Joining the dots

My profile has been featured on The Dots! Check out my full content portfolio here to see bits and bobs including Instagram strategy, email marketing campaign redesign and storytelling.

Flagship Killer: The meteoric rise of OnePlus through pop-ups

This piece originally appeared on the We Are Pop Up blog on 23 November 2015.

Mobile device startup OnePlus launched the OnePlus X –  the follow-up to their self-proclaimed ‘Flagship Killer’ the OnePlus 2 – in the UK earlier this month to queues around the block and critical acclaim. But how has the brand powered from zero to a waiting list of millions in little over 18 months, and what can be learned from their global launch campaign? We Are Pop Up caught up with brand OnePlus and space The Dandy Lab to find out more about their UK collaboration.

The beginning of November saw the highly anticipated UK launch of the OnePlus X with a pop-up store at The Dandy Lab in Spitalfields. After the resounding success of the French edition of the OnePlus pop-up tour at Colette in Paris, the hype was equally tangible in London as queues started to form long before the doors opened at The Dandy Lab. For one night only, the pop-up provided a unique opportunity for customers to purchase their handsets without the need for one of the OnePlus infamous online invites.

With a queue stretching the length of Spitalfields Market, this level of buzz and exclusivity has become synonymous with the creators of the low-cost rival to the iPhone. Indeed the OnePlus One sold 1 million units between April and December 2014 when the company was less than a year old. In this age of easily-fuelled social media hysteria, exclusive, time-bound retail opportunities such as this hold the power to provide a startup with a 1.6 million pre-reservation list a mere 18 months after launching.

The pace is astounding when you think about what’s possible today. Apple was founded on 1st April 1976. OnePlus on 16th December 2013. In less than two years OnePlus has achieved what Apple has strived for in 40 with staggering global demand; queues around the block; customers flying in from different countries to access 1-hour pop-up sales. In August the OnePlus 2 sold out of 30,000 units in 64 seconds in a surprise online sale.

Now that OnePlus has reached such success with their coveted e-commerce business, the brand wants to evolve their approach to become more than purely online sales. In an exclusive interview with We Are Pop Up, European Communications Manager Eric Zarshenas explains that For the OnePlus X they have partnered with fashion boutiques in key cities around the world so that fans can touch and experience the phone before they buy it – “people can look at pictures, watch a YouTube video, or read reviews, but nothing is the same as actually holding the phone. We are always looking for ways of getting our devices in people’s hands, so that they can truly experience our build quality.”

This widespread movement of e-commerce brands from online presence to bricks and mortar appearances comes as retail space increasingly becomes thought of as not just a ‘shop’, but a real world manifestation of social media. Just this week, founder of shoe company Toms, Blake Mycoskie, told the New York Times that he was over the word “store”. Instead, Toms ‘Outposts’ offer seating, free Wi-Fi and events like morning yoga classes and movie nights, creating a “lifestyle for the brand”. This reimagining of the retail experience was implemented at the OnePlus X London pop-up at The Dandy Lab – bringing people together in the real world for what was before a purely online experience.

Julija Bainiaksina, co-founder of The Dandy Lab which hosted the OnePlus X London launch, tells us that people are now coming to shops like theirs to not only purchase products but also participate in events. “Here at The Dandy Lab we believe that this is the way forward, it’s time for a shop to become a social hub for brands and customers. The shop is effectively a physical social media space where we can create exciting experiences for our customers.” That’s why in-store they also offer an event space where they host different events and activities including a recent London Terrariums workshop and British wine tasting sessions. “This helps to create better relationships with the customers and encourage loyalty,” adds Bainiaksina.

Zarshenas adds that “over the last 10 years the traditional retail industry has been disrupted by growing online shopping trends and social media. Brick and mortar shops are no longer just sales platforms. They have become media channels that act as showrooms and experience centres where customers can see and touch products, and then buy anytime, anywhere online.”

Photo courtesy of Justine Trickett.

A meeting of minds: how Butchers Salon and Facebar London thrive on creative collaboration

This piece originally appeared on the We Are Pop Up blog on 2 December 2015.

