Filed under: content communities, Digital culture, Innovative retail, Innovative stimulus, Nice Design, Nice products, unbusiness | Tags: pop up retail, Rachel Shectman, retail ideas, retail interior, STORY retail concept
(Photo courtesy of Story)
Part retail visionary, part editor, Rachel Shechtman wants to make shopping fun again. Her new Chelsea, New York-based concept store, Story, isn’t just about shopping. It’s about the experience at the store, which changes its theme every four-to-eight weeks — merchandise, decor and all. Of course, the gorgeous gifts inside don’t hurt.
How did you get involved in “concept” shopping?
I’ve always been fascinated by the creative side of things, and the business side of things. [I got to thinking that] there’s been all this innovation online, but we live in real life. And other than the Apple store, it’s hard to really think of other innovative retail experiences. The concept [of Story] is pretty straightforward. I describe it in simple terms as a magazine that comes to life. Our version of editorial is the merchandise that we curate around a certain story, and the events that we also host during that story. Our publishing side of the business is our sponsorship. Benjamin Moore was the sponsor for our “Color” story, General Electric [sponsored] our “Making Things” story. Our holiday story will be in partnership with Hewlett-Packard and Quirky.
When will the holiday story begin? It opens November 14.
It’s called “Home for the Holidays”—the store’s going to be designed like an apartment. The whole concept is a gift guide that comes to life. So our dining room will be “something for everyone.” Our playroom will be for the kids. In the men’s study, you’ll have a pool table. We’ll have a hot chocolate stand on weekends, and [you can] make your own ice cream.
What have been some of your favorite concepts that you’ve done so far?
My favorite one is whatever the next one is, because all we’re doing is snowballing our learnings and our experiences from each story to become better storytellers. People always say, “who’s your market?” And I always say I only have two rules. Every story needs to appeal to someone between the ages of 5 and 80, and there has to be something for sale that’s $5, and it can go as high as $5,000.
Why do you think pop-up shopping resonates with sponsors and with consumers, especially at the holidays?
If you think about it, we have our mobile devices, and our iPads, and everything around us, and we get new content every two seconds. Everywhere we look, there’s news and there’s information. And yet, you walk into a store on a Monday, and you walk into a store on a Friday, and it’s the exact same experience. So I think what works and resonates for us, is that we’re always changing, even within a story. We will put in new items in week three that weren’t in week one. The truth is that all we’re doing is mirroring behaviors and patterns in other parts of people’s lives in an experience that no one has delivered yet. And I also think that as people have less time—and the ultimate luxury on the planet right now is time—they want more out of their experiences. In the past, you could compete on price, quality and service. I think what people compete on now is surprise and delight, and the experience factor. For us, I think that’s what makes people come back.
As both a retailer and a shopper, what are you seeing for the holidays that is a bit different this year than in years past?
With all this change—you have an election, a horrendous natural disaster—the focus to some degree becomes less on material luxuries and more on the luxury of time and place and people. I think products and experience related to that
will become important.
Source: Huffington Post
Here > http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/11/09/concept-shop-story_n_2103800.html
Filed under: content communities, creativity, Digital culture, Emergent media, geek, Research Methods, Social media, steal or borrow info, unbusiness | Tags: Content curation, curation, matt langer, Neil Perkin, noah brier, Only the dead fish, Percolate
I was trawling through my usual channels of content this morning and came across these posts on curation. Certainly a lot of conversation in the bloggersphere has been stimulated by the posting of the curator’s code. The code states that we should “keep the rabbit hole of the Internet open by honouring discovery”.
Not only should we be honouring original sources, but we should be honouring the people who find interesting stuff and re-tweet or re-post it. We should celebrate not only the creators and authors, but those that distribute, magnify and amplify their work. The connectors, so to speak.
This concept of curation is being bandied about a lot lately. We talk about websites and brands curating content; using third party content as a jump point for new conversation. We talk about brands and retailers curating product, filtering out the rubbish and selectively choosing niche or narrow channel products that are centred around a particular interest or cultural space.
In my other life at Eco Outdoor we talk about curation being one of our key focuses and we’re in the stone business. When we say that we’re talking about curation in the most traditional definition of the word – we select the most interesting and unique product (sometimes you don’t know why its interesting or unique unless you’re in the stone game), and we organise it in a way that inspires people to use it differently or create really unique design form or pairings. We tell the story of the product, how it fits into the world from whence it came and why we think its important or significant or special. The focus here is that we travel the
world looking for and selectively choosing what we present and how we put it together.
I guess you could say that Innovation Feeder curates content, although really it’s just sharing what takes my fancy. I started it when I was working in the social trends / innovation space as a way of collating data, organising other people’s thoughts that I would want to refer back to and even organising my own. It was like an online memory and imagination bank.
