t adds excitement to every journey.

You too can influence you’re customer’s emotional response and in a way that will be mutually beneficial. Firstly you must decide how do you want your customers to feel when they enter you’re store? Excited? Relaxed? Intrigued? Comfortable? Invigorated?

Let’s imagine that you’ve picked relaxed. What do people associated with this emotion? Where were they when they last experience it? At home? In a hotel? On holiday? Are you beginning to see all of those places in your minds eye? What do they look like to you? How can you evoke a memory of these places in your store?

Let’s see how this c

What’s all this nonsense we hear about brands and delivery, surely it’s just modern day hocus-pocus set to part us from our hard-earned cash? Our fore fathers didn’t need it so why should we?

To say our fore father’s existed in a world without branding is to completely misunderstand the whole underlying concept of branding as explained by Gerard Tannem of Islandbridge, ““Even in today’s fast-paced world, we continue to be social animals. People still buy people. Once upon a time, the person was the brand and our choice was a personal one. Just as they’ve always done, brands serve to connect us with the people behind a product or service, allowing us to choose quickly and confidently in a world where we are spoilt for choice.”

Shopkeepers of yesteryear had time to talk to their customers, and in doing so found out exactly what they needed or more importantly liked. Today not only are store owners rushed off their feet keeping just trying to survive, customers barely have time to catch their breath between breakfast and school runs.

Like the best things in life, branding is quite a simple concept which when expertly handled can transform the fortune of any company. “In many ways, brands behave like people. We suggest that you think of a brand as the relationship between a business and its customers. The key then is to choose which relationship makes sense both for you and for your customers and build it,” explains Gerard.

Once you have determined your message your next challenge is to deliver it to what is a very time poor and distracted audience and this is when your store becomes your most valuable asset. The written word is a great way to express your brand but it has one major drawback; it must be read to work. Images on the other hand bypass the conscious mind and head straight for the subconscious mind where our emotional self exists. Why do you think Budweiser put Clysdale horses in its advertisements? Because children like horses and knowing the human brain’s fondness for association, by linking itself with such a pleasurable image Budweiser is forming an emotional connection with its future customers.

You may disagree with Budweiser’s decision to target children but not all manipulation is negative. Do you ever notice how your light in your car fades after you’ve closed the doors? Doesn’t it feel nice? Where else does that happen? It happens just before the curtains go up in a theatre. By fading the light down gradually car manufactures recreate the feeling of anticipation that we get just before a movie. It adds excitement to every journey.

You too can influence you’re customer’s emotional response and in a way that will be mutually beneficial. Firstly you must decide how do you want your customers to feel when they enter you’re store? Excited? Relaxed? Intrigued? Comfortable? Invigorated?

Let’s imagine that you’ve picked relaxed. What do people associated with this emotion? Where were they when they last experience it? At home? In a hotel? On holiday? Are you beginning to see all of those places in your minds eye? What do they look like to you? How can you evoke a memory of these places in your store?

Let’s see how this ca

ice, allowing us to choose quickly and confidently in a world where we are spoilt for choice.”

Shopkeepers of yesteryear had time to talk to their customers, and in doing so found out exactly what they needed or more importantly liked. Today not only are store owners rushed off their feet keeping just trying to survive, customers barely have time to catch their breath between breakfast and school runs.

Like the best things in life, branding is quite a simple concept which when expertly handled can transform the fortune of any company. “In many ways, brands behave like people. We suggest that you think of a brand as the relationship between a business and its customers. The key then is to choose which relationship makes sense both for you and for your customers and build it,” explains Gerard.

Once you have determined your message your next challenge is to deliver it to what is a very time poor and distracted audience and this is when your store becomes your most valuable asset. The written word is a great way to express your brand but it has one major drawback; it must be read to work. Images on the other hand bypass the conscious mind and head straight for the subconscious mind where our emotional self exists. Why do you think Budweiser put Clysdale horses in its advertisements? Because children like horses and knowing the human brain’s fondness for association, by linking itself with such a pleasurable image Budweiser is forming an emotional connection with its future customers.

You may disagree with Budweiser’s decision to target children but not all manipulation is negative. Do you ever notice how your light in your car fades after you’ve closed the doors? Doesn’t it feel nice? Where else does that happen? It happens just before the curtains go up in a theatre. By fading the light down gradually car manufactures recreate the feeling of anticipation that we get just before a movie. It adds excitement to every journey.

You too can influence you’re customer’s emotional response and in a way that will be mutually beneficial. Firstly you must decide how do you want your customers to feel when they enter you’re store? Excited? Relaxed? Intrigued? Comfortable? Invigorated?

Let’s imagine that you’ve picked relaxed. What do people associated with this emotion? Where were they when they last experience it? At home? In a hotel? On holiday? Are you beginning to see all of those places in your minds eye? What do they look like to you? How can you evoke a memory of these places in your store?

Let’s see how this c

ship between a business and its customers. The key then is to choose which relationship makes sense both for you and for your customers and build it,” explains Gerard.

