COUSINING SPACE DESIGN WITH ADVERTISING'S JOURNEY AS WITNESSED IN TIMES

In the olden days when the world was devoid of any form of media, shop owners would shout out about the products they sell. But gradually, they took to writing the list of products and displaying it at the shop entrance. The earliest sign of indirect advertising no doubt has to be the papyrus that had an ad written on it and which was discovered a few years ago. Created some 3000 years ago by a weaver in Egypt, the ad was to trace a runaway slave as well as promote its weaving business. Whether the ad was effective or not, is debatable but the power of such ads targeted at prospective customers was here to stay.

We all have grown up watching western movies that have cowboys and criminals chasing each other. What untrained eyes must have not missed were the ‘wanted’ posters that the authorities put out for criminals. These posters are one form of indirect advertising.

Advertising has evolved a long way from the days of the pharaohs to the modern world. Today, advertising has branched out into two main segments – direct and indirect advertising. What differentiates the two segments is that direct advertising covers your mainline print and television advertising for the general masses while indirect marketing takes an unconventional approach towards the targeted customers through the use of various niche activities such as brand promotions, events, leaflets, emails, etc.

Today, most advertising agencies boast of being 360 degrees in terms of client servicing. By 360 degrees, they cater to both direct and indirect advertisements. But today, there are some specialized event management agencies that are hired by mainline advertising agencies to undertake indirect advertisement activities for their clients. These activities don’t involve just passing out product samples, holding free counseling, or even brand promotion in a mall. It’s more to do with engaging prospective customers and converting them into actual buyers of the brand.

For a brand, indirect advertisement in the form of say events are not just about displaying their brand advertisement as much as engaging the targeted customers and hooking them to it in the long run. Interest, fun, engagement, and conversion are a part and parcel of indirect advertisement. For a children’s brand, reaching out and engaging school students is the perfect way to leave a lasting impression of a brand in the minds of these kids. Likewise, with college students when a hip-hop or funky brand is involved that targets students from Tier I, Tier II, and Tier III colleges. At the end of the day, it’s all about engaging the students and involving them in activities, and at times with only a subtle hint of the brand in the background.

While food and appliance brands prefer housing colonies and malls to reach out to their targeted customers, some high-end brands prefer to target a smaller customer base. But nothing is decided unless and until detailed research and analysis are conducted. An indirect marketing activity conducted without a proper research report may boomerang big time on the brand. Hence, it plays to be safe than sorry.

According to 2021 survey report the marketing budget of a company is roughly around 12% of the company-wide annual budget and only a fraction of this 12% is utilized for BTL Marketing. But for a new company, the marketing budget may go up as much as 20% in the first year.

On the retail side, it’s said that looks make a man. The same can be said of retail outlets which have their space designed by professional agencies to make the outlets visually appealing as well as interior space management to reduce cluster and at the same time, look spacious enough to warrant a visit by the targeted customers time and again.

Despite the boom in online retail business, a brick-and-mortar retail experience is still enjoyed by customers at many levels. Some customers continue to enjoy the touch-and-buy syndrome, that is they love to feel the product in their hands before they buy it. With technology booming and new modern retail ideas floating in the market, innovative designs are the need of the hour to make shopping a wholesome experience for customers.

Today, you may have a café inside a bookstore or vice versa to give its customers a joyful experience of both brands under one roof. On the other hand, a restaurant may have a small playground for children to indulge in while the family waits for a table.

Agencies have a specialized team to design such layouts and a lot more. It more or less creates a perfect visual identity for individual brand outlets and/or retail outlets that sell multiple brands under one roof. The exterior design determines whether a prospective customer will walk in and indulge in shopping inside the outlet and the interior design, product placements, and easy maneuvering inside the store decides if the walk-in converts to a sales figure.

A lot of things are taken into consideration when a retail outlet decides to go in for a major overhaul in terms of branding and product arrangement. Visually aesthetic exteriors, systematic product display planning to easy manipulation around inside the store are what determine a happy and satisfied customer.

Let’s look at two cars as an example of finely design product. On the one hand, we have a high-end sports convertible and on the other hand, we have a common car. In terms of taking the passenger from Point A to Point B, both fulfill the need. But a high-end sports car will grab more eyeballs because of its finer nuances, beautiful design, spacious and comfortable interior, and the fact that it can go from 0 to 100 km/h in less than 2 seconds.

Likewise, a retail outlet has to offer such an interactive retailing model to make a customer’s visit a success and help him with making the right choices in terms of products easily and comfortably. With modern technology like augmented reality, indoor positioning systems, iBeacons, etc., in-shop buying has become as easy as using a calculator in our daily lives and it’s all thanks to the user of professional design agencies that knows how to maximize the impact of retail outlets by leveraging its space in the best possible way to make the customer’s visit a great shopping experience.

From designing the exterior to interior planning, the layout, color shade, signage, product placement, and modern technology, these are some of the things that the Space Design agency does and which are crucial for a brand’s success in creating the best possible shopping experience for the customer and set the cash register ringing for the retail outlet. But this won’t be possible unless it’s ably supported by BTL Marketing and which aids the brands in creating a dialogue with the consumers which in turn leads to sales at the stores both conventionally and in omnichannel way.