“We are building a first generation of designers with world class standards,” he says of Fitch-Qatar, which was established in 2004 under the auspices of Qatar Foundation.
Fitch in Qatar, is the collaboration between the Qatar Foundation and the Fitch London studio, and employs junior designers of Virginia Commonwealth University School of the Arts in Qatar (VCUQ), and senior and associate designers from the London studio.
“Nothing is worthwhile, unless designed. Designing is a heady and worthwhile responsibility and is an obligation for a wider society, which enables one to leave a mark in the world.”
Of Fitch-Qatar, he says “With 18 studios in 11 countries in America, Asia Pacific and the Middle East, I would say that the studio here is an active player in designing the look and feel of the consumer experience in the global village.”
With years of designing experience, Fitch has a rich heritage and a unique expertise in retail design, having built up over 30 years, the world’s most complete multi-disciplinary design consultancy.
Redefinitions
Fitch illustrates the concept of redefinition with an interesting anecdote. A cyclist visiting a motorcycle shop asked a sales assistant how much he should pay for a helmet. “It all depends on how much you value your brain,” replied the assistant. The cyclist immediately fished out a $100 bill, though he had originally intended to spend around $30.
“A complete redefinition of his question, setting it in a newer context, had tripled the budget the man had originally set aside for it,” explains Fitch. “Redefinitions clearly pay dividends when they are in the best interests of the customer.”
Fitch has avoided creative stagnation and stayed ahead in terms of design by constantly questioning its practices and reconfiguring its ideas within new and contemporary contexts.
Retail design
Retailing is all about experiences – the touch and feel of a product and how it communicates to the layman. Retailing is more than mere visual branding, it is the ‘in-store’ experience – how user-friendly is the shop? How attractive is the display? How apt is the pricing? All of which together form the retail experience, he says. Even without any visual branding all these factors affect the retailer. Branding meanwhile helps in positioning the retailer in the market place – a top or middle end retailer.
Retail design traditionally means design for the sale of goods in small quantities directly to consumers. Redefining the word, retail design in a broader context is to put ideas and stories into circulation, to communicate them with conviction to others and to achieve change in the process.
“It is most important for a retailer to find his/her right position and then later work on the designs. Like for a brand like Gucci, the positioning is clear but for a new retailer, the positioning exercise becomes vital. We work with the client to know his aspirations and expectations. Where he sees himself. A high stylish retailer or a no style one? An expensive retailer or a cheap one? After the new retailer compares himself with established brands/benchmarks, he becomes aware of what image he is projecting and what the retail experience would be for his merchandise.”
Some of the famed retail stories crafted by Fitch International are Lego Brand Store, Lucky Strike, U department store and Nokia in Asia Pacific. The Lego brand store reflects the core values of this global brand with a store environment conducive to children.
‘U’ Rustan’s retail strategy involved a new signature retail concept; it involved a new strategy, corporate identity and the implementation of the whole concept in the retail design creating an easily identifiable image for the retail brand.
Convergence in branding
Convergence captures the imagination, but divergence captures the market according to branding expert Al Reis. But Fitch feels there are too many facts in the commercial market, which goes against that concept. “A classic example of a successful convergence brand is BP (British Petroleum), which has consolidated a whole number of brands to form one petroleum company, a brand name: BP – Beyond Fuel. The tagline implies that they are not about fuel alone. A success story of this extent is not possible for a single brand. “
Branding Gaffs
“There are two British rebranding exercises that were an utter disaster — the British Airways rebranded itself with the punch line ‘Taking people places’, but the change didn’t work well and was known as the worst branding mistake about five years ago.
The second most prominent one is that of Abbey National, one of the most popular banks in Britain. The management changed the name to Abbey, which affected the bank strategically and soon the bank was taken over by another company. A decade ago, Coca Cola made a similar rebranding mistake of changing the classic taste of Coca Cola with a new one under the same name. That too was an utter disaster. The common thread that binds the faults in all the three rebranding exercise is that the brand ‘lost touch’ with the consumer.”
“A brand to a great deal is about trust which comes from association, which is in part driven by memory,” explains Fitch.
Going Local
The visual identity of a brand is only the tip of the brand iceberg. Other necessary ingredients for a successful and lasting brand include trust, uniqueness and constant innovation. “Qatar undoubtedly possesses all of these but the management of a brand also requires constant attention and nurturing. Fitch would love to work with the Qatar government, help them manage the Qatar brand as the country moves forward,” says Fitch about ‘Qatar’ being perceived as a brand.
Fitch feels that there is scope for a globally recognised brand in Qatar. “Global brands have to offer something that resonates the world over. This is true be it a product, a service or a corporate or national entity. Qatar has a rich culture, and human and natural resources, and I see no reason why a well-established, properly managed brand could not represent Qatar worldwide.”
An Essential Tool
There are various factions of designing involved in the Fitch studio, is there a common thread linking these design factions? Fitch says, “Firstly good design, like good design education, should be a compound of innovation and creativity and both are essential ingredients in modern life. So whether education in question is of the specialist designer in Graphics, Environments or Industrial Design, these ingredients must form the common glue. I might also add that design history is also an essential third ingredient and in modern high education it is often and sadly overlooked.”
The Power of 4
The four areas of expertise of his design firm are Brand Communication, Retail Design, Product Development and Future Insight. Brand communication involves brand strategy, positioning, identity, graphic design, live brand communications packaging and interactive design.
“The Ford Blu live event design and production to launch the new Ford Fiesta to the press on the eve of the Frankfurt Motor Show was a successful brand communication event,” comments Fitch.
Retail Design is their area of expertise with numerous illustrations to vouch for their design capabilities; Product Development is an interesting area of specialisation, which involves ergonomics, user research, industrial design and user interface; Future Insight is all about forecasting and consulting, from consumer behaviour, textile trends and retail trends.
Discover, Design, Development and Deliver (the 4Ds) is the process involved in building a brand or a retailer or the development of a product. “The discovering process is to understand the product or the customer using the product. It is learning more about investment and the failure and success ratio of various other similar category products. Then follows the main designing process, followed by the development process which explores various designing options provided, research of the design, its capabilities etc. Delivery is the final stage which works on packaging and delivery.”
“Whatever be the project, from the smallest domestic product to the largest retail environment, there is always an ultimate goal: to touch people’s lives at the point of customer interaction,” says Fitch.
This article is reproduced with special permission from Qatar Today - Qatar's only news, business and lifestyle magazine
