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VISUAL SRATEGY GUIDE
VISUAL STRATEGY GUIDE
THE SHARPER IMAGE
The Sharper Image Visual Strategy Guide First published in 2018 © Chengsongmei (Robin) Xiao www.sharpercommunity.com
VISUAL STRATEGY GUIDE >>
THE SHARPER IMAGE
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CONTENTS 01 / OUR PAST
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Brand Overview Brand History Brand Tmeline Previous Competitors
02 / OUR FUTURE Mission Statement Rebranding Objective New Audience New Vision Future Competitors
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TABLE OF CONTENTS
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Dressing well is a form of good manners. — TOM FORD An American fashion designer. He launched his eponymous luxury brand in 2006, and served as the Creative Director at Gucci and Yves Saint Laurent.
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CHAPTER 01_OUR PAST
OUR PAST Brand Overview Brand History Brand Tmeline Previous Competitors
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Brand Overview The Sharper Image Corporation started the business by selling digital wrist watches through a magazine catalogue. And then Richard Thalheimer expanded it to included pricy gadgets because of the developing of the yuppie generation, but this generation started fading by the end of 1980s. This was goes with the decline of earning of the company, and become the main reason for the brand to explore new customers.
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CHAPTER 01_BRAND HISTORY
Brand History The Sharper Image Corporation is a specialty retailer that sells apparel and gift items through catalogs, retail stores, and a Web site. Various editions of the catalogs are mailed to 16 million customers; these account for 25 percent of sales. Offering electronic and other unique and sometimes pricey products, the company grew rapidly in the 1980s, bolstered by a yuppie-driven demand for luxury goods. By 1990, however, the company’s popularity and profitability dropped dramatically, prompting The Sharper Image to widen the scope of its retail operations to include less expensive merchandise that would appeal to a new, broader customer base. The brand has been in operation since its relaunch in 2010. The earlier consumer products retailer by that name was founded by Richard Thalheimer and was in business from 1977 until its closing in 2008. They have since closed all of their physical locations due the changing land-scape and competitors. They have struggled establishing themselves in the marketplace even though their brand still has recognition.
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Brand Soul Helping people enhance their external appearance and make them look like a better person than they really are.
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Brand Timeline Richard Thalheimer peddles his first mail order product, a digital watch for runners.
The Sharper Image revenues exceed $50 million mark.
1977
1982
1978 Richard Thalheimer incorporated his mail order business, calling it The Sharper Image.
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The company goes public on the New York Stock Exchange.
1987
1985 The company’s first 12 retail stores open. It was issuing 42 million catalogs annually and reporting sales of $69 million.
Products for living are fea
CHAPTER 01_BRAND TIMELINE
October 2002 tie-in placed 20 items from The Sharper Image’s proprietary line of products in Circuit City’s 600-plus U.S. stores. 2002
Camelot Venture Group secured the rights to operate a new Sharper Image catalog and website, SharperImage.com 2009
To Be Continued >>
1990 children and home tured.
2008 The company announced it had received notification that it would be delisted from the NASDAQ exchange. All retail stores were closed by the end of the year.
2018 Camelot Venture Group appointed Lance Reese as CEO.
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Previous Competitors
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According to Yahoo, Best Buy is the largest specialty retailer in the United States consumer electronics retail industry.
Sears, Roebuck and Company, colloquially known as Sears, is an American chain of department stores, it is the 23rd largest retailer in the United States. Sears had divisions in Canada, Mexico and Puerto Rico.
Circuit City Corporation is an American online consumer electronics retail company, formed by Ronny Shmoel in 2016 as part of his acquisition of the brand name and trademark rights sold by Systemax, which formerly operated the CircuitCity.
The company is one of the leading manufacturers of electronic products for the consumer and professional markets, and a leading player in the film and television industry.Sony was ranked 97th on the 2018 Fortune Global 500 list.
02_MISSION STATEMENT CHAPTER 01_PREVIOUS COMPETITORS
Costco is an American multinational corporation which operates a chain of membership-only warehouse clubs. Costco was the second largest retailer in the world.
It is an American multinational e-commerce corporation based in San Jose, California that facilitates consumer-to-consumer and business-to-consumer sales through its website.
