Issue #014 | The One Off

"MARKERAD" launches at IKEA, Adidas open London flagship, the countdown to Christmas begins and Harrods set to open first-ever beauty standalone.

Issue #014

Welcome to your Friday dose of TOO x TOO – Featuring Ikea's MARKERAD collection, Adidas Oxford Street flagship store, Aldi's Christmas advert teaser and Harrod's beauty standalone unit.

<h2>“MARKERAD” – IKEA x Virgil Abloh </h2>
Today marks the launch of the MARKERAD collection, a range of 15 pieces which fuse functionality with fashion.
Pieces in the collection include a low pile rug in the form of an IKEA receipt, a 17-piece tool set and a pair of bags decorated with the word “SCULPTURE”.
To mark the launch, IKEA’s Wembley branch boasts a temporary logo upgrade, complete with quotation marks. And to prepare for demand, the branch has also installed the world’s ‘comfiest queue’ for people clamouring to get their hands on the collector’s items.
Anticipating huge demand and building hype for launch IKEA restricted access through a ticketing system, which sold out last month in under five minutes. Though you can already find MARKERAD pieces on eBay at massive markups…
<img src="https://f.hubspotusercontent30.net/hubfs/8613030/Blog%2014%201.jpeg" alt="Blog 14 1"> <img src="https://f.hubspotusercontent30.net/hubfs/8613030/Blog%2014%202.jpeg" alt="Blog 14 2">
<h2>Adidas opens Oxford Street Flagship </h2>
The 26,900 sq ft store has digital engagement front of mind. The app allows shoppers to scan RFID-enable products for more info, request items to be brought to them by staff and purchase on the spot without the need to queue.
A sneaker cleaning and bra-fitting appointment service, a Running Lab and customisation hub all aim to make the shopping experience both personalised and memorable whilst a Hype Wall, (where sneakerheads can book in reminders for upcoming releases) and The Base offer product experiences, activations and interactive challenges.
<img src="https://f.hubspotusercontent30.net/hubfs/8613030/Blog%2014%205.jpeg" alt="Blog 14 5">
<h2>The countdown to Christmas begins…</h2>
With the launch Christmas campaigns from Iceland, Very.co.uk and Argos the countdown to the festive season begins…
With Iceland harnessing the #MagicOfFrozen and Argos taking inspiration from the 80’s, Aldi are sticking with tradition with the launch of their Christmas teaser…
The 10 second video which is available to view at <a href="https://leafyblinders.co.uk/">leafyblinders.co.uk</a> shows a gang of sprouts called the Leafy Blinders looking to take back Christmas from long standing star, Kevin the Carrot.
Aldi’s Twitter account have also posted a tweet suggesting that carrot fans should be on alert but has yet to acknowledge the film.
<img src="https://f.hubspotusercontent30.net/hubfs/8613030/Blog%2014%207.jpeg" alt="Blog 14 7">
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<div class="hs-responsive-embed-inner-wrapper" style="position: relative; overflow: hidden; max-width: 100%; padding-bottom: 56.20%; margin: 0;"><iframe class="hs-responsive-embed-iframe hs-fullwidth-embed" style="position: absolute; top: 0; left: 0; width: 100%; height: 100%; border: none;" title="Beware the #LEAFYBLINDERS." allow="accelerometer; autoplay; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" xml="lang" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/kU1IUkm9hQ8?feature=oembed" width="500" height="281" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen data-service="youtube"></iframe></div>
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<h2>Harrods set to open first-ever beauty standalone </h2>
Acknowledging the ever-growing beauty category, Harrods have announced plans to launch their first ever standalone unit…in Essex.
H Beauty will stock a range of premium and luxury brands, including Chanel, Dior and Huda Beauty, and there will be a big focus on services, such as facials and blowdries.
The site will also offer a ‘coffee-to-cocktail’ bar for customers to enjoy whilst they pamper themselves. However, the retailer’s trademark green and gold branding is being replaced by a signature muted pink, to give the venture its own unique, distinct branding.
<img src="https://f.hubspotusercontent30.net/hubfs/8613030/Blog%2014%206.jpeg" alt="Blog 14 6">

Welcome to your Friday dose of TOO x TOO – Featuring Ikea's MARKERAD collection, Adidas Oxford Street flagship store, Aldi's Christmas advert teaser and Harrod's beauty standalone unit.

