We Are the World

Award-winning visual merchandising has celebrated the holidays, promoted new launches, driven seasonal campaigns, honored special events. This year’s winner in the VM+SD International Visual Competition raised money for AIDS relief.

Best of Show 2007 was the Motorola RED pop-up store in Chicago, part of (Product) RED, the global initiative created by rock singer Bono and Kennedy family scion Bobby Shriver to raise money for the Global Fund to fight AIDS in Africa. The fund partnered with various brands and retailers. American Express, Converse, Gap, Giorgio Armani and Apple, along with Motorola, created special products and merchandising campaigns and devoted a portion of those sales to the fund.

Another winning entry, “Think Pink” by Hudson’s Bay Co. in Toronto, centered around driving breast cancer awareness.

“A brand’s social and community conscience and cause-related marketing are increasingly becoming an important aspect of brand relevance and, in some cases, differentiation,” says James Frederick, director of brand environment at Landor Associates (Cincinnati), a judge in this year’s competition. “These campaigns and initiatives allow brands to form fast alliances with like-minded consumers.”

The diversity of entries in this year’s competition shows that the field has widened to include not only public-awareness campaigns but also visual technology, non-seasonal storewide promotions and programs that tie into community-sponsored events.

Overall, judges selected 14 first-place winners and eight awards of merit. Winning entries will also be spotlighted at VM+SD’s International Retail Design Conference. For more details on that session, visit www.irdconline.com.

More information on the overall winner appears below.

For profiles of other first-place winners click here and here.

For profiles of the awards of merits winners, click here.

Best of Show and First Place, In-Store Storewide Promotions – Pop-up Store

Motorola Red, Chicago

WalkerGroup (now part of Fitch, New York) designed and completed Motorola’s temporary 1500-square-foot space on Michigan Avenue in 14 days. Curved, tunnel-like fabric panels (mimicking RED’s parenthetical logo) and illuminated Plexiglas floor boxes showcased Motorola’s special (Product) RED merchandise inside the store, which was open for two weeks in October 2006. Screenprinted fabric panels containing the RED manifesto further highlighted the campaign’s message.

Judges were impressed by Motorola’s ability to relate the cause in a way that was both simple and attention-demanding. “The copywriting is awesome,” said one judge. Another noted: “I like how they used the red color with neutrals so that it’s not overwhelming.”

Client: Motorola Red, Chicago – Guto Andrade; Elena Limbert

Design: WalkerGroup (now a part of Fitch), New York – Randall Ng, principal; Julio George, project executive; Steve Kitezh, director, colors and materials; Noboru Ota, senior designer

General Contractor: Shawmut Design & Construction, New York

Outside Design Consultants: Rex Electric, Addison, Ill. (electrical)

Intelligent Lighting Creations Inc., Skokie, Ill. (lighting)

Video Equipment: Ovation In-Store, Maspeth, N.Y.

Vinyl Graphics: Pico Chicago, Round Lake Beach, Ill.

Fabric Tension Structures: Moss, Belfast, Maine

Flooring: Shaw Carpets, Dalton, Ga.; Architectural Systems Inc., New York

Photography: Jeffrey Lau Photography, Jamaica, N.Y.