So when is a blog not curating? When it writes all its own content I guess. There are some that believe it better to write original content than re-post, and there are scales and a spectrum in re-posting itself that differentiate between gathering tidbits like a bountiful bowerbird and scattering them amongst the pages, versus your classic “Look what I found mamma” straight re-post of content. Is there a hierarchy of one over the other? I think in this age, conversation flows on many different levels and if the content is relevant and engaging, who cares on what level of the spectrum it falls? And as Matt Langer points out, is it curation or simply sharing our thoughts and discoveries online? Is curation merely the act of sharing and distributing (albeit selectively)? or must it have some ontology or semantic continuity?
Traditionally curation has been used in the realm of ‘art curation’ where art is selected by an art historian who selects significant pieces and places them in context to identify why they are significant and to what extent. Who ‘places’ the art in context and helps us understand the story and content surrounding it. The term curation has long (well long in online terms) been used outside of the realm of art, but the question remains > What do we define as curation in the online space? By identifying our act of sharing as selective, by filtering (with our own self supposed good taste) the good from the bad – is that curation?
Some other links to check out:
Curation is the New Search is the New Curation
Anyway, as usual online, I digress. Here’s a great collation of opinions on the topic by Neil Perkin. Regardless of whether you agree with the definition or not, I love Percolate‘s idea of stock and flow of content. The flow of ideas and conversation being the currency by which we remind people that we exist versus the stock we create from the realms of our own minds and imaginations. It gives credence to these different modes of conversation and the ways in which they operate uniquely for different purposes. Following here is Neil’s collection of opinions and ideas, re-posted.
Filed under: unbusiness, unconference | Tags: future of conferences, Get Shouty, katie chatfield, unconference
Here’s the preso from Katie Chatfield over at Get Shouty on the future of conferences. For those of you who went to Interesting South, Ignite or any of the other creative exchanges, this is worth a look. For those of you who didn’t, even more reason to check out Katie over at Get Shouty.
Filed under: Community, content communities, creativity, Future of Media, Geek stuff, Innovative stimulus, Looking for insights, memes, Research Methods, Social, Social media, unbusiness | Tags: 5 blogs that make me think, meme, my media week, thinking blogger awards
Gavin tagged me (thanks Gavin) on the current meme sweeping the sphere – ‘My Media Week’ – the meme that gets you thinking about your own media consumption rather than everyone else’s. So here goes:
Reading
I have one red paperclip on my night table which a friend loaned me. It has been there for quite some time (sorry Kes) but doesn’t seem to be going anywhere. i.e. It’s certainly no closer to getting in bed with me & a cup of tea than you are. I love the idea of someone who swaps a red paperclip for something else, then swaps that for something else, yada yada, you get the picture. Eventually this guy gets a house. I like the idea of the story, I’m just not loving the story so much.
So what I’m actually reading is “How would you move Mount Fuji : How the smartest companies select the world’s most creative thinkers” by William Poundstone. It’s basically a commentary on Microsoft’s notorious grueling interview process which has been copied by companies everywhere who are seeking to separate the most creative thinkers from those who are merely brilliant. It’s got a bunch of puzzles & riddles throughout which are generally making me feel reasonably uncreative, let alone brilliant. Lucky I’m not trying to get a job in the valley I suppose.
I flicked through my usual monthly Futures magazine yesterday but I don’t think you could call that ‘reading’ with any integrity. They come in the mail, I flick through them & then make them at home in my bottom drawer. You see, I don’t have to actually read them, just knowing they’re close is enough. Oh and I read Who Weekly to get the update on Britney Spears’ fight for child custody. Are we supposed to omit the trash consumption?
TV / Video
The other night I watched a documentary on Australia’s most feared creatures, followed by an episode of “shark attack : I shouldn’t be alive”, both served to reinforce the threat of swimming at any beach in Sydney as one could be taken by an animal of the sea at any time. I’ve also been following the US election coverage with interest together with my usual diet of cable news & Sunset Tan when it’s on. (Sunset Tan is a top quality show on cable which follows the lives of people who manage a chain of tanning salons in L.A. It’s no West Wing but gee it’s close). Again, should I have omitted that?
Music
On iTunes play during the last week was Joan as Policewoman, Josh Rouse, James Blunt & a bit Pink for the angry woman moments. There have been plenty of those this week for no particular reason other than my computer has been rather temperamental.
Next Up
Next up I tag Erin aka Dora the Explorer 
who is on my daily Google Reader , Amanthaville to encourage you to start posting again!, Coolz0r whose blog is always jam packed with great examples & analysis, Katie whose site I love reading regularly for a brain top up, Weird from Slacker Nation whose blog is always an incredibly good read & Greg at Grassroots Innovation which I also check out regularly.
Filed under: Nice products, Genius, Innovative retail, creativity, unbusiness, Future of Work, Work Futures, FMCG innovation, Innovative stimulus | Tags: Innovation, ideas, creativity, whatif, what if, the innovation company, random ideas, idea, blog, blogger, what if they did, whatiftheydid
Looking for a bit of Friday folly to procrastenate over while I garner the energy for another crack at work this afternoon, I stumbled across a new blog called ‘What If They Did’ – it’s basically a bunch of ‘what if’ ideas, a collection of random thoughts across all categories & platforms.
