DDi - August 2010 - (Page 8)

8 | From the Editor What can brown do for you? hile traveling last week, I afforded myself some (rare and much appreciated) time to sit back, relax and attempt to ﬁnish the daily edition of the USA Today crossword puzzle. As a self-proclaimed “word nerd,” this is a luxury that used to be a daily ritual and now unfortunately only works into my schedule when I’m stuck in faraway airports (and my laptop battery has died, as was the case). I dusted off my wordsmithing skills and, pen in hand, set out to tackle the crossword beast. (The nerd in me knows you can’t truly ﬁnish a crossword puzzle in pencil.) About halfway through, I came to No. 22 down: ﬁve letters, with the clue, “What can ____ do for you?” Without so much as ﬂinching, I quickly scribbled the letters B-R-O-W-N into the appropriate vertical boxes (in PEN, mind you), and started to move on to the next clue. Then it hit me. Was UPS and its catchy slogan really the only possible answer? Could my hasty assumption be absolutely right? Could the UPS tagline really have been the ﬁrst option that popped into my head? The answer to all of the above turned out to be a head-scratching YES. “What can brown do for you?” It’s a simple question, with a simple answer. But for UPS, it is their resounding signature. Almost their nameplate. And it’s completely associated with a piece of the company’s visual history—the brown trucks, brown uniforms and brown packages they deliver. The visual got me thinking about how many other great companies have stamped W visual images into our psyches—images that are instantly recognizable through trivia game, crossword puzzle or everyday subliminal advertising. The Nike swoosh. The Coca-Cola bottle shape. The McDonald’s golden arches. The Tiffany blue box. Or even, as you may have noticed on the cover of this issue, the Bloomie’s black-and-white checkered ﬂoor. Where would retail be without these iconic signatures? What would the world be without Target’s bull’s-eye, Bendel’s striped bag, Macy’s red star, Foot Locker’s referee stripes, Home Depot’s orange or Apple’s, well, apple? Starbucks has even signature-ized the way you order coffee (I’ll have a triple venti no-whip low-foam cappuccino, please). These signatures create a brand image that connects and creates an emotional resonance with the consumer—even when they’re homesick, tired-eyed and trying to ﬁnish a newspaper crossword puzzle in an airport. What’s your signature? In the long run, BROWN was indeed the answer to 22 down (kudos to you, UPS), and 30 minutes later, I had successfully defeated USA Today’s Wednesday edition. Victory! Now, for the Sudoku… Alison Embrey Medina Executive Editor alison.medina@ddionline.com | August 2010 www.ddionline.com http://www.ddionline.com

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of DDi - August 2010

Display & Design Ideas - August 2010
From the Editor
Newsworthy
Shopper Insights
Greentailing
Editor’s Choice
Design Snapshot
Department Store Focus
Contents
Anthropologie
Store Windows Showcase
Right Light
In-Store Technology
Product Spotlight
Advertisers
Calendar
Classifieds
Shopping with Paco

DDi - August 2010