Amazon is the second most valuable public company in the world, the largest Internet company by revenue in the world, and after Walmart, the second largest employer in the United States.
Fry’s has in-store computer repair and custom computer building services. The company has a chain of superstores headquartered in Silicon Valley, the chain posted sales of $2.4 billion and operated 34 stores in nine states by 2008.
\In 2016, Forbes magazine ranked it 195th among America’s largest private companies, with 2,750 staff and annual revenue of US $2.4 billion.
Walmart is the world’s largest company by revenue—over US$500 billion, according to Fortune Global 500 list in 2018—as well as the largest private employer in the world with 2.3 million employees.
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CHAPTER 02_OUR FUTURE
OUR FUTURE Mission Statement Rebranding Objective New Audience New Vision Future Competitors
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Dress like you’ve made something of yourself, even if you haven’t. — MAN’S HEALTH Men’s Health published by Rodale Inc. is the world’s largest men’s magazine brand, with 35 editions in 59 countries.
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Mission Statement The Sharper Image offers products to people who want to enhance their outward appearance.
Keywords Perception
Disguise
Surface
The reason of people willing to buy things they don’t really need is they care about how other people comment them.
Some people try to use good outter appearance to make people think they are good person.
The products / service that The Sharper Image offers focus on construct external facade for people.
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Rebranding Objective We provide an efficient tool kit and service for people who wanted to present themselves at the best potential. Helping people to be successful by refining their outward facade.
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CHAPTER 02_NEW AUDIENCE
New Audience The new target audiences of The Sharper Image will be people who are concerned about their appearance and others’ perceptions of them.
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Persona_01
CONNAR SMITH SHOPAHOLIC
DEMOGRAPHIC STATISTIC Age: 35 years old Location: New York City Occupation: Fashion Model Ethnicity: Caucasian Gender: Male
CHARACTER TRAITS He always stay in front of mirror to select clothes for half an hour before go out because he wants to give good impression to everyone. He wants to have latest clothes and cars before anyone around him because he wants to show his friends. He is going to the gym three times a week since he wants to show the best body shape than any of his friends. He is doing makeup everyday since he wants to cover the wrinkle on his face. He used to borrow a fancy car to go to a party since he wants to looks like a wealthy man. He use photoshop to polish all his photos before he post it to the internet because he wants to look perfect. He usually ask strangers to take photo with him because that can makes him looks very popular.
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CHAPTER 02_NEW AUDIENCE
Persona_02
CHEN WANG COMPUTER ADDICT
DEMOGRAPHIC STATISTIC Age: 31 years old Location: San Jose Occupation: Data scientist Ethnicity: Asian Gender: Male Income: 80,000
CHARACTER TRAITS He bought a phone last year while now he got a latest new onethis month, because his friend just bought one. He lives in an expensive big house which is not convenient or affordable since he wants to pretend he is rich He likes to check news ahead his colleagues because he wants to be focused by others. He is planning to buy a new car even his old car still working well because he wants to show his taste when dating girls. He is working hard in his company but he doesn’t show it since he wants to pretend he is smart and easy to obtain everything. He usually buy some useless electric products and he did not use them, because he just feel good to put them in his house. He usually invite his friend to come to his home because he wants to show off his house.
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Persona_03
EDWARD GRAY CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER
DEMOGRAPHIC STATISTIC Age: 36 years old Location: Los Angeles Occupation: CEO Ethnicity: Caucasian Gender: Male Income: 161,220
CHARACTER TRAITS He is care about his outfit and appearance since he wants to present his best in front of people for business purpose. He wants to inprove his golf skill because it can helps him to join different business activities. He always over shopping because she just want to have what other poeple have. He always sent his clothes to the dry cleaning shop because he doesn’t have any time to clean his cloth himself. He likes to making friends with rich people because that can gratify his vanity . He is going to the gym three times a week since he wants to show his best body shape. He doesn’t really show her real thoughts because he wants to look amiable and easy going.
