Challenge

• Developing the physical representation of the overall Starbucks brand in store design, branding, graphics, wayfinding, and storytelling
• Developing the capabilities and people in all design disciplines to execute rapid international growth

 

 

AIRVISION

Arthur Rubinfeld, former President and Chief Creative Officer, Starbucks Coffee Company, led the continuing evolution and enhancement of the Starbucks Coffee, Starbucks Reserve, and Evolution Fresh brands. He created the environmentally-sustainable material palette for store design and Starbucks Reserve Roasteries.

 

 

Challenge

Our client Monarch Alternative Capital purchased all the assets of Shopko Optical in 2019. The challenge was to reposition the brand and build a $75 M business in a very short amount of time. The effort included the repositioning of the executive management team and rethinking the brand positioning along with the overall go to market store presentation.

AIRVISION

• Identified, built and opened 81 store locations from Illinois west to Eastern Washington mirroring the footprint of the former parent company — in six months. This could be the fastest build of any retail concept.
• Supported marketing and brand positioning with CMO and facilitated the expansion process with the CDO.
• Mentored the executive team and joined the board of directors, in order to support the company's ongoing success and growth ambitions to be the dominant optical retailer from the northcentral region to Washington state.

Challenge

Cricket Wireless wanted to exploit the growth opportunities presented by their unique low monthly price, no subscription, mobile phone service. They needed strategic growth expertise to rapidly expand. 

AIRVISION

• Analyzed Cricket’s existing customer base
• Created new market entry strategies
• Developed new market plans for store growth
• Led overall new store expansion

Challenge

As debit cards and digital payments became consumer’s preferred form of payment, Coinstar’s $280m coin counting business deteriorated, and its business model came under pressure from its grocery partners. Facing obsolescence, the brand needed a complete reinvention.

AIRVISION

ENGLE SAEZ, former SVP of Marketing and Consumer Experience, Coinstar, Inc., led the development of a suite of digital, NO FEE products with Amazon, PayPal, iTunes and host grocery store partners.

He directed the design of a new, enterprise level brand aesthetic which was executed across 20,000 kiosk locations in the U.S. and the UK.

A new UI/UX was created to support the expanded product offering and a consumer facing website was launched enabling personalized user accounts and traceable tender.

Outcome

Coinstar reversed a declining partner retention rate and expanded its footprint to Europe, Canada and Japan.

Challenge

$450M public company, Oakley, was known as a unique, high-quality, leading-edge product design company as a sunglass and accessories manufacturer with a limited retail presence.

AIRVISION

• Built an in-house retail management team
• Completed retail concept ideation
• Developed strategic plan for store expansion
• Led real estate development process, including lease review and negotiations
• Provided real estate analytics, including GEO-demographics and hot-spot mapping

Outcome

Oakley was acquired by Luxottica, the largest sunglass lifestyle company in the world.

Challenge

Adidas wanted to build a super-premium brand aligned with their advanced technology orientation. Adidas was executing a new store design that combined brand positioning, customer wayfinding, and overall brand integration.

AIRVISION

• Identified flagship real estate in the SOHO area of New York City
• Designed new flagship location build-out
• Developed fixturing and wayfinding for new, high-end "sports" concept

Challenge

In an effort to drive consumer engagement, Microsoft established a high-touch retail environment and was looking for strategic growth and market differentiation advice.

AIRVISION

• Partnered with a consumer research firm to outline strategic growth for Microsoft’s retail footprint
• Drafted retail store operating procedures
• Identified potential flagship store locations in Manhattan

Challenge

Leading merger and acquisitions firm, KKR, needed real data on Eckerd Pharmacy’s real estate portfolio. Findings determined the go-forward operational plan.

AIRVISION

• Provided real estate evaluation services for KKR in its acquisition of Eckerd
• Worked closely with KKR and Eckerd management to establish the brand's positioning, completive strengths and weaknesses
• Evaluated and analyzed the Eckerd real estate portfolio positioning on a store-by-store basis
• Produced analysis of portfolio and department’s strengths and weaknesses in four weeks

Outcome

KKR used AIRVISION analysis as part of their submittal to their lending institution to support the bid to acquire Eckerd Drugs, which in turn was purchased by Rite Aid Drugs.

Challenge

As the preppy craze faded, Sperry lost favor with consumers and, as a “one-shoe-company”, faced stiff competition for shelf-space from brands with superior products and broader assortments.

AIRVISION

ENGLE SAEZ, former President, Sperry Top-Sider, reengineered and updated the classic Sperry boat shoe line and launched 3 new product categories that established Sperry as a year-around brand. He repositioned the brand through national, print and network television advertising campaigns and anchored the brand’s performance heritage through sponsorship of Dennis Connor’s Stars & Stripes, Americas’ Cup Challenge.

Outcome

Unit sales increased 75%, reversing an 8-yr. decline in the core boat shoe collection while diversifying the brand into dress-causal and hiking categories.

Challenge

By 2002, Gateway Computer was the U.S. leader in personal computers, personal electronics, and technology. Gateway Computer had been in business for over 15 years as a value-oriented manufacturer and direct retailer of computers and related hardware. Beginning in 2002, Gateway expanded into lines of consumer electronics, yet Gateway’s brand and in-store experience did not match the lifestyle orientation of their new product lines.

