Delivering Personality at Coppola

Over the Holiday break, my family and I took a trip out to Napa Valley to experience Wine Country. We visited a number of fantastic wineries, but one of the places that most inspired me was the Francis Ford Coppola Winery. It wasn’t even the beautiful grounds themselves or the quality wine that most inspired me, it was the way they brought Coppola’s personality to life in every aspect of the experience, from the environment to the naming of wines. 

A Signature Experience | New Riff Distilling

The Signature Experiences series continues, our 2nd adventure was to visit New Riff Distilling, which opened a few years ago just across the river from our Cincinnati office. It is so young that their bourbon is still sleeping in barrels, and they are currently bottling other brands until they are ready to bottle their own bourbon.

A Signature Experience | The Candle Lab

Image from http://www.thecandlelab.com

Each FRCH studio consists of a combination of architects, interior designers, graphic designers, resource specialists, strategists, and project managers. We all work together to deliver ownable on-brand moments for our clients and their guests each and every day. But how do we align and unite our disciplines across studios to create an opportunity for new dialogue and encourage sparking anew to keep our creative juices flowing?

On Tour with The Green Room, baked by Subway®

Welcome to The Green Room, Baked by Subway®

Hot on the heels of developing the Subway® Fresh Forward global restaurant concept, FRCH was approached to conceptualize a traveling pop-up activation to hit the road for a series of Summer music festivals across the country. Building off the momentum of Subway’s new restaurant image and visual identity, we looked for opportunities to amplify and distill the brand’s expression for the music festival masses. We worked closely with the brand team on programming the pop-up experience and collaborated with IMG Live to maintain the design intent all the way through execution.

So how did we create an experience that is authentic to the brand and delivers something that’s memorable and of value to the festival audience?

Fast Food Goes Organic

While attending a wedding this past weekend in Santa Rosa, California, I did a double take when I drove by a drive-thru restaurant with grass growing from the roof and a water tower in the lawn. I quickly recognized the Amy’s logo – not because of my familiarity with the restaurant, but from the numerous Amy’s products (from soups to frozen pizza) I’ve consumed over the years.

Sweet LA

For every “fresh”, “vegan” and “farm to table” concept in Los Angeles, you will find a cupcake shop, cookie stand, or gourmet bakery to match it (… of course with a Soul Cycle in between). While each one is typically executed in trendy interior design cues, contemporary branding and graphic design, and usually a gesture of visual merchandising – more often than not, the “experience” leaves a lot to be desired. That said, upon a recent trip to LA I stumbled upon two unique “sweet concepts” that allow the experience to transcend the sweet treats themselves (albeit very good in their own right). 

Fast Company NY: How to Strengthen Your Customer Experience

Fast Company’s 2nd annual Innovation Festival brought together an amazing line-up of innovative thinkers-and-doers from across a wide spectrum of industries. Of particular interest was a session with Danny Meyer of the Union Square Hospitality Group (USHG) and Neil Blumenthal of Warby Parker, to discuss the impact of technology on customer experience, both in retail and restaurants. Along with creating a stimulating discussion on the topic of technology, the conversation also highlighted the growing importance of a “hospitality” mindset far beyond the world of restaurants and hotels.

A History Of Collaboration

It seems like just yesterday I scrounged up enough money (probably better spent toward college textbooks…) to purchase a cherry-printed Luella Bartley wristlet from Target as part of their first – and much anticipated – GO International program. Officially launching in 2006, on the heels of the success of Issac Mizrahi for Target, the campaign featured a different high-end designer each season that would create an exclusive, limited-time and obviously lower-priced, collection for Target.

Brand Love: Marine Layer

Last summer I fell in love. With a hoody. It had me at hello, or more accurately at ‘Oh, Hey’. My destination was Shinola in Chicago, a pilgrimage born of an earlier brand love affair. After resisting a major splurge on a watch from Detroit I heard the siren call of an unknown brand casually beckoning me from across Damen Avenue.

NRF Big Show Recap

Retail is booming, but it’s a whole new ball game. At this year’s NRF Big Show nearly 36,000 professionals from over 80 countries converged in New York to learn about and discuss the hot topics driving the next waves of retail revolution. New technologies were demonstrated, new brands were introduced, and familiar players shared new thinking and new approaches to their business amidst the most rapidly changing marketplace in history.