Frasers Festival

Frasers Festival returned for a second time this week, hosted by Frasers Group, bringing together their key pillars of brands and people, aiming to inspire, engage and motive all by celebrating the groups success.&nbsp;
We were briefed by Canterbury, Speedo and Nike to create exciting and interactive activation areas, bespoke for each brand. Each activation zone was built from a concept unique to the brand, encompassing their key categories, history and heritage. With interactive games and incredible prizes to be won, guest engagement levels were sky high, and it was a roaring success! <img src="https://8613030.fs1.hubspotusercontent-na1.net/hubfs/8613030/TOO_Social_Frasers_Festival_01.jpg" width="668" height="742" loading="lazy" alt="TOO_Social_Frasers_Festival_01" style="height: auto; max-width: 100%; width: 668px;"><img src="https://8613030.fs1.hubspotusercontent-na1.net/hubfs/8613030/TOO_Social_Frasers_Festival_02.jpg" width="3000" height="3000" loading="lazy" alt="TOO_Social_Frasers_Festival_02" style="height: auto; max-width: 100%; width: 3000px;"><img src="https://8613030.fs1.hubspotusercontent-na1.net/hubfs/8613030/TOO_Social_Frasers_Festival_03.jpg" width="3000" height="3000" loading="lazy" alt="TOO_Social_Frasers_Festival_03" style="height: auto; max-width: 100%; width: 3000px;"><img src="https://8613030.fs1.hubspotusercontent-na1.net/hubfs/8613030/TOO_Social_Frasers_Festival_04.jpg" width="3000" height="3000" loading="lazy" alt="TOO_Social_Frasers_Festival_04" style="height: auto; max-width: 100%; width: 3000px;"><img src="https://8613030.fs1.hubspotusercontent-na1.net/hubfs/8613030/TOO_Social_Frasers_Festival_05.jpg" width="3000" height="3000" loading="lazy" alt="TOO_Social_Frasers_Festival_05" style="height: auto; max-width: 100%; width: 3000px;"><img src="https://8613030.fs1.hubspotusercontent-na1.net/hubfs/8613030/TOO_Social_Frasers_Festival_06.jpg" width="3000" height="3000" loading="lazy" alt="TOO_Social_Frasers_Festival_06" style="height: auto; max-width: 100%; width: 3000px;">
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Frasers Festival returned for a second time this week, hosted by Frasers Group, bringing together their key pillars of brands and people, aiming to inspire, engage and motive all by celebrating the groups success.&nbsp;

We won silver! Webbs Best Visual Identity for the Retail Sector

Congratulations to everyone at Webbs Garden Centres and our team at The One Off for winning Silver for Best Visual Identity for the Retail Sector in the Transform Awards Europe!&nbsp;🏆✨
<img src="https://8613030.fs1.hubspotusercontent-na1.net/hubfs/8613030/Webbs%20TA%20Winner%20Linkedin%2001.jpg" width="529" height="529" loading="lazy" alt="Webbs TA Winner Linkedin 01" style="height: auto; max-width: 100%; width: 529px;"> Read more on the identity we created for Webbs <a href="https://www.theoneoff.com/work/brand/brand-identity-guidelines/webbs-brand-identity" rel="noopener">here</a>
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Congratulations to everyone at Webbs Garden Centres and our team at The One Off for winning Silver for Best Visual Identity for the Retail Sector in the Transform Awards Europe!&nbsp;🏆✨

Nike Football Wall Reset

<div class="hs-embed-wrapper" data-service="vimeo" data-responsive="true" style="position: relative; overflow: hidden; width: 100%; height: auto; padding: 0px; min-width: 256px; display: block; margin: auto; max-width: 426px;"><div class="hs-embed-content-wrapper"><div style="position: relative; overflow: hidden; max-width: 100%; padding-bottom: 56.34%; margin: 0px;"><iframe src="https://player.vimeo.com/video/936613371?h=ae4147ee2d&amp;app_id=122963" width="426" height="240" frameborder="0" allow="autoplay; fullscreen; picture-in-picture; clipboard-write" title="Nike SDI Oxford St 03.04.2024 Boot Room" style="position: absolute; top: 0px; left: 0px; width: 100%; height: 100%; border: none;"></iframe></div></div></div>
Our brief was to reset the existing Nike Football Wall by creating a concept that visually stood out and won the Sports Direct football department. The concept needed to work across both Flagship and Elevated stores, providing an informed and engaging consumer experience whilst still providing the necessary merchandising principles and educational tools.

