London calling. Ted Baker

 
Challenge
Create a non-transactional experience that allows for ongoing social media interaction. Design and deliver an interactive solution that drives footfall to a hidden stairwell in Ted Baker’s new flagship Japan store in Tokyo, whilst maintaining the store‘s quintessentially British 1950s theme.

 
Insight
Tokyo is the city of technology, so in order to create an experience that could compete, we had to think differently.

 
Solution
We devised the theme 'London calling', and aimed to create experiences that would catch the customer’s attention and keep them in store for longer.

 
On entering the store, shoppers are greeted by the Ted-taxi, constructed from the refurbished back-half of a London black cab. As soon as they take a seat, their journey begins, and a video plays in the rear windows of the cab, transporting them around London as it looked in the 1950s. One moment you are on Trafalgar square, and the next you are being kissed by a shark, creating a truly unique experience. Shoppers are encouraged to take photos and to share online.

 
In order to illuminate Ted Baker’s hidden stairwell, we created a retro telephone exchange. Lighting draws the shoppers to the spiral stairwell at the back of the store. They are then invited to plug and play with the glowing red, white and blue LED connection jacks. As the cables are connected to different sockets, authentic 1950’s sound effects from London are triggered, giving shoppers access to forgotten conversations as they make their way up and down the stairwell.

 
Results

• Louise Curnuck, Design Manager, Ted Baker - “The staircase and taxi are brilliant…we are very pleased!”
• Coverage in key fashion and retail press.
• The store was named store of the week, over 2000 images of people enjoying their journey in the Ted-taxi have been uploaded onto Facebook.
• The switch board was well received by those that entered the store, and provided a highly engaging way of mixing old technology with new.