Far from the name suggests, Butchers Salon is home to hair extraordinaires Susannah Jones and Katie Knox, whose mission is to rid the world of mind-numbing hairstyles. They burst onto Hackney Road in the heart of Shoreditch just over a year and a half ago when they decided to collaborate, and in that time have amassed a loyal following of stylish creatives, tending the locks of local East Londoners and crafting hairstyles for the likes of Hong Kong Tatler and Hunger TV.

The thing that sets Butchers apart in a sea of independent salons is their dedication to creative ventures and support of emerging businesses. They have designated an area in-house purely to pop-ups where they invite likeminded brands to become part of their community, resulting in unique collaborations when compatible brands collide. Susannah tells us that “we didn’t want to just be a hair-based salon, but a whole creative space. We wanted it to be more of a centre for housing creatives and showcasing different talent, especially in the local area.”

Not only does this mean they can provide a platform for the rich talents of young East London brands – “a pop-up makes so much more sense for those who can’t afford a big unit just to test the water” – but also Butchers benefits as a business from these brand mash-ups. By creating another point of interest within the salon they both give their existing clients a dynamic and exciting reason to re-visit. They also increase their customer base with the additional following of the new brand. “We’ve had a lot of business generated from people interested in the pop-ups. We also become friends with everyone involved with the brand, who then come here with their friends and get their hair done.”

Founder of current in-house pop-up Facebar London, Nicola Fiveash, agrees that a positive difference between their previous location and this is the synergy between the brands. “Now we’re sharing a space with a fabulous hair salon our clients can have a blow dry as well.” The UK’s first professional makeup bar, Facebar London offers the services of experienced fashion industry makeup artists at much more attractive prices. Nicola explains that moving from their previous site on Redchurch Street, the brand wanted to remain close to their local customers as well as grow their reach even further. “Now we have a lot of returning clients as well as referrals from previous ones. Add all the amazing new Butchers clients and that’s a lot of beautiful faces!”

Busy from day one back in October, Facebar is permanently booked up at weekends with an ever-expanding East London following – discovering the area that works for them and iterating on that success has proved an effective business tactic and pop-up strategy. Nicola recommends to other brands thinking about a second pop-up: “don’t disappear. If the area you’ve been in is right for your business, stay close and keep building your customer base without losing the all ones you already have.” Ultimately, learn your strengths and build on them the next time.

Susannah also reveals that learning is a major part of the collaborative relationship that emerges between Butchers and the brands that appear in the salon. “It’s interactive – for a lot of the pop-ups we’ve been working with them as well and I think we’re always subconsciously giving advice. A brand will come to us with an concept and we go through different ideas together. It’s nice to think that we can teach in a sense – not that we thought we would be teaching! It’s exciting seeing them grow.”

This education works both ways. Not only does Butchers offer advice and expertise in conceptualising and branding the pop-up, they also gain something from each brand in a personal sense as well as a business one. “We’ve actually learned skills as well which is exciting. With Facebar we’ve all learned how to do our makeup. We also had a juice bar which was all about living a healthy lifestyle. We’re quite big on being eco friendly and ethical so now we can all make amazing juice.”

So what does the future hold for Butchers? “Now we have the amazing Tina Outen with us – she has her own salon in New York so we’re going to go over there to do a pop-up project. She has her own Tina Did It brand in here but we’re definitely open to more collaborations.” Susannah adds that they’ve been approached by major shoe and sportswear brands for in-house partnerships, and they are always on the lookout for the next exciting fashion project or standout creative concepts. Be that juice, makeup, fashion or hair, whatever business comes next will undoubtedly flourish in this collaborative playground of creativity.

Photo by me.

Ask the experts – how do I make my pop-up stand out from the crowd?

This piece originally appeared on the We Are Pop Up blog on 9 June 2015.

"I’ve just booked my pop-up location and I’m ready to start installing and decorating the space. With lots of competition out there, how can I make my project stand out from the rest?"

More and more pop-up retailers are reimagining the way that we browse and buy in order to offer something that is more than 'just shopping'.  By creating a unique environment within your pop-up - through anything from an innovative floor plan to flamboyant lighting installations - you can create an exciting, memorable experience for your audience.

