Some 6 years back from now, when I rang the thank you bell at a pizza hut outlet in Bangalore, the coherent “Thank You” chant from the fellow servicemen added so much warmth to my experience as a customer, that Pizza hut still remains an undisputed choice for me.
The simple “customer delight” proposition by the pizza chain slowly has become a ritual, with many restaurants following the same and many consumers seeking for something like that when they go to a restaurant.
The fun part of having a Kit-Kat is all about breaking it in a particular way, “the Kit-Kat way” and Tequila has to be taken as shots, “the tequila shots” always.
There are a plethora of examples where we knowingly or unknowingly follow these rituals associated with certain brands and that is how the brands establish a relationship with us, a bond with us.
Brands that have a ritual attached to them have a magnetic capacity. They stick to the consumers and this increases the brand recall. We tend to remember stories better. Our brain processes links much faster than independent elements. When a brand has many links attached to it, even if we come across an independent link, we automatically are reminded of the entire chain which leads to the brand and many times stimulate purchase.
To make it more contextual to brand value and consumer stickiness, rituals connected to a brand take one step closer to emotional side of the consumers, hence securing a place in their lives.
When we talk about emotional connect further, the ritual side of the brands enters into domain of spirituality.
With the changing definition of spirituality from “Religious explorations” to “self - discovery”, brands also tend to find a place in the field of effect of the “ultimate realization” of an individual.
“Spiritual brands” are brands which are revered by a consumer in terms of they being close to their highest level of emotional, egoistic and aspirational needs.  Consumers do not wear Nike to run faster, they wear it because it makes them feel like “a confident individual who can just do it”.
The spiritual value of brands has also to do a lot with the amount of ethics they practice with their products, services and businesses. TATA is not just a great company brand, it is a cult which is an achievement to be associated with, be it owning a TATA car or being a relative of a TATA employee.

The journey of brands has been involving with changing its direction from outward-inward to inward-outward. For being a brand which touches a consumer in ritual and spiritual sense, the brand needs to be at the individual closest to oneself and then traverse outwards cutting the clutter of communication, design and product benefits.
 

Good Design thinking is essential for effective Point of Purchase displays

“ When my son was small, one day I took him to a candy store. It was his first visit and he was thrilled and squealed with delight. He ran about the store for a while with the intension of grabbing every bit of the colour feast unfolding before him. Eventually when I mentioned to him that he had to make a choice, he was confused for a while. He could not let go all that he was seeing in front.  Finally, he settled for the brightest, biggest and the most accessible jar of candy.”

Concerned by the state of the world, revered German Designer for the brand, Braun once stated, – “an impenetrable confusion of forms, colours and noises.” Any modern retail or even a corner high frequency store presents a marketing and retail nightmare for creating an effective sales pitch at the actual point of sale. A customer may have been drawn to a store for a product brand through an effective advertisement campaign. Advertisements many a times are dramatic visualised aspirations which present the products in a utopian manner.  These products inside stores are a different story. They are lost amongst myriad of other products, store environments and simply too many people in our country. 

Retail thinking at point of purchase must be smart and effective. Purchase and sales aids get usually fleeting seconds to engage the customer about product benefits. These few seconds are the ones which determine whether your point of purchase merchandise is successful or a waste of valuable time and resources.

Modern retail today is a jigsaw of shelves with piles and stacks of merchandise.  Each is bolder and brighter than the other. If you are lucky to spot the product brand of your choice you may as well clap and give yourselves a pat on the back. It is in these conditions that effective purchase displays create the breathing space for your products.  A well conceived product purchase display can very easily focus entire attention towards the product it is displaying, engage the customer (not entice! ). There is a thin line separating a successful point of purchase and the ones lost amongst the packs of time. Good design thinking and smart application is the base of the few lessons that I have learnt.

Innovative.
Great Point of Purchase displays are always differentiated. They present an innovative solution to display the goodness of the product in a manner not seen every day. There are wow! moments built within innovative displays yet they must never overstep the product. 

Right position.
A point of purchase must present itself at the right moment in the customer journey through any retail environment. This is that moment in the journey of the customer when her mind should not be occupied by other engagements. Catching her attention at the right moment is crucial to creation of an engaging share in the customers mind.

Product placement.
It always helps to present the product at convenient eye levels. The product must be approachable and within easy reach. The visual access to the entire product must not be blocked in the line of sight. The view must be the best view of the product.

Clear message
A good Point of Purchase is clear in making a customer understand the benefits and key differentiation presented by the product on display. The message is dispensed quickly and effectively. Key points of the message are boldly presented and secondary information is segregated to areas where it will be most effective.

Aesthetic & visible.
Shopping is an experience and a good display must appeal to the customer senses. Well designed and executed displays add to the customer delight and general well being. They help create a positive attitude towards the displayed merchandise. Yet a display designer must always make products stand out through their presence or absence.  Choice of colours, forms and materials must take into account the environment, competing products, shelf colours and lighting conditions.  

Tipping point.
A display designer must be aware of the unique selling proposition of the product on display. An effective display is a culmination of a series of events that take place in a flash, the moment your display catches customer attention. All these events must lead to effectively closing the deal by clearly indicating the unique benefits of buying the product. It must provide sufficient inputs to the customer to make an informed decision based on conviction and assurance. The display must help close the sale.

Honest.
Point of Purchase must never attempt to manipulate a customer with promises that cannot be kept. Displays should never portray a product in a manner that makes it more innovative, more powerful and more valuable that it really is at present. Very quickly customers can lose the trust built over years in the product or even worse, the mother brand.

Design is Detail
Great modernist designer, Ludwig Mies van der Rohe , once said, “God is in the details.” Execution of your Point of Purchase idea is as important as the idea itself. Don’t leave details in the display to chance. Good detailing shows respect towards the customer. A well placed screw or a tacky sticking attempt can spell disaster for a good product launch. Remember the quality of your display rubs directly on the quality of your product and brand.

Life and reuse.
Many times the displays can be reused to display products over a longer time period. Displaying other products from the range makes the display proposition cost effective. Make the display last even in today’s throwaway society. Be aware of the life cycle of the product display. Think if the structure can be reused or recycled.  Can it double as packaging ? This way your rupee runs longer and so do the resources on our Earth. Don’t add to the waste already being created. Think environment ( No client will tell you this ! )

Keep evolving
Prototype. Prototype. And Prototype. Point of Purchase is not a onetime exercise where you fire and forget. Build in a step in your process of taking feedback from customers and field workers. A designer must understand what is working and what does not. This is critical to creating flawless displays which relate only to the customers.

I have always enjoyed displays which interact with me, educate me and say , “Hey, the choice is yours.” That is what I call, a great Point of Purchase display experience. Keep Selling ! Think Design !

Author
Ashish Deshpande
Co founder, Director
Elephant Strategy + Design
Head : Product Innovation & Environment Design