on all my phones) so I'm glad to finally have figured this out.

I figure I'm either waiting for an important call, or ON an important call, never both. When I'm talking to you I'm listening to you, not listening for someone else. That's just who I am.

Telling a political story

How do you remind people of what you've accomplished when "the media" has already moved on to the latest false accusation and celebrity scuffle? Here's an idea.

It's a joke, only a joke.

Stupid Marketer v. Enlightened Stupid Marker - If this hits too close to home maybe you need a new job?

Networking is like making love...

At the risk of sounding like a pervert I thought I'd share a couple ideas that came to me after a recent discussion with friends about networking. These ideas apply to traditional networking as well as what has come to be known as online social networking.

It's not about numbers it's about quality.

Run around trying to desperately make a connection with everyone you meet is a sure recipe for being known as "that guy". You may make a connection or two. But you'll ruin your reputation in the process.

Do it well and more opportunities will come your way.

An honest, authentic connection and everyone's happy. A needy desperate one and someone feels like they've been #@*%$!. Real connections are based on getting to know one another and aligning interests. It's something very natural that thanks to so many people doing it so badly has become confused with something dirty. Maybe instead of calling it "networking" should call it "getting to know people". Maybe then it would have less of a negative connotation.

There's connections, and there's connections.

The more you let yourself be known, and the more you really know others, the more value your network has to you, and you to it. The real value of a connection is in long term relationships.