<img src="https://8613030.fs1.hubspotusercontent-na1.net/hubfs/8613030/TOO_News_16_9_NikeFootballWall_2.jpg" width="2560" height="1440" loading="lazy" alt="TOO_News_16_9_NikeFootballWall_2" style="height: auto; max-width: 100%; width: 2560px;">The concept was based around three key objectives:
• Invite the Full Family – Creating messaging, experiences, and displays that resonate with and feel inviting to all. • Educate and Inspire – Inspiring consumers and empowering them to learn more about the different boots, silos, innovation, and end uses that will best suit their needs and goals. • Comparison – Helping to facilitate and validate decision making, both physically and digitally.
Unique patterns were developed to represent each silo, connected to their end use. These were developed in 3D form, giving dimension to the wall. Digital ticker tapes and product hero boxes were created to sign post and educate consumers on each silo, alongside lenticular graphics to showcase key Nike athletes.
The new Flagship concept recently launched in Sports Direct Oxford Street Flagship store. The elevated concept will be rolled out across all new Sports Direct stores.
<img src="https://8613030.fs1.hubspotusercontent-na1.net/hubfs/8613030/TOO_News_16_9_NikeFootballWall_1.jpg" width="2560" height="1440" loading="lazy" alt="TOO_News_16_9_NikeFootballWall_1" style="height: auto; max-width: 100%; width: 2560px;"><img src="https://8613030.fs1.hubspotusercontent-na1.net/hubfs/8613030/TOO_News_16_9_NikeFootballWall_4.jpg" width="2560" height="1440" loading="lazy" alt="TOO_News_16_9_NikeFootballWall_4" style="height: auto; max-width: 100%; width: 2560px;"><img src="https://8613030.fs1.hubspotusercontent-na1.net/hubfs/8613030/TOO_News_16_9_NikeFootballWall_3.jpg" width="2560" height="1440" loading="lazy" alt="TOO_News_16_9_NikeFootballWall_3" style="height: auto; max-width: 100%; width: 2560px;"><img src="https://8613030.fs1.hubspotusercontent-na1.net/hubfs/8613030/TOO_News_16_9_NikeFootballWall_6.jpg" width="2560" height="1440" loading="lazy" alt="TOO_News_16_9_NikeFootballWall_6" style="height: auto; max-width: 100%; width: 2560px;"><img src="https://8613030.fs1.hubspotusercontent-na1.net/hubfs/8613030/TOO_News_16_9_NikeFootballWall_5.jpg" width="2560" height="1440" loading="lazy" alt="TOO_News_16_9_NikeFootballWall_5" style="height: auto; max-width: 100%; width: 2560px;">
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<div class="hs-embed-wrapper" data-service="vimeo" data-responsive="true" style="position: relative; overflow: hidden; width: 100%; height: auto; padding: 0px; min-width: 256px; display: block; margin: auto; max-width: 426px;"><div class="hs-embed-content-wrapper"><div style="position: relative; overflow: hidden; max-width: 100%; padding-bottom: 56.34%; margin: 0px;"><iframe src="https://player.vimeo.com/video/936613371?h=ae4147ee2d&amp;app_id=122963" width="426" height="240" frameborder="0" allow="autoplay; fullscreen; picture-in-picture; clipboard-write" title="Nike SDI Oxford St 03.04.2024 Boot Room" style="position: absolute; top: 0px; left: 0px; width: 100%; height: 100%; border: none;"></iframe></div></div></div>
Our brief was to reset the existing Nike Football Wall by creating a concept that visually stood out and won the Sports Direct football department. The concept needed to work across both Flagship and Elevated stores, providing an informed and engaging consumer experience whilst still providing the necessary merchandising principles and educational tools.

