Image property of Chute Gerdeman

GlobalShop may technically be over, but with our return home comes the task of summarizing the conference to our fellow Chuties and blog readers. Day 1 was no slow start! Kicking off GlobalShop, keynote speaker Paco Underhill, CEO of Envirosell, shared his “Lessons from the Recession.” Paco explained that some of the same economic realities that were considered in 2009—consumerism meets morality, quality and value transparency, how little rather than how much, the impact of the web-enabled phone, and the acceptance of secondary markets—ring even more true today. Knowing consumers are still facing these economic realities, it is important to be grounded in research to understand how to engage with this changed consumer. Just doing the research isn’t it, though. It’s crucial to understand the objectives and select the right tools in order to receive optimal results and have a true marriage of research and design.

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Image property of Chute Gerdeman

With GlobalShop 2011 just days away, the Chute Gerdeman team is looking forward to taking part in our industry’s premier event for store design, visual merchandising and at-retail marketing. We’ll be on the ground in Las Vegas from beginning to end, March 28-30—walking the show, meeting with clients, partners and friends, and keeping up on the latest happenings in retail trends and technologies.

If you’re going to GlobalShop, be sure to attend the conference session, “From Research to Reality: Turning Shopper Insights into Successful Store Design,” on Monday, March 28 at 1:30pm. Chute Gerdeman’s VP, Intelligence & Brand Strategy, Joanna Felder, and VP, Brand & Marketing, Jay Highland, will co-present the session. Leveraging research into actionable strategies is hard enough, but the leap to actual physical brand presentation is one of the most difficult hurdles for a retailer to make. In this session, you will hear some proven techniques on how several major retailers have taken that leap.

Be sure to check back before, during and after GlobalShop as we’ll be blogging live from the show, with some on-the-fly observations and retail reporting from Sin City!

As promised in my previous post, here’s an update from my recent trip to Las Vegas for the Digital Signage Expo. DSE is the world’s largest international trade show and conference dedicated to digital signage, interactive technology and Out-of-Home networks. This year, I saw some new tech and some old tech used in new and innovative ways. Enjoy my report!

Image property of Chute Gerdeman

I was hoping to get a chance to see the much talked about Intel Virtual Footwear Wall for Adidas, which allows consumers to browse over 8,000 products using a touchscreen wall. And it was as impressive in person as I had imagined. The cool thing is the scalability of the wall. Adidas is able to implement a single screen in smaller stores, a vertical section of the wall for better-performing stores, and the full monty for flagships—all while utilizing the same content and interface design. What struck me was that it wasn’t just “another screen,” but digitally integrated with real Adidas product on the walls in a seamless and engaging way (as you can see to the right in this picture).

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Image via Wicanders

I love finding sustainable products that are affordable and will perform to the standards required for retail and restaurant projects. Corkcomfort flooring by Wicanders is a new and unique cork veneer tile that can be installed as a floating floor (flooring that does not need nailed to the sub-floor) or as a glue down application.

Image via Wicanders

These new floor tiles are constructed like an engineered hardwood product with six layers to provide dimensional stability for a floating floor install. The genius behind this product is the “hard-wearing surface layer” to protect the cork, and the high density fiberboard middle core that provides stability to the floor.

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Image property of Chute Gerdeman

It’s been just about a year for our dear Gerdeblog, and we’d love to know what you think. We’re conducting a brief survey to gather feedback from our blog readers to help us make it more valuable to you! Please take a moment to answer a few simple questions and give us your opinion.

Just click on the following link to access the survey and note that all responses are completely anonymous.

Gerdeblog 2011 Reader Survey

Thank you for your time.

Image property of Chute Gerdeman

We used to think camp was just for kids, but our field trip to Fisher’s Future CAMP proved us wrong. Hosted by The Ohio State University’s Fisher College of Business, CAMP (Columbus Advertising & Marketing Powwow) assembled an all-star panel of professionals from a wide range of companies, all with an eye on the future of marketing in the new economy. A few of the expert minds leading the conversation were John Sass of Scotts Miracle-Gro, Brad Bobenmoyer of Team Detroit, and Chute Gerdeman’s very own Joanna Felder, Director of Creative Strategy, and George Nauman, CMO, among others. The dialogue was energizing and inspiring, and CG was proud to be a part of the event.

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