Day One: Ai's Influence and Retail's Human Connection
We started the festivities with some store tours with our friends from Big Y and Envirosell, and then a happy hour at the famous Providence WaterFire. The WaterFire is a city tradition with decades of history. After a fun night out reconnecting with colleagues, we hit the ground running the next morning with the commencement of the conference.
To kick things off, retail “near futurist” Neil Redding shared some interesting sentiments on Ai and its place in our individual productivity cycles. To make a long story short, brands are on the clock to implement ai into their workflows, and if they avoid it, there could be a significant delay in growth. Neil shared an analogy with the audience, stating that ai is like discovering fire – it’s a great tool that when harnessed can do wonderful, or horrific things. It’s how the user controls it in the endgame that will determine its impact.
Shortly after, Bevan Bloemendaal (Owner, BB Creative Consulting) and Mike Roberts (CCO, KEANE agency) gave a thought-provoking keynote on retail, and why it’s a thread that connects us. It’s a tactile, in-person experience that’s meant to be felt, heard, and seen. They shared various examples of immersive retail experiences across the world and tied them back to key considerations for designing immersive experiences.
Some key design considerations:
- Designing for emotional resonance
- Designing for belonging
- Designing for pause, not push
- Designing for ritual & rhythm
- Designing as mirrors of identity
- Designing for local & global storytelling.
We followed this up with some roundtable sessions featuring brand leaders and creatives to discuss table topics. Topics ranged from in-store marketing, environments and placemaking, to hospitality and logistics and more. I tried my hand at brand purpose and its place in the store environment.
It was a great discussion with representatives from Big Y World Class Market, L.L. Bean, Bugatchi and more. Much of the theme revolved around how the brand shows up in-store, how it makes people feel, and its differentiating factors. Like a “my pleasure” at Chick-Fil-A, or the extra fries at the bottom of a Five Guys bag, the little things that ensure the brand promise is fulfilled. Each one of us agreed that these are the details and key reasons why consumers are loyal to a company.
Day Two: The Economy, State of Grocery, Influencers and More
Day two was a fun one, which featured a keynote presentation from economist Sarah Quinlan, where we learned some surprising information about the state of consumerism, the economy at large, and why key focuses for consumer spending should primarily be on food and housing.
Right after, I led a keynote with my friends Adam Kavett (Partner, Envirosell) and Sarah Steven (VP, Marketing at Big Y) to share our research on the state of grocery across pickup, delivery, and in-store experience. While Paul Tepfenhart was unable to join us on stage, we send many thanks to his contributions to the wider research and presentation. More details on this to come later.
Then we learned from influencers Meg Cusick and Jonny Carmack on why it’s so important to lead with authenticity when managing brand partnerships and content creation.
Closing Thoughts
Overall, IRDC was an incredible experience this year, and we had a great time meeting new individuals, and predicting what the road might uncover in the near future for retail in general.
We’re very excited to see how the worlds of Ai will intertwine with the physical experiences we know and love from retail, and how brands will find creative ways to stay top of mind.
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