Our client's business issue in the large-scale retail sector was twofold: measure the impact and appeal of a new concept store in terms of shopping and emotional experience and assess the acceptance of communication strategies and their alignment with the brand’s positioning. 

How to create a clear and immediate link between the new concept store and the brand distinctive positioning?

To address this dual challenge, we opted for an integrated approach: a clinic store, featuring ethnographic observation to assess shoppers' behaviour and interactions with the new store, followed by in-depth interviews to find optimisation areas and focus groups to evaluate the impact and consistency of the communication. To validate the communication materials and store design, which were optimised using the insights from the previous phase, we implemented a quantitative phase through ‘Cross Process Analysis’. This involved a parallel and intersecting methodology where the target audience was split into two sub-samples: one approached the evaluation from the store to the concept and the communication ("bottom-up"), while the other went from the concept and communication to the store ("top-down"). The insights led to the development of guidelines for a new model of emotional communication retail.

We saw first-hand how crucial Brand Consistency has become! In a context where shoppers are increasingly accustomed to navigating seamlessly between different stimuli and touchpoints, exponentially increasing the touchpoints with brands, opportunities grow, but so do the challenges and risks of brand image fragmentation across different channels. To achieve 100% Brand Consistency, it is critical to align coherently the feelings evoked, the values communicated and the experiences delivered.