One of our sister Omnicom agencies, Design Forum is a leading innovator in retail design.

Their chairman, Lee Carpenter, wrote a great article in a recent newsletter about what he learned in 2006. There was one piece that I thought was very relevant to the work we do and the challenges we face with our clients:

“Courage is a process: Last year, one of our biggest, most successful retail clients taught us this lesson as they willingly worked with us to optimize space – in spite of some deeply ingrained business habits that were clearly hell for them to break. I’m told some of their executives broke into a sweat as we worked through this rigorous process that requires you to let go of something in order to get something better. Well, sweat is the natural reaction when you ask a successful merchant to give up linear feet. Very, very tough stuff, especially when your numbers are really great. It’s the equivalent of Tiger Woods changing his swing after he won the Masters*. As it turned out, the client’s numbers are getting even better.”

It’s nice to know we are not alone!

*Tiger Woods really, really did that.

Adam Turinas