We spoke to Calypso Rose, Director of The Indytute, Eve Reid, Visual Retail Specialist at Metamorphosis, and Daniel Peters, Founder and Creative Director of BBS Clothing about their expert tips on nailing your visual merchandising, creating a unique in-store experience and ultimately making your pop-up pop.

Grab people's attention

The first thing that your potential customers will see is the outside of your space from the street. You need to grab their attention as they walk past. Eve recommends that you "think about how you can use your façade and windows creatively to capture your customer’s imagination and focus their attention on your products."

"Your window display doesn’t need to be a complex set-up," says Daniel, "but do remember that this is the first interaction that a passer by will have with your brand - it's the perfect way to encourage them to browse and hopefully make a sale."

Calypso adds that it's a great idea to "collaborate with an artist to help with your window. Having a moving element in your shop window really makes people stop and look." 

Create an atmosphere

Daniel explains that it is important to "take your customers on a journey through the space. You want to make people feel like they’ll find something new on every single pinpoint that you’ve chosen to build."

But it's not just about the layout - there's so much more. Eve advises that "when building a great atmosphere you must consider smells, the music choice and volume, lighting. Even the store's temperature is key as the customer won't stay long in somewhere that is too hot or cold."

For a quick insight into how your audience will experience you pop-up, she suggests that you "place a blindfold over your eyes and walk in your store as a customer - how does it feel and sound?"

Tell your story

"It’s all about the story!" Calypso tells us. "From adding snippets about how you started, to your product labelling, to going all out and putting it on a huge sign behind the till. If you’ve had recent press, don’t be shy.  Let people know." Likewise, if you are curating other labels, "find out the story behind the brands you stock and make sure your staff can re-tell the story."

Adding to that, Eve explains that "successful brands create a strong visual connection with their customers through a series of visual touch points. It's about visually conveying what your brand represents and showing your taste, style and personality through the following things:

Your choice of colour

Your choice of images

The way you package things

The type of products you choose to sell

The way in which you merchandise

The type of tickets you use

Your choice of props

The way you and your team dress

Showcase your products well

Dedicate plenty of time to your visual merchandising. Here Calypso breaks down some important things to think about:

1. "Test, test, test. Watch the flow of your customers in your store and don’t be scared to have a big change overnight. Rotating stock is an excellent way of keeping the store looking fresh."

2. Be clear and don't clutter. "Anything tucked up high or on a bottom shelf won’t sell - give each piece some space. Make sure your customers can tell in an instant what the product is. Complicated products are hard to sell!"

Daniel agrees - "Try not to litter your space with rails and fixtures that make the space feel cramped, as this may encourage a customer to walk away before even getting through the door."

Make it interactive

Eve suggests that you "think how you can make your merchandising interactive: allow your customers to touch, taste, smell, and play with your product. 92% of sales come from touch. Are there ways in which you can encourage customers to interact with the space? Collect thoughts and feedback."

If you want to take a leaf out of The Indytute's book, why not curate an in-store workshop or lesson. Calypso explains that "putting a talk or a workshop into your space brings in a new crowd, encourages collaboration opportunities, gathers data and is fantastic for fresh new content."

Amazing fact: having a workshop in your window can increase sales by up to 800%!

Be creative & resourceful

You don't need a huge budget to create your in-store experience. Daniel tells us that "I work with a selection of chosen set designers and builders who are in tune with my vision. We work toward creating a unique shop that is born from an itemised budget that encompasses all of the required fit-out pieces."

Make the most of friends and other designers by asking them to pitch in - Calypso says "if you have a great space there are always people looking to collaborate - I love the We Are Pop Up ShopSharing idea, its excellent!"

Top tip: visit as many other shops as you can for inspiration. From Liberty and Selfridges to your local independent retailers and pop-ups, ideas and new styles are all around you. 

About

From poker to ping pong, baking to biking, The Indytute runs brilliantly inspired lessons of all shapes and sizes. @Indytute

Metamorphosis is a dedicated Independent Retail Consultancy specialising in visual merchandising, brand delivery and retail performance improvement. @MetamorphosisGr

BBSC, Best of British Shop Clothing, is a curated home for British menswear, providing a platform for both emerging and established designers. @B_B_S_Clothing

Top 10 tips for e-commerce and your pop-up with Alex O’Byrne, We Make Websites

This piece originally appeared on the We Are Pop Up blog on 5 August 2015.

