Space = The reason and value of existence.

   Jooyun Kim's 

Spacebranding vol.19

"Customers fill their lack of daily lives with play in space and assimilate with brands."

<The customer senses and feels it first.>

Dan Hill says that humans 'sense-feel-think-act'. People first ‘sense-feel’ before they ‘think-act’. If ‘thinking-acting’ is a rational human activity, ‘sensing-feeling’ is a sensory and emotional activity.1) 

In space, we intuitively 'sense-feel' something as a so-called look and feel. One of the impressive scenes, commonly impressed by Apple stores around the world, is the transparent glass stairs.

New York 5th avenue Apple Store from https://objectspacebuildingplace.wordpress.com/2015/08/20/5th-avenue-apple-store

<Apple Store's Key Impression Device>

Surreal glass stairs clearly make you feel Apple's advanced technology and future orientation with one simple impression. We admire what can be very complicated is expressed so simply. Because it intuitively feels that a lot of effort has been put into it.2)

Apple Store Glass Stairs are spatial devices developed by Steve Jobs. After being kicked out of Apple, Steve Jobs wanted to have a key experiential impression at the entrance of the NEXT office building to employees and customers visiting the office building. 

For a dramatic spatial impression of the NEXT office building, Jobs asked architect I.M.Pei to change the location of the elevator to create a definite impression of space. He specifically ordered Pei to design a staircase that looked as if it were floating in the air. The very 'spatial impression' that Jobs had hoped for was a glass staircase that later became a key sensory element of Apple's store.3)

Fifth Avenue Apple Store by Foster + Partners from https://www.dexigner.com/news/32433

Apple store in Istanbul by Foster + Partners from https://www.dezeen.com/2014/05/15/apple-store-istanbul-turkey-foster-partners/

Apple store in Milan by Foster + Partners from https://www.archivibe.com/not-just-the-same-apple-store-in-milan-by-foster-partners/

<Space = Brand personality>

Customers naturally feel the meaning and fun of the brand in the space they visit themselves. Among the entertainment in space, sometimes they create valuable experiences that can be memorable for the rest of their lives. In entertainment in the space, customers fill the lack of daily life and become assimilated with the brand. Leslie de Chernatony describes the components of brand identity in three ways: vision, culture, and personality.4)

First, the brand vision plays a role in suggesting the direction of the brand. Vision is strategically selected by pioneering individuals such as brand managers. Brand culture shows the value of the brand and is planned along with the brand vision. Brand culture plays a role in helping the brand achieve its vision by incorporating the core value of the brand that remains over time.

My Zeil modern shopping center in Frankfurt ©Jooyun Kim

Brand vision and brand culture affect brand personality that reflects relationships with everyone who has interest in the brand. David Aaker, a scholar in the brand field, says a visual metaphor in space and is said to be a strong form of brand identity.5) There will be no powerful metaphor to strengthen the brand's personal 'likeness' space that is emotionally connected to the brand.

<Visiting a space is an opportunity to impress.>

The reason why spatial impressions are important for brands is that the hippocampus of our brain is more interested in 'vivid' and 'clear' stimuli than ordinary ones.6) Customers can easily form a bond with the brand through experience. Therefore, the space of a company or brand, or all spaces operated by a company, must carefully plan appropriate experiential factors that are connected with the 'likeness' of the entire company.7)

A corporate space is a spatial environment related to a brand and includes all spatial situations directly connected to the brand, such as buildings, landscapes, offices, factories, flagship stores, road shops, pop-up stores, exhibition halls, exhibition booths, and displays.

An opportunity for a customer to visit space is an “impression” that a company must keep in the mind of the customer.

Customers pay for time and transportation to visit the space prepared by the company. If customers do not experience adequate compensation for that time and money, the impression of the company will result in contradictory results to the company's expectations and purposes. When customer expectations are not met, trust is broken, and it is expressed as anti-corporate sentiment through SNS. This is the reason why the composition of the space for branding must be careful and delicate.

<Space = "The reason and value of existence">

For spacebranding, companies must create their own unique spatial tastes that are clearly distinct from other brands. ‘Original’ means ‘the fundamentals must be different’. It should be a space that definitely has its own 'reason of existence', 'value of existence', and Leon Detraison D'tre such as 'likeness', rather than imitating other companies or simply following market trends. 8)

Customers want a concrete experience to mobilize their senses, and anything they can enjoy is fine. In the modern experience-oriented business, the success of a business depends on how it operates and manages the 'likeness' that allows customers to enter the imaginary world. It is no longer sufficient for companies to differentiate their space by simply making it efficient and looking relatively cool or good compared to other competitors' spaces as before.

Lewis-Sigler Institute by Rafael Viñoly ©Jooyun Kim

From a branding point of view, space must be handled strategically. Just as a person handles his or her face or clothes carefully, the construction and management of all spaces of a company must be thoroughly strategic and delicate according to the "reason for existence." It is not just a fancy space, but a place where customers can add their experiences, so they must provide a space beyond joy to find meaning and value for themselves. This is because, through that space, a brand can amplify the reason for its existence and make the brand solid.

<5 Summaries>

 "People first ‘sense-feel’ before they ‘think-act’. If ‘thinking-acting’ is a rational human activity, ‘sensing-feeling’ is a sensory and emotional activity."

 

"We admire what can be very complicated is expressed so simply. Because it intuitively feels that a lot of effort has been put into it."

"Customers fill their lack of daily lives with play in space and assimilate with brands."

"There is no powerful means to express brand personality like a space emotionally connected to a brand."

"For spacebranding, companies must create their own unique spatial tastes that are clearly distinct from other brands."

 Kim Jooyun <Spacebranding> pp14-16

1) Dan Hill, body of truth : leveraging what consumers can't or won't say, Wiley, 2003, pp. 52

2) de Botton, Alain, The Architecture of Happiness, Simon Vance(NRT), 2009, pp. 233

3) Walter Isaacson, Steve Jobs, Simon & Schuster Audio, 2011, pp. 365

4) 양지윤·김주연 공저, “아이코닉 건축”, 북저널리즘, 2019.6.7., 36-37쪽 재인용

5) David A. Aaker & Erich Joachimsthaler, Brand Leadership, Free Press, 2000, pp. 151-153

6) Bernd H. Schmitt, Experiential Marketing: How to Get Customers to Sense, Feel, Think, Act, Relate, Free Press, 1999, pp. 160

7) Bernd H. Schmitt, Marketing Aesthetics, Free Press, 1997, pp. 385

8) Gian Luigi Longinotti-Buitoni , Selling Dreams:How to Make Any Product Irresistible, Simon & Schuster 1999, pp. 268