Slides from a presentation I gave with Stacey Howe of Global Digital Brand Marketing at New Balance on the design of digital content experiences for retail environments at the AdClub's 'Lures of Retail' summit on June 26, 2012.

1. Finding the right balance:
The path to in-store engagement
Presented at the AdClub Lures of Retail event
June 26, 2012
New Balance + Almighty / The AdClub / Lures of Retail

2. Ian Fitzpatrick
Research at Almighty
@ianfitzpatrick
New Balance + Almighty / The AdClub / Lures of Retail / Presenter / Him

3. Stacey Howe
Global Digital Marketing at New Balance
@loverunningmore
New Balance + Almighty / The AdClub / Lures of Retail / Presenter / Her

4. Together, this year, our teams built an
RFID-powered shoe wall.
New Balance + Almighty / The AdClub / Lures of Retail / Why Us?

5. New Balance + Almighty / The AdClub / Lures of Retail / Shoe Wall / Prototype Sketch

6. New Balance + Almighty / The AdClub / Lures of Retail / Shoe Wall / Installation

7. New Balance + Almighty / The AdClub / Lures of Retail / Shoe Wall / Call to Action

8. New Balance + Almighty / The AdClub / Lures of Retail / Shoe Wall / Drive to Retail

9. When designing and building digital
content experiences for retail, there are at
least seven things worth considering
(probably more):
New Balance + Almighty / The AdClub / Lures of Retail / Considerations

10. Human Factors
Content Development
Content Rollout
Content Management
Maintenance
Measurement
Iteration
New Balance + Almighty / The AdClub / Lures of Retail / Considerations

11. We could (and probably should) wrap an
entire day around any one of these topics.
New Balance + Almighty / The AdClub / Lures of Retail / Considerations / Caveat

12. Human Factors
Does this experience have a natural home
conducive to the manner(s) in which we
imagine it will be used?

13. More than any other factor, the space in
which an experience lives will shape
technology decisions.
New Balance + Almighty / The AdClub / Lures of Retail / Human Factors / Ian Fitzpatrick

14. When introducing a new digital experience
to consumers, be sure to maintain the
same interaction rules that guide your
other initiatives.
For us, it’s the ‘5 second rule.’
New Balance + Almighty / The AdClub / Lures of Retail / Human Factors / Stacey Howe

15. Content Development
What is it going to take for us to create
content that will power this experience
both at launch and going forward?

16. The adaptation conundrum: content
approaches that drive brand consistency
and cost efficiencies tend to constrain
localization and the opportunity for
emotional relevance.
New Balance + Almighty / The AdClub / Lures of Retail / Content Development / Stacey Howe

17. Local + Social is sexy, but is heavily-
dependent on context in order to deliver
meaning + value.
New Balance + Almighty / The AdClub / Lures of Retail / Content Development / Ian Fitzpatrick

18. Content Rollout
What is the relationship between the
experience we’re building and the
products in our store? How does this
change over time?

19. The ability to scale an experience will be
limited in-part by its capacity to adapt to
evolving product mix.
New Balance + Almighty / The AdClub / Lures of Retail / Content Rollout / Ian Fitzpatrick

20. The ability to scale an experience will be
further limited by the organization’s
capacity to respond to the unique
behavioral characteristics of the target
consumer.
New Balance + Almighty / The AdClub / Lures of Retail / Content Rollout / Stacey Howe

21. Content Management
How are we going to evolve the content
that comprises this experience, who will
do it, and how will we help them?

22. Content management is about ensuring a
consistently-valuable and purposeful
experience for consumers who interact
with the brand at different touch points.
New Balance + Almighty / The AdClub / Lures of Retail / Content Management / Stacey Howe

23. The success of a retail technology content
management solution hinges on access,
not functionality.
New Balance + Almighty / The AdClub / Lures of Retail / Content Management / Ian Fitzpatrick

24. Maintenance
What happens when things break? What
happens when systems change?

25. Increasingly, maintenance will mean
adapting to evolving systems (not just
fixing stuff).
New Balance + Almighty / The AdClub / Lures of Retail / Maintenance / Ian Fitzpatrick

26. The further the technology requires that
associates depart from their core job
function, the greater the exposure to risk
(and failure).
New Balance + Almighty / The AdClub / Lures of Retail / Maintenance / Stacey Howe

27. Measurement
How will we measure success? How will
we benchmark against metrics that don’t
have standards?

28. The metrics most likely reported to the
broader organization are typically not the
most important to understand and act
upon.
New Balance + Almighty / The AdClub / Lures of Retail / Measurement / Stacey Howe

29. Designing measurement must become an
integral part of designing experiences.
New Balance + Almighty / The AdClub / Lures of Retail / Measurement / Ian Fitzpatrick

30. Iteration
Do we have a plan for the way(s) in which
this is going to evolve, or are we going to
replace it with something newer and
better?

31. As with product innovation, marketing
innovation needs to be planned, nurtured
and cultivated.
New Balance + Almighty / The AdClub / Lures of Retail / Iteration / Stacey Howe

32. Iterate the experience, not the technology.
New Balance + Almighty / The AdClub / Lures of Retail / Iteration / Ian Fitzpatrick

33. Parting thought #1:
Technology is not the answer, it is the
enabler.
New Balance + Almighty / The AdClub / Lures of Retail / Remember This

34. Parting thought #2:
A successful experience will have purpose
for both the retailer and the customer.
New Balance + Almighty / The AdClub / Lures of Retail / Remember This

35. Parting follows:
@loverunningmore
@ianfitzpatrick