We Make Websites co-founder Alex O’Byrne is an expert on e-commerce and speaks regularly on the topic of marketing and e-commerce for design-led retailers and organisations such as the London College of Fashion and Startup Weekend.

We Are Pop Up spoke to Alex about his top 10 things to think about across your website and your pop-up, from marketing to building your brand identity and making the most of feedback from your customers.

1. No one is going to come to your party unless you build up an invite list and ‘market' your party by creating awareness about it.

The analogy I like to use is a house party. If your party does indeed rock and everybody has a great experience, they tell people about it. The same happens when you exceed expectations by offering a brilliant product combined with thoughtful customer service.

2. The most important things is to build an email mailing list by taking every opportunity to add emails to it.

This can start with friends and family, everyone off your LinkedIn, people you meet at events and parties, hell even your neighbours and ex-lovers.

3. In a pop-up environment you can actually talk to your customers and gather their praise, feedback and suggestions.

This will help you figure out what exactly it is that people like about your products which is essential information – this is what you build the brand around.

4. Use your online channels to make sure your audience knows about your pop-up well in advance and also whilst it’s on.

This is a brilliant opportunity to meet your online following in person and find out who your customers are.

5. Use sales data from your online store to work out what your most popular items are and make sure these are stocked in your pop-up.

Similarly, think about what people tend to buy together so you can recommend this when they are in your pop-up.

6. Your branding should be consistent and uniquely you, everywhere.

Branding should be consistent at every point of the way – whether that’s your email campaigns, your website branding, how people dress in your shop, the merchandising in your shop, your order update notifications, your email addresses, where your shop is, your business card design, your social profiles, the style of your photography, your copy tone of voice etc.

7. In store, have a think about how you can merchandise your items to be more appealing.

How can you be innovative so that products are shown to their full potential? We’re working with Mo:vel who just opened a store in Brighton and were able to do some interesting things with their store design such as making sure that every size of trainer is available from the shelf, without the need for someone to go off into the storeroom and take ages checking and finding the right sizes. Innovative young brands are naturals at this type of fresh thinking, so make the most of it!

8. The brand story should be honest, interesting and refreshing.

Some that comes to mind are Hiut Denim, who brought back jean manufacture to a small town in Wales, NastyGal who are now massive but started off with a fresh attitude selling vintage clothes that appealed to young smart women, and Warby Parker, who have made designer glasses more affordable and have a socially conscious vibe built in to their brand.

9. In Google Analytics you can see the location of your customers, it might be interesting to see how many are in your local area.

In Shopify and most other ecommerce platforms you can download your customer list – you could then also segment based on which are local and offer them some sort of treat for dropping in.

10. Email mailing lists are gold.

Use yours when you need to generate interest such as during sale or when you have a new collection. Email re-marketing is getting cheaper and easier to implement every year and has huge conversion rates. We’ve been looking at Emma and Soundest recently, both integrate tightly with Shopify and allow you to send targeted emails to your customers, sometimes automatically.

With companies like Shopify helping startups and growing retailers, there’s never been a better time to start and grow a retail business, so let’s get to it!

We Make Websites build beautiful and effective online stores for creative retail companies. You can view recent case studies here. Follow them on Twitter for daily e-commerce advice.

Photo courtesy of We Make Websites.

How Walala brought the house down with a Memphis-inspired collaboration at ARIA

This piece originally appeared on the We Are Pop Up blog on 8 October 2015.

For London Design Festival, Islington design destination ARIA hosted Walala In Da House, a takeover by Memphis-inspired illustrator and muralist Camille Walala. In a clash of colour and creative talent, Camille and others joined forces to fill the front window with a an eye-popping installation including prints, shelving, seating and ceramics.

Alongside items by the self-proclaimed purveyor of powerfully positive digital print, viewers could immerse themselves in the work of progressive design studio CoBALTUM, East London local artist Dale Kirk, set designer Julia Jomaa, artist Rosy Nicholas and Memphis-Milano furniture mavericks Hopper + Space.