AIRVISION

Working directly with Gateway CEO Ted Waitt, AIRVISION:

• Designed Gateway’s new in-store brand execution, completely redesigning the in-store experience
• Led opening of 3 new prototype stores and the renovation of over 200 stores to fit the new brand design in less than 6 months

Outcome

As a result of this work, Gateway stock tripled in value in 6 months, after which the company was sold.

Challenge

Il Fornaio, a privately held restaurant corporation, needed help conceiving a new design that would leverage their white tablecloth operational expertise.

AIRVISION

• Developed a new growth concept that leveraged the brand equity of Il Fornaio’s established fine dining concept
• Positioned the new concept to be a major growth vehicle for Il Fornaio, including developing a national real estate development plan
• Created a highly profitable economic model to support rapid growth
• Developed and prioritized operational cornerstones that became the guiding parameters of the concept
• Designed a new store concept and layout that integrated a strong environment, fixtures, merchandising, iconography, menu systems, labels, and packaging
• Selected and negotiated “A” site locations for the new concept to be tested

Outcome

After new growth concept was tested in “A” locations, Il Fornaio’s parent company purchased The Corner Bakery Cafe chain.

Challenge

Potbelly, a private rapidly growing fast casual “Hot concept” restaurant chain, wanted to establish their restaurant expansion and operational expertise. 

AIRVISION

• Provided strategic planning, assisted with store development process, and worked closely with management to meet the company’s growth goals
• Developed short- and mid-range growth plans
• Assisted in recruiting and building the in-house store development department

Outcome

Potbelly went public in 2013. They have over 400 locations in the U.S., and they are growing in the Middle East and other world markets.

Challenge

Privately held $37mm boot company selling to blue-collar workers, with distribution primarily in army-navy stores in the Northeast, Timberland was struggling to execute its premium quality – premium price model.

AIRVISION

ENGLE SAEZ, former director of marketing & merchandising, Timberland Footwear Company, created the distinctive, rugged-outdoor lifestyle positioning, developed and installed concept shops in major dept. stores. He designed and launched the company’s first small leather goods collection. He also designed and opened Timberland’s 1st flagship store on Madison Avenue and secured the Tittle Sponsorship of the Iditarod Sled Dog Race.

Outcome

IPO in 1987 with over $150m valuation.

Challenge

The privately held, $100m company with a network of 40,000 locations in the U.S. was losing appeal among its core users as healthier, better-for-you beverages were becoming popular.

AIRVISION

ENGLE SAEZ, former VP of New Business Initiatives, f’real Foods, was brought in as strategic advisor to the newly appointed f’real Foods President. He led an enterprise-wide strategic growth initiative project and spearheaded the development of the company's new, better-for-you product assortment, new kiosk graphics and product packaging.

Outcome

Under his leadership, the company executed a new customer acquisition strategy, engaging Wal-Mart and other national grocers.

Challenge

Privately-held Omaha Steaks had 80 retail locations and wanted to expand their retail store footprint and elevate their store design to match the premium branding of their products.

AIRVISION

• Analyzed the Omaha Steaks customer base and brand attributes
• Developed entirely new retail design, including signage and wayfinding graphics
• Quantified expansion strategy
• Executed their retail expansion while educating internal executives

Challenge

After losing relevance with its core customer, Eddie Bauer mortgaged its brand, forsaking its iconic products while trying to appeal to a younger audience and the dress-casual trend. Moreover, Eddie Bauer was dragged into bankruptcy by parent Spiegel.

AIRVISION

ENGLE SAEZ, former SVP & Chief Marketing Officer, Eddie Bauer, led the effort to create new merchandising / marketing platforms that leveraged the brand’s iconic product categories and reclaimed the brand’s positioning of Rugged Outdoor American Style.

He oversaw the reinvigoration of the store’s visual merchandising and planograms to emphasize core categories and enhance the shopping experience and he infused the company’s catalogs with compelling lifestyle content.

To strengthen the brand’s performance heritage, he formed a partnership with Jim Whittaker, the 1st American to summit Mt. Everest.

Outcome

Eddie Bauer was purchased by Golden Gate Capital.

Challenge

America’s Mart (Atlanta, Georgia), America’s leading specialty tradeshow management company, sought a rebranding of their flagship lighting industry tradeshow, "LightFair."

AIRVISION

• Redesigned brand logotype and tagline with a signature brand color and typography
• Developed and implemented new convention show branding, layout, and communication platform
• Developed design show signage, graphics, layout, and architectural icons
• Created and executed a public relations plan that successfully leveraged new brand positioning

Challenge

Privately held, $120m global luxury goods ecommerce retailer needed to reverse a declining revenue trend, manage a ballooning inventory and up-level its management capabilities.

AIRVISION

ENGLE SAEZ, former President and Chief Digital Officer, Ashford.com, worked alongside the company founder to attract and retain a professional management and operating team.

He aligned merchandising and marketing functions around a unified strategy significantly improving efficiency of the marketing funnel. Under his direction, the website UI/UX were redesigned and the cart / checkout pages were optimized to improve conversion rates and reduce cart abandonment rates.

Outcome

Reversed declining revenue trend with a 30% swing; significantly increased inventory turn while reducing inventory obsolescence.