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CHAPTER 02_NEW AUDIENCE
Persona_04
ANDREW JONES HEDONIST
DEMOGRAPHIC STATISTIC Age: 20 years old Location: New York City Occupation: Freelance Singer Ethnicity: African American Gender: Male Income: 40,000
CHARACTER TRAITS He always wants to know the latest audio devices because other members of his band always talks about that and he doesn’t want to loose his face. Usually go to the gym instead of practice his music skills because he just wants a show good body shape to his audience at their live. Subscribes at lease five fashion youtuber to make sure follow the fashion trend. He always wearig T-shirt with big logo of luxury brand because he think that can catch people’s eyes. He joined a band just because doing performance in the stage makes him looks very popular. Andrew always cares about headphone, because a fancy headphone can makes him looks cooler than his friends. He never invite his friends to go to his home, because he used all his money to buy fancy clothes and shoes so he lives in a small basement,
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Persona_05
AIKO TANAKA NEWCOMER OF FASHION MAGAZINE
DEMOGRAPHIC STATISTIC Age: 28 years old Location: Los Angeles Occupation: Magazine editor Ethnicity: Asian Gender: Female Income: 83,000
CHARACTER TRAITS She cares about how other people comment about her because she is a newcomer. She is trying to wear expensive suit to pretend she is skillful and experienced, because she wants to get trusted by others. She doesn’t wear the same clothes and shoes each day during a month, because she wants others to admire her. She doesn’t really show her real thoughts to her new colleagues because she is wants to looks amiable. Subscribes at lease ten fashion bloggers and yutubers since she wants to make sure she can catch the point when she chating with her colleagues. She does not focusing on how to improve her skill, because she think good appearance is the a way to success in fashion area. She wears makeup when she go out each time because she wants to show her best condition to people.
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CHAPTER 02_NEW AUDIENCE
Persona_06
SOPHIA MARTINEZ CAREER WOMAN
DEMOGRAPHIC STATISTIC Age: 31 years old Location: San Francisco Occupation: Manager Ethnicity: Latino Gender: Female Income: 65,000
CHARACTER TRAITS She just bought a pair of new shoes even she already have over 30 same style shoes, because her friend just bought one. She will do everything to enhance her outter appearance because she wants to be a perfect girl in front of people. She likes to travel to popular spaces since she wants to post photos to her socisl media. She purchased a gym membership and go to practice twice a week in order to have good body shape to wear suit. She always over shopping, because a fancy suit and bag can makes her looks profession than other colleagues She likes to buy things without check it’s quality becuse she only cares about the beautiful package and decoration. She is planning to buy a new car because the old one is not pretty like a new car although it still works well.
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Persona_07
OLIVIA GARCIA SINGLE MOM DEMOGRAPHIC STATISTIC Age: 35 years old Location: Los Angelas Ethnicity: Latino Gender: Female
CHARACTER TRAITS She is very busy even though she stays at home, because she still has to take care of her babies all the time. She always shopping online because it is not easy for her to spent lots of time on hanging out to the store. After she bought a sweeping robot, she can take a rest and have snacks because it is time-saving and convenient. She prefer to read ebook through kindle, because ebook doesn’t need actual space to store. She likes to taking photos for her children, so she bought some simple photography equipments. She wants her life to be well organized because she has too many trivial things to do. She needs to do three part-time job to maintain life, so she has tight budget to shopping fashion products.
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CHAPTER 02_NEW AUDIENCE
Persona_08
JOHN BROWN PROFESOR DEMOGRAPHIC STATISTIC Age: 73 years old Location: Los Angelas Occupation: History Professor Ethnicity: Caucasian Gender: Male Income: 85,000
CHARACTER TRAITS John prefer to go to the library and finding a physical books rather than buying a kindle, because he wants to actually hold a book in his hand and read it. Learning and adepting a new technology will takes a lot of time for him, because no one can teach him. He likes drink tea and organize his garden, because he wants have a peaceful live. He uses social media but he doesn’t usually update his account, because he prefer to conmmunicate with people by face to face. He likes to invite his friends to his home and having fun together,because he lives alone. He is interested in cooking by himself, because he attaches great importance to health. He enjoys to see an opera rather than to watch a movie, because he likes the traditional forms of performance.
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Our Past Look According to the founder of The Sharper Image, they started the business for having fun. In the past, the company’s aim is to share this enthusiasm—to share the fun of discovering all kinds of technologically advanced products.