Creativity x AI from Lightricks & Figma

<img src="https://8613030.fs1.hubspotusercontent-na1.net/hubfs/8613030/image-20240306-100103-14614197.jpg" width="3840" height="2160" loading="lazy" alt="image-20240306-100103-14614197" style="height: auto; max-width: 100%; width: 3840px;">On the morning of 6th March 2024, a member of our digital team headed down to the most recent of Figma’s Coffee Mornings. Figma regularly hosts these Coffee Mornings with the objective of bringing members of the digital design &amp; development industry together to have a coffee [and doughnuts!] together and spark conversations about ongoing topics coupled up with a thought-provoking talk. This week on the agenda was the topic that is all around us, Artificial Intelligence and how our creative industry can make use and benefit from it.&nbsp;
<img src="https://8613030.fs1.hubspotusercontent-na1.net/hubfs/8613030/image-20240306-102827-56f625c3.jpg" width="3840" height="2160" loading="lazy" alt="image-20240306-102827-56f625c3" style="height: auto; max-width: 100%; width: 3840px;"> The talk was presented by Kass Yassin &amp; Mattan Arbel from Lightricks, a company with multiple AI products under their belt, with FaceTune being the most popular from their line-up. The talk left us with some interesting thoughts &amp; insights:&nbsp;
1. The digital industry is notorious for moving quickly with new technology being released every other day and it can be difficult to keep up. AI can easily feel like another burden on the shoulder to learn, however it may be worth putting some time aside to tinker with it if you haven’t already. Many members of the creative industry have stated that they have seen an increase in productivity particularly in early stages of projects after using/adopting AI tooling at the workplace. It’s worth noting that if you are looking to adopt AI at your workplace, it is important you seek permission from your employer particularly if you work with sensitive data/projects.&nbsp; &nbsp; 2. The way forward for creative AI tooling is about giving the users more control. Currently tools like ChatGPT, Midjourney and others can feel like a bit of a pandora’s box where you enter a prompt and hope for the best with arguably little control. The tooling that will be more successful in the creative industry will be tooling whether the user has more finite control, think being able to draw a box within an image and prompt just for that area or extending beyond just a text field to prompt but to more human like inputs such as “magic brushes”.&nbsp; &nbsp; 3. Matan presented an interesting story where he was trying to get a particular idea executed by AI however, he was struggling to get the DALL-E image generation model to do what he wanted. English is not his first language and as a result he was struggling to write an effective prompt. His solution was starting a separate ChatGPT thread and listing out all the points of his idea and asking how to create the DALL-E prompt for it, “learning to prompt, by prompting” as Luis from Figma put it. This can seem counter-intuitive at first however Matan reported that the new prompt that ChatGPT returned was able to produce exactly what he wanted and noted that ChatGPT listed out a few helpful tips on prompting that helped boost his confidence for the future. &nbsp; &nbsp; 4. Currently, a well-structured and effective prompt is key in getting the most out of today’s AI tools on hand. For creatives, the Lightricks team mentioned they had the most success when following the idea of the individual playing the role of a Creative Director and AI as the creative. It’s worth noting that there are multiple companies hiring for “AI Prompt researchers/engineer” to get the most out of commercial AI products. It’s serious stuff!&nbsp; &nbsp; 5. Some final food for thought trailing on from all the discussion regarding prompting, will knowing how to prompt/interact with AI become a valuable life skill? After the talk, we were having a discussion within the audience. One of the participants was a father of two young children and he raised the question of “Should I be teaching my children how to prompt, will it become an important skill they will need for the day-to-day in the future?”. It’s likely too early to say. We’re still exploring what AI can do and it’s unclear whether the technology will become cemented into our everyday lives. Additionally, it can be argued that should the latter play out, AI will have reached a point where one shouldn’t need to know how to prompt but rather it should feel effortless and natural.&nbsp;&nbsp;
<img src="https://8613030.fs1.hubspotusercontent-na1.net/hubfs/8613030/image-20240306-102709-0defc5af.jpg" width="3840" height="2159" loading="lazy" alt="image-20240306-102709-0defc5af" style="height: auto; max-width: 100%; width: 3840px;"><img src="https://8613030.fs1.hubspotusercontent-na1.net/hubfs/8613030/image-20240306-104002-a1336723.jpg" width="3840" height="2159" loading="lazy" alt="image-20240306-104002-a1336723" style="height: auto; max-width: 100%; width: 3840px;"> Once again, thank you to Kass, Matan and the rest of the Lightricks team for the great talk as well as Luis and the rest of the Figma team for organising these industry meets. We look forward to the next.&nbsp;
<img src="https://8613030.fs1.hubspotusercontent-na1.net/hubfs/8613030/image-20240306-104230-ea786ceb.jpg" width="3024" height="1701" loading="lazy" alt="image-20240306-104230-ea786ceb" style="height: auto; max-width: 100%; width: 3024px;"><img src="https://8613030.fs1.hubspotusercontent-na1.net/hubfs/8613030/image-20240306-094021-ce606f4b.jpg" width="3840" height="2160" loading="lazy" alt="image-20240306-094021-ce606f4b" style="height: auto; max-width: 100%; width: 3840px;">
[These were soooo good!]&nbsp;

<img src="https://8613030.fs1.hubspotusercontent-na1.net/hubfs/8613030/image-20240306-100103-14614197.jpg" width="3840" height="2160" loading="lazy" alt="image-20240306-100103-14614197" style="height: auto; max-width: 100%; width: 3840px;">On the morning of 6th March 2024, a member of our digital team headed down to the most recent of Figma’s Coffee Mornings. Figma regularly hosts these Coffee Mornings with the objective of bringing members of the digital design &amp; development industry together to have a coffee [and doughnuts!] together and spark conversations about ongoing topics coupled up with a thought-provoking talk. This week on the agenda was the topic that is all around us, Artificial Intelligence and how our creative industry can make use and benefit from it.&nbsp;

Issue #014self.__wrap_n!=1&&self.__wrap_b(":Riqr96:",1)

“MARKERAD” – IKEA x Virgil Abloh

Adidas opens Oxford Street Flagship

The countdown to Christmas begins…

Harrods set to open first-ever beauty standalone

Read Next

Frasers Festival

We won silver! Webbs Best Visual Identity for the Retail Sector

Nike Football Wall Reset

Issue #014