News
77kids by American Eagle unveils interactive retail experiences
August 3, 2010
77kids, the kids brand from American Eagle Outfitters, Inc., announced it has partnered with R/GA to create engaging, interactive experiences for the retailer's new "77kids by American Eagle" stores. Utilizing 77kids-branded photography and characters, R/GA worked with the 77kids team to design a digital environment featuring multiple, easy-to-use touchscreen displays and projectors that children can play with while parents shop. Kids can play DJ and manipulate music, try on virtual outfits and pose for photos that they can later take home. The digital experiences are being rolled out to seven additional stores before the end of the year.
According to the companies, R/GA's Retail practice helped develop these activities to create a fun and productive shopping experience for both parents and children. R/GA's practice enhances clients' retail locations by using innovative mobile, signage and touchscreen technologies to create digitally integrated stores.
"In our partnership with 77kids, the goal was to design experiences that would be fun for kids in the store and showcase the 'kid-cool' products that have been vital to the brand's online success," said John Jones, VP, executive creative director, retail, R/GA. "No other children's store offers engaging interactive experiences as core elements of its retail environment. The hope is for children to have so much fun at the store that they'll ask their parents to go shopping."
The first store recently opened in Pittsburgh at The Mall at Robinson, with additional stores opening in Danbury, CT, Bloomington, MN, Cherry Hill, NJ, Syracuse, NY, and Raleigh, NC. The seventh location has not been announced. 77kids by American Eagle offers on-trend, high-quality clothing and accessories in sizes up to 14. The brand draws on the strong heritage of American Eagle Outfitters, with a point of view that's thoughtful, playful and real.
"Our goal for 77kids was to create a game-changing retail experience," said Betsy Schumacher, chief merchandising officer, 77kids by American Eagle. "R/GA is an ideal partner given their understanding of how the boundaries between online and brick-and-mortar are beginning to blur, and technology and interactivity become a part of the in-store environment."
Each 77kids store has 32-inch interactive touchscreens, which customers can use to:
- See their reflection in a digital mirror and interact with a make-believe world of animated 77kids-branded characters.
- Select key 77kids outfits, which will appear on the user virtually, like a digital paper cutout.
- Play DJ and eventually select music to be played in the store.
- Pose for photos, which can be customized with personal messages and graffiti and then printed at the checkout area to take home or post in the store.
- Swipe 77kids loyalty cards to receive prizes and special offers.
Kids can also interact with a "follow-spot" game that projects 77kids graphics on the store floor. As they try to step on these images, the images move, hide and reappear.
The in-store experiences are part of R/GA's custom-built platform that enables the staff at 77kids stores to change and launch new styles, interactive messaging, scanned promotions, campaign elements, and applications according to each retail season.
