Harvard Business Review, soyalatte in my eco-mug and 3 h alone on the way home from my boardmeeting with She Creatives in Gothenburg. Lovley place for some downtime. The little details in life matters.
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Had some time today at The Pocketshop (pocket book chain in Sweden) at the Central station in Stockholm today. I had to exchange some Swizz Franc for my cousin from Switzerland and stopped by Pocketshop.
I’ve realized that my attentionspan as a customer there only is focused on one section: Non-Fiction in english. I’m obsessed with learning new things, a good obsession when working in one of the most change-prone industry in the world: digital and innovation.
My book-harvest this time consisted of: # Warren my-man Buffett’s latest book of evaluating businesses for durable competitive advantage. Yay!!! good to read both from an investors perspective as well as an entrepreneurs perspective.
# Living Dolls – the return of sexism, a fresh look at women, girls, sexism, femininity today. supposed to be groundbreaking.
# Nice girls don’t get the corner office – bestseller from executive coach Lois P. Frankel. Needs no explanation.
# No impact man – realistic Eco-living for modern households. The guy went one year without any net environmental impact. Got to learn that.
Have you read them? tell me what you thought! Will get back to you on what I got out of them.
And a little friday-quote for you guys:
”weekends doesn’t count unless you spend them doing something completely pointless”
Image courtesy of Xue Mei Rhodin / Wonderland Group
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i’m in an interactive sketching technique workshop with Mårten Angner, user experience designer, at Hyper Island http://www.angner.se/
Images courtesy of Xue Mei Rhodin / Wonderland Group
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Now my cousin Britt has arrived from Switzerland. It was a meeting containing all of my family memories. Conversations on mixed French, German and Swedish. French cheese, Swiss chocolate and Swiss designer scarves. I’m so happy that she is here!
Now I’m on my way to Hyper Island with Alaska for a sketching technique workshop for user experience. Listening to Stil i P1 (Style in Program 1) and eating a swedish hardbread sandwich for breakfast.
Images courtesy of Xue Mei Rhodin / Wonderland Group
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http://whatthefuckshouldimakefordinner.com/
How about a cookbook with an attitude?
Zach Golden, Copyrighter from New York City started the site What The Fuck Should I Make For DInner, a site that in a very entertaining way give you one simple suggestion on what to make for dinner.
Brilliant idea in a world where everyone always comes home to late, if not inhumanly late. No one has energy for imagining dinner recipes, especially if you work is based on trying to come up with super-mega-viral completely out of the box ideas all day long.
So what happened with the simple idea of making a swearing zen-simple cookbook? 168 000 Likes. Bam. Envision going to a publisher and show that already more than 168 000 people love your book. Before you wrote it.
This is the way to sell books people.
Image courtesy of Xue Mei Rhodin / Wonderland Group
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True to my book-obsession, I’ve bought about 10 books about advertising, user needs, branding and business the last month.
One of the first I started reading was Buyology. (available both in English and Swedish)
Based on the latest research, it explains for example why the warning-signs on cigarette packages actually make people smoke more. Or why other ,for the eye, very obvious responses to products are completely wrong. It’s all about how the brain reacts. Fantastic. Change my view of consumers.
Images courtesy of Xue Mei Rhodin / Wonderland Group
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Today we’re celebrating with dessert wine and french cheese that I just got accepted to the Interactive Art Director program at the international digital advertisingschool Hyper Island. It’s a program for those with previous experience from the advertising industry and 50 students from all over the world will start in August.
It’s going to give me a speciality that I really have a passion for and help me lead Wonderland Group to what I want the company to evolve to, the best digital creative agency in the world.
Do you have dreams about what you want to do with your company? Have you considered what education or courses you or your staff might need to get better results?
Maybe you already have? Write me and tell me about the experience!
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I posted a checkin on Facebook saying that me and Mattias (my life- and businesspartner) where trying out a ring from the contemporary brand Bjorg at the luxury department store Nordiska Kompaniet in Stockholm. That it was a silver ring with a huge rabbithead with diamond eyes didn’t stop people from believing it was an engagement ring. (I’m not that eccentric, am I?)
This ring was a anniversary gift for our two incredible years together, as Alice in Wonderland and the white rabbit is a constant inspiration in my life.