We Are Pop Up spoke to Carl Blücher, Creative Director at ARIA and good friend of Camille, about the colourful collaboration and its unprecedented success at LDF 2015.

We’ve seen Camille’s work popping up all around the city, from Old Street’s “Dream Come True” building to We Built This City on Carnaby Street. It’s great to see her designs now being championed by ARIA – why was this the right time to bring a collaboration to the table?

It’s all about the timing, it just felt right. Camille was ready for a project and her colours and shapes were perfect for ARIA – we’ve always been about colours. I always wanted to work with Camille and 6 months ago when I had to start thinking about London Design Festival, I approached her and she kindly agreed.

The response was more than I could ever wish for, and when Elle Decoration featured us as the No.1 thing to do during LDF the pressure was really on!

The mixture of talent involved with Walala In Da House works so well in ARIA. What are the best things about creative collaborations with artists and designers in-store?

I like to pick emerging artists to help them to build their profile, and have a good contact list of journalists and influential creatives who always like and support our ideas which is encouraging. We have always seen the need to collaborate with the next generation of creatives - as a store we want to remain at the forefront of contemporary design; we want to excite our customers and collaborations like this allow us to do so. 

Our customers have started to expect this from us. That’s why we are always keen to spot the newest kids on the block. We’re also always willing to experiment and take risks by creating collections and collaborating with emerging artists, then waiting to see how they’re received.

The installation may be over, but you can still bring a little Memphis style into your life with the Walala In Da House range for ARIA here.

Photos by me.

Business without walls: We Are Pop Up speaks to James Woodward

This piece originally appeared on the We Are Pop Up blog on 15th December 2015.

At the beginning of October, founder of Brighton’s No Walls Gallery James Woodward listed his space on We Are Pop Up as the newly branded 114 Church Street. Within 24 hours he closed a £1,500 partnership with vintage label House of Bricks. Within one week, London entrepreneurs sent him another 182 qualified leads and the space was fully booked through to the new year. Like his gallery, a business approach of no walls and no agents means that independent brands can launch in this environment of genuinely democratic retail.

Woodward is a prime example of how creative entrepreneurs are using We Are Pop Up to grow their businesses on their own terms. We Are Pop Up spoke to James about No Walls and 114 Church Street, his personal experience with pop-ups and how he has grown his gallery into somewhere that not only encourages innovation but also demonstrates exactly how people are using digital tools in new ways to do business.

Hi James. First of all, tell me a bit about yourself. How do you find yourself where you are today?

I’m probably best known as the founder and owner of No Walls, an independent gallery I started in 2008.  I also own the Chapel Townhouse, a unique one bedroom luxury hotel next to the 114 Church Street space that we’re launching properly in the new year. I live in Brighton with my wife Lorina and five small children – Luella, Amelie, Charles and our baby twins Arthur and Elodie. We moved down here from London six years ago.

I understand No Walls started as a pop-up gallery in London. How did it develop from a temporary site into the gallery as it is now?

No Walls started as a pop-up gallery with Ben Frost‘s first UK solo show in 2008, before anyone was really using the term “pop-up”. I’d met Ben in Sydney a few years prior and somehow convinced him into his first show outside of Australia. I rented an amazing space in the Old Truman Brewery for a week and that was the start of it all. At the time I launched No Walls, I was working for Sony Music and had planned on moving away from that and throwing myself into No Walls full-time, but it wasn’t until we moved down to Brighton that I had the opportunity to do it. Brighton is an amazing, creative city but there were no galleries showing the kind of work I was into so, towards the end of 2010, I took the plunge and threw everything into opening a permanent gallery. After a couple of years, the opportunity arose to purchase 114 Church Street, an iconic 19th century building directly opposite Brighton Dome and having always loved the building, I jumped at it. 114 Church Street has been No Walls’ home ever since.

Do you have any other personal experience with pop-ups? What was your most memorable experience?

Like I say, at the time of that first pop-up show with Ben Frost, I was working for Sony and I hadn’t told anyone there what I was doing. I kind of knew running a start up business alongside working full-time wouldn’t go down well but I felt as though I had to do it to get No Walls off the ground. When Ben’s show was on, I took two weeks holiday and planned to keep it all quiet. This was all good until people from Sony kept coming in to see the show and I then spent half the weekend either hiding under the desk or sneaking outside.

