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In my last post I stamped my feet declaring Brand Experience as the ultimate cut-through in our media saturated world. I haven’t changed my mind. But since then, I’ve been thinking about Retail Space and the Experience potential it offers.

Ten minutes after finishing that article, I found myself in Nike Town on Oxford Street, swayed away from next-door Topman by the draw of a brand world to escape into.

I haven’t stepped foot in Nike Town for about 10 years, but I was still as impressed as my teenage self. The Town of Nike: scale, ownership, a place for consumers to explore and hang out.

To buy or not to buy. For Nike, it doesn’t matter too much, at least not right now. This is an open invite to a brand showcase.

In summary:

• Eye-fulls of immaculately designed space, to the ultimate sporting soundtrack played by a live DJ.
• A full height atrium that draws the eye up, then back down to bursts of colourful wonders.
• Hanging chandeliers made from trainers (let’s call them sneakers), skipping ropes and tennis balls.
• An unnecessarily giant sneaker surrounded by loads of normal sized ones.
• Hands-on interactive stations to discover more of sneaker technology – just how much Air is really in those soles, and stuff like that, I would imagine.

Nike Town is a multi-dimensioned experiential space that curates multiple consumer journeys according to each consumer’s whim or willing. It’s up to you. Whether it’s brand initiation or full immersion, there’s a breadth of products and services to explore, within macro and micro environments.

Emotional triggers via big evocative words and statements literally punch out of the walls. With passive, active and interactive experiences. Either way, it’s an impressive and engaging spectacle.

And most significantly as a retail outlet, it’s a free-flowing space with room to breathe – unlike Topman next door.

For a guy who’s not that interested in sport, Nike had me. I wished I was interested in sport. Or at least could run (more than a mile).

But despite that, from an aesthetic enjoyment / fashion-shoe point of view, I felt like a welcome citizen of Nike Town, especially as I gawped up at the NikeID Studio standing at the central core to five floors of pure brand indulgence; glass walls back-filled with the lush vibrancy of hundreds of right-foot shoes (the sneaker equivalent of AllSaints’ sewing machines). It knows it looks good.

Nike products aplenty. Nike lifestyle galore. A sort-of brand theme park.
Fundamentally and ultimately, a retail Experience that captures the imagination.

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