But it’s as much a celebration of our businesses as anything else. It’s a daily reminder of what I want to build with Wonderland Group and what branding is all about. Wonderous stories, experiences, consistency and clarity.
What is you daily reminder? What item on you, tattoos, nicknames, jewellery, colors, accessories, reminds you and others about your brand and/or goal?
The ring was finally ready today so we took a coffee after work and picked it up at NK.
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I’m right now in the car on my way home from a 7 hours long PR- and marketingmeeting as Chairwoman of the Board for She Creatives.
Thank you to all the She Creatives members who voted for me and the other women on the board!
I had a wonderful meeting with Malena Karlsson from Pregraph, who is in charge of PR/Press together with me and Julieta Spoerer from Caligraph.
those seven hours flew by like minutes with a little help from Mocco’s supersized latte.
To celebrate work well done we’ve bought Cappucino and Apple flavoured slushdrinks! Alaska the french bulldog was very curious!
have a sunny saturday everyone!
Image courtesy of Xue Mei Rhodin / Wonderland Group
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I had a great meeting with a potential client this week. There are interesting things going on in Stockholm. A lot of new fashion entrepreneurs who open small, specialized boutiques with handpicked brands. Real ”goodiebags” who are tuned with the neighborhoods lifestyle. Not being a global brand like HM or Zara, you have both the privilege and challenge to deliver a personal experience. This is where your webshop, Facebook page and blog have to be tuned into the same experience, elongate the persona of your boutique.
Lunch at Mocco before my meeting with Alaska and Mattias.
Xue Mei Rhodin / Wonderland Group
One shop who took this very seriously and got to reap the success that came with it was Tjallamalla, a desginer store with two boutiques, one in Stockholm and one in Malmoe (Malmö). They now have over 250 designer labels represented in their store with a range from Rodebjer, Resteröds, Diana Orving, Noir et Blanc, Carin Wester.
By the way, they sold the jewelry from my previous clothing- and accessory collection Xue Mei Rhodin. (No longer available in stores). But they also sell new brands, who some of them release their first collection to Tjallamalla’s customers. Tjallamalla is famous for being the first to bringing in Swedish designers, even before they’ve hit the largers markets.
What they did online was to hire Sweden’s most accomplished fashion illustrator, Liselotte Watkins. You’ve seen her prints on the famous Miu Miu collection. They put her much sought after illustrations behind the counter in the stores and in the header of their webshop, which they let a professional design to match their brand. Specially designed just for Tjallamalla. Do you think those colourful illustrations stopped fashionistas in their track when browsing the shopwindows or visiting their online store? Ofcourse it did.
Many newly opened stores wait to get a professional website or webshop and let some friend of a friend do a make-do mockup. Did you know this is your biggest mistake?
94% of all journalists go to companies website to search for scoops and news. If it looks like an amateur did it, they’ll turn at the door (or landing page). That’s where you’ll miss out on local press doing an article on your newly opened shop, that’s where you’ll loose bloggers who want to be the first with the latest and trendiest.
It takes about 10 seconds to evaluate if the website (and that also mean your entire brand!) is from a serious company with an attractive brand.
Do you have the right mix to get every customer to buy something?
Having the right mix in a small boutique is key.
Here are some tips I’ve learned through my Certification as International Strategic Purchaser:
1. Exclusive layer, limited editions: this is where the limited editions, hand sown garments, fresh brands and more expensive designs go. Highlight them in store and always show the off. This are you unique products. Preferably have some brands that no one else in your country or city have. This is for the trendsetters who are looking for the unique and new.
2. The fresh-looking classics, the bulk layer. These are the layer you will sell often, but which are not as expensive as the top layer. Have classics that you know you target customers adore and want to buy again and again. This is for the regular shopper who admire the exclusive layer, but buy the classics instead.
3. The accessories, the extra layer. This layer can contain anything from jewelry, bags, tealights, room perfumes, belts, garment care products ect. This is something you offer at the counter, adding extra to each purchase and showing your styling and expert knowledge. This is a start of a conversation with you clients at the counter, making them feel seen by you. It’s also the layer that customers who don’t want to spend their whole budget, but want to buy something because they like the atmosphere, buy from.
Are you a shop owner who want to take your store to the next level? Contact us at info@wonderlandgroup.se (english or swedish)
Image courtesy of Xue Mei Rhodin
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