Prior to these most recent pop-ups, the closest thing we’ve done to a pop-up in the 114 Church Street space was Lucy Sparrow’s corner shop. Particularly memorable because it was so different to anything else I’d seen or done in the gallery. Lucy had recreated the entire contents of a traditional British corner shop out of felt, some 4,000 items in total, and we transformed 114 Church Street into her corner shop in October last year. For the whole month, we had customers walking in oblivious to the fact it was all made of felt, asking for cigarettes, Rizla’s, lottery tickets, you name it. One night, we were about to go live from the gallery on BBC One, with a cameraman and presenter stood in the gallery ready to go live, and someone strolled in, straight past both of them, completely oblivious to both the fact they had a TV crew stood next to them and the fact that everything was made of felt, and asked me for two Euromillions tickets.

Why did you decide to make the No Walls space available to pop-ups?

The decision came after we moved the exhibition after Hattie Stewart‘s recent show and were left with a hole in our schedule. 114 Church Street is such a beautiful, iconic building and the location in the centre of Brighton, halfway between the station and the pier and moments from the famous North Laine and the lanes, means it’s perfectly located for all kinds of pop-up uses. Being directly opposite the Dome and Corn Exchange also means that everyone in Brighton knows the building and I’m constantly approached about renting the space out, so I already knew there was demand for it. Rather than putting a show together at short notice, I decided to finally test the water and see which pop-ups would like to use the space. Before I knew it, enquiries and bookings were rolling in. On a personal level, I wanted to spend more time with the twins and letting pop-ups use the space should allow me to do this.

What benefits are there inviting other businesses to use your space?

The variety of pop-ups using the space and the promotion they put into their time in the space will undoubtedly make more people aware of both the space and the gallery. By opening the space up to pop-ups, the space will soon become a real hub for creativity and entrepreneurship in Brighton and we’ll find people returning more and more frequently to see what’s on, whether it’s No Walls or a pop-up in there. Creatively, meeting and seeing other creative businesses at work is bound to throw up new opportunities and ideas. Getting involved with We Are Pop Up has already influenced my thinking about how No Walls will operate going forwards and we’ve already been making changes.

What was the thinking behind creating a new brand for 114 Church Street rather than simply marketing No Walls as a space for hire?

Once I decided to make the space available for pop-ups, I always thought it was important for the space to have an identity in it’s own right. This allows us to open the space up to the whole pop-up market without No Walls having to approve, or be seen to endorse, the pop-ups that use the space. Separating the space from No Walls will also give the gallery the freedom to operate wherever we like. We’ll be able to focus our efforts online and start thinking about pop-ups and projects of our own away from Brighton, whether that be elsewhere in the UK or overseas.

What made you use We Are Pop Up over a traditional agent? What does it allow you to do as a space owner?

To be honest, I didn’t even consider using a traditional agency. I saw the spaces on We Are Pop Up and knew 114 Church Street would both compliment and offer something different to the properties you already had and it was a no brainer. I also wanted the flexibility of being able to use 114 Church Street for No Walls, alongside being able to make it available to pop-ups and We Are Pop Up offered me this. The experience so far has been great and I’m in no doubt that I made the right choice.

Tell me more about how you and other creatives around you are heading online and using digital tools to grow their businesses?

Digital has always played a huge part in the gallery side of our business, whether it’s customers ordering artwork online or simply discovering the gallery on social media. In terms of the pop-up side of the business and 114 Church Street, it’s great that we can connect with so many great brands so easily via the We Are Pop Up platform. Some of the brands who have booked the space knew 114 Church Street and the gallery already, but others have connected with us having discovered the space on We Are Pop Up.

We Are Pop Up simplifies the process of renting short term space for both sides and helps brands to see their ideas come to life quicker than they ever could have done before. So simple that a space can be viewed online and contracts agreed within minutes. In simplifying what was previously a long winded and complicated process, the We Are Pop Up platform is a valuable digital tool for us.

Photo courtesy of No Walls.