Once you have determined your message your next challenge is to deliver it to what is a very time poor and distracted audience and this is when your store becomes your most valuable asset. The written word is a great way to express your brand but it has one major drawback; it must be read to work. Images on the other hand bypass the conscious mind and head straight for the subconscious mind where our emotional self exists. Why do you think Budweiser put Clysdale horses in its advertisements? Because children like horses and knowing the human brain’s fondness for association, by linking itself with such a pleasurable image Budweiser is forming an emotional connection with its future customers.

You may disagree with Budweiser’s decision to target children but not all manipulation is negative. Do you ever notice how your light in your car fades after you’ve closed the doors? Doesn’t it feel nice? Where else does that happen? It happens just before the curtains go up in a theatre. By fading the light down gradually car manufactures recreate the feeling of anticipation that we get just before a movie. It adds excitement to every journey.

You too can influence you’re customer’s emotional response and in a way that will be mutually beneficial. Firstly you must decide how do you want your customers to feel when they enter you’re store? Excited? Relaxed? Intrigued? Comfortable? Invigorated?

Let’s imagine that you’ve picked relaxed. What do people associated with this emotion? Where were they when they last experience it? At home? In a hotel? On holiday? Are you beginning to see all of those places in your minds eye? What do they look like to you? How can you evoke a memory of these places in your store?

Let’s see how this c

in its advertisements? Because children like horses and knowing the human brain’s fondness for association, by linking itself with such a pleasurable image Budweiser is forming an emotional connection with its future customers.

You may disagree with Budweiser’s decision to target children but not all manipulation is negative. Do you ever notice how your light in your car fades after you’ve closed the doors? Doesn’t it feel nice? Where else does that happen? It happens just before the curtains go up in a theatre. By fading the light down gradually car manufactures recreate the feeling of anticipation that we get just before a movie. It adds excitement to every journey.

You too can influence you’re customer’s emotional response and in a way that will be mutually beneficial. Firstly you must decide how do you want your customers to feel when they enter you’re store? Excited? Relaxed? Intrigued? Comfortable? Invigorated?

Let’s imagine that you’ve picked relaxed. What do people associated with this emotion? Where were they when they last experience it? At home? In a hotel? On holiday? Are you beginning to see all of those places in your minds eye? What do they look like to you? How can you evoke a memory of these places in your store?

Let’s see how this c

t adds excitement to every journey.

You too can influence you’re customer’s emotional response and in a way that will be mutually beneficial. Firstly you must decide how do you want your customers to feel when they enter you’re store? Excited? Relaxed? Intrigued? Comfortable? Invigorated?

Let’s imagine that you’ve picked relaxed. What do people associated with this emotion? Where were they when they last experience it? At home? In a hotel? On holiday? Are you beginning to see all of those places in your minds eye? What do they look like to you? How can you evoke a memory of these places in your store?

Let’s see how this can be done. What do people do when they’re relaxed? They move slower. If you’re read any of my previous articles you will know that hard surfaces speed people up and soft surfaces slow them down so which do you think is more appropriate in a relaxing store? But soft surfaces are unhygienic I hear you say. Yes they can be so how do we strike a balance? By selecting mid-tone tiles, countertops and panelling with rounded edges and mottled finishes and by trimming them with more tactile materials that call to mind a homelier aesthetic such as solid timber or leather.

Next lighting. At the end of the day when people are unwinding in their front lounge or in hotel room or in their favourite beachside caf? on the Riviera what does the lighting look like. Its low isn’t it? Almost candlelight isn’t it? And doesn’t candlelight give off a lovely warm glow? So let’s choose lamps that give a similarly warm yellow glow - except of course by food where you need accurate colour rendering.

In addition to visual cues, olfactory and auditory indicators are a powerful way to strengthen a customer’s emotional reaction to a place or product. Let’s for a moment imagine that your market research has suggested that your customers are open to more exotic products and so you decide to test a range of Caribbean Food. Playing reggae music over the tannoy would be an obvious, albeit, crass option so how about engaging the most evocative sense of them all instead? Smell. A subtle but discernible West Indian scent will evoke a much more powerful response from customers and in an unobtrusive manner that won’t result in the customer feeling coerced into a purchase. Smell like this can now be easily produced in store by small devices, such as those available from www.soundvisionireland.ie.

Most of what we buy nowadays has very little to do with need. Of course we still bread and milk but our decision on where to buy it has a lot more to do with where we enjoy buying it than where it is the cheapest. I know Lidl and Aldi offer some of the lowest prices in Ireland but their stores make me ‘feel’ poor and so I’d rather pay the 20 or 30c per item to shop somewhere that makes me ‘feel’ wealthy.

A lot of factors are at play when customers decide where to shop and I wouldn’t for one minute suggest that good customer service and good value aren’t central to it but next time you walk through the front door of your store, look around, how does your store make your customer’s feel about themselves and you?

Elaine Butler, www.edgedesign.ie