Pauline Brown

People, in general, hunger for new angles in business.

In finding a way to make in-store shopping a social experience that also offers a sense of discovery and uniqueness, retail can win.

The archive might include samples or images of product designs (preferably chronologically presented, so the auditor can see how designs have evolved). But it should also include other visible elements (e.g., logos, mottos, ads, store plans). The next step is what I call “patterning.” What are some of the components that overlap or tie together the various products, segments, and historic chapters of the business?

The real challenge for the Clicquot team was not to find a new color but to find new and fresh ways to apply its age-old color.

Target cannot beat Walmart at Walmart’s game, just as Yahoo! could not beat Google at Google’s game. Yet, unlike Yahoo!, Target has remained relatively strong by playing its own game.

In looking at classic business challenges, the solutions are generally not found in business school case studies or best-selling business books, which are typically oriented around highly structured frameworks, analytic tools, and dispassionate views about the marketplace; they are found in a profound and empathic understanding of your customers—not what they buy or where they shop but how they feel and what delights them—and a vision of how their pleasure can be enhanced not as shoppers but as humans.

If the product does the job successfully, we will “hire” it again (in other words, buy it again).

People are emotional and make decisions largely based upon how their purchases make them feel. The better they feel, the more engaged and loyal they are toward those products and brands.

Why do you buy something? What feelings do you want your purchases to arouse? Why and how do the specific products and brands you favor achieve that sensation? What is wrong with those that fail you?

Empathy is a key aspect of aesthetics and continual improvement of business.