At first I thought might be an informal blog from someone at WhatIf The Innovation Company, after all, it would sit perfectly under their banner as a way of creating dialogue beyond the company lines. But no, it’s actually written by two creatives out of London who are using it as a playground to stash their collection of random ideas.
So whether you’re after a wacky idea for a particular category, or simply want think more laterally about how you go about generating ideas, this site is worth a look.
I love this idea for a lucky dip on the Skye Remote Control and when you think about it, it’s not so different from the concept behind iPod’s shuffle.
Check it out here
Filed under: unbusiness, unconference | Tags: , emily reed, Innovation, interesting south, interestingness, open intelligence agency, unconference
Last night I went to the first Sydney Interesting South Conference on ‘Interestingness’ organised by Emily Reed of the Open Intelligence Agency. It was p
ut on by a group at Interesting South that meet regularly for coffee in Surry Hills to just chew the fat and geek out together (which in itself is appealing especially if you work on your own). The idea behind Interesting South seems as if it’s sort of loosely based on the US-centred idea of the ‘unconference’, sharing knowledge, passions and geekdom for freshness. It’s about exposing yourself to a whole bunch of different points of view, changing the lens you have on life, that sort of thing. Lovely. The first Interesting South event was first held in London in June 2007 by Russell Davies and last night’s gig followed a similar in Sydney. They had a line up of interesting and unusual speakers, each one was allocated 10 minutes (or in the case of more commercially orientated speakers like the Fair Trade lady – 3 minutes). The idea being that we got 
a sound byte of whatever each person decided to talk about – from How to make a Zombie to the Moose Dance, the art of vocology and even Pia the Sydney Overlord who talked to us about the strange things people at Darbot do with electricity. We got cuddly with the Free Hugs, met a grassroots activist who took offense and aim at the Coke Zero movement (still amazes me that one guy with $18 can cause a genuine grassroots backlash against a multi-million dollar fake grassroots campaign), the place was jam packed with interesting people came to share a little of their geekness on stage.
Interesting South describes itself as “. . not about brands, advertising, blogging or twitter but a wide variety of interesting, unexpected, original things. We’ve found 19 fascinating people and asked them speak for 3 or 10 minutes about something they care about. We want to replicate the experience of clicking from one really good blog to another, ranging across sciences, arts, music, jokes and whatever. The idea is to be informal and fast paced.”
For those of you who geek out on interesting and wonderful bits of brain candy, this event was magnificent. There was a couple of speakers I found particularly interesting and made a note to Google later. A great way to shift your thinking sideways a little. Well done to Emily and the team, Interesting South was a great event.
You can check Interesting South here
Filed under: Digital culture, geek, Geek stuff, girlgeek, girlgeekdinners, Innovation, Marketing to women, Social, Social ventures, unbusiness, unconference
While su
rfing the net this morning I came across Girl Geek Dinners – a program set up by Sarah Blow which aims to get nerd chicks together to talk about technology. Like any good idea it’s spreading fast and girl geek dinners are popping up in the UK, Italy, German, Belgium, Canada, San Francisco and even New Zealand!
In a space that is usually dominated by the man nerd (and a highly technical man nerd at that), what a refreshing change to see girl geeks creating their own space to play.
You can check out girl geek dinners here
Another blog which has just launched in this space is geekgirlblogs and you can check that out here
Filed under: creativity, Innovation, Innovation shops, unbusiness, Work Futures, Work out up top
“It strikes me as interesting that when businesses want to see more innovation, they talk about creativity. They hold workshops on how to be creative. But when you talk to most creative people — like artists, inventors, and yes, bloggers — they don’t talk about creativity, they talk about process. Maybe our processes and practices are the primary drivers of real creative endeavors. It’s like the zen buddhist said, “Stop searching for God and just sit!”
An interesting thought, taken from here
Filed under: Community, Digital culture, Emergent media, FMCG innovation, Geek stuff, Innovation, open source, Social, technorati, unbusiness, Z-list
I’ve just come across the Z-List which was originally started by Mack Collier from A Viral Garden as a way of changing the world order by challenging two concepts — the A-list of bloggers and the Technorati approach to ranking authority.
Essentially you take the list that you find and you add any other blogs that you read & find interesting. The idea being that it’s a way for blogs with less love links to gain more exposure online. To remain on the list you have to have a decent quality blog but it’s basically a user created helping hand for smaller blogs starting out. It’s always good to see a bunch of users helping eachother out & whilst it does have a feel good sort of community aspect to it, it also pointed me in the direction of a bunch of blogs I hadn’t come across before.
So click & enjoy! Check it out here :: Z-list
There’s also a wiki if you want more…
Image from Chaosscenario