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CHAPTER 02_OUR PAST LOOK
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Our Future Look The Sharper Image has been focusing primarily on products for male from various categoriesa and target on different age groupd of audience. The mission that the company had previously was spread out the fun of discovering new technology and innovative products. It is popular to people who want to appear higher in society. The new objective would be supporting people who want to be seen as special, whatever it happens to be. Furthermore, it could deliver a service like a consulting firm which shich provides programs for professionalism.
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CHAPTER 02_OUR FUTURE LOOK
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Adjacent Competitors
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the company is one of the largest technological corporations in the world, employing more than 103,300 people in the U.S. and around the world.
Canon has a primary listing on the Tokyo Stock Exchange and is a constituent of the TOPIX index. It has a secondary listing on the New York Stock Exchange.
It is the fourth-largest chaebol in South Korea. It is headquartered in the LG Twin Towers building in Yeouido-dong, Yeongdeungpo District, Seoul. LG makes electronics, chemicals, and telecom products and operates subsidiaries such as LG Electronics, Zenith, LG Display, LG Uplus, LG Innotek and LG Chem in over 80 countries.
Intel is the world’s second largest and second highest valued semiconductor chip maker based on revenue after being overtaken by Samsung, and is the inventor of the x86 series of microprocessors, the processors found in most personal computers.
CHAPTER 02_FUTURE 02_MISSION COMPETITORS STATEMENT
Target Corporation is the second-largest department store retailer in the United States, behind Walmart, and is a component of the S&P 500 Index.
Epson, is a Japanese electronics company and one of the world’s largest manufacturers of computer printers, and information and imaging related equipment.
It develops, manufactures and sells networking hardware, telecommunications equipment and other high-technology services and products. Cisco specializes into specific tech markets, like Internet of Things, domain security.
In 2016, total revenue of US$48.238 billion included US$16.982 billion from the sale of notebook computers, US$9.956 billion from the sale of desktop computers, US$11.875 billion from the sale of printer supplies, US$5.131 billion from the sale of commercial printers, and US$1.254 billion from the sale of consumer printers
In 2015, the industry trade journal Dealerscope ranked it as the 18th largest consumer electronics retailer in the United States and Canada. In 2016, Forbes magazine ranked it 195th among America’s largest private companies, with 2,750 staff and annual revenue of US $2.4 billion
It is the world’s second largest manufacturer. The company is the eighth-largest chip equipment maker as reported in 2017.
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Aspirational Competitors
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The shopping centre portfolio that includes investment interests in 40 shopping centres across the United States and Europe, encompassing around 7,500 retail outlets and total assets under management in excess of $28.5 billion.
Saks Fifth Avenue is an American luxury department store owned by the oldest commercial corporation in North America, the Hudson’s Bay Company. Its main flagship store is located on Fifth Avenue in Midtown Manhattan, New York City.
Macy’s was the largest U.S. department store company by retail sales. As of 2017, there were 669 full-line stores with the Macy’s nameplate in operation throughout the United States, Puerto Rico, and Guam.
Dior, is a European luxury goods company controlled and chaired by French businessman Bernard Arnault, who also heads LVMH–the world’s largest luxury group. Dior itself holds 42.36% shares of and 59.01% voting rights within LVMH.
CHAPTER 02_FUTURE 02_MISSION COMPETITORS STATEMENT
Nordstrom has 373 stores operating in 40 US states, Puerto Rico and Canada, a number which includes 122 full-line stores and 239 Nordstrom Rack stores, seven Trunk Club clubhouses, two Jeffrey boutiques and two clearance stores.
It is an American department store owned by Neiman Marcus Group, headquartered in Dallas, Texas. The company also owns the Bergdorf Goodman department stores and operates a direct marketing division,
Barneys New York Inc. is an American chain of luxury department stores founded and headquartered in New York. The chain operates fifteen flagship, boutique, and warehouse stores in the United States.
In March 2018, FastCompany named Sephora to the number 36 spot (of 50) on their list of “World’s Most Innovative Companies”, citing its expanded offering of broadly diverse and inclusive product lines
Estée Lauder is a multinational manufacturer and marketer of prestige skincare, makeup, fragrance and hair care products. The company owns a diverse portfolio of brands, distributed internationally through both digital commerce and retail channels.
As of 2017, there are 38 full-line stores and 17 outlet stores with the Bloomingdale’s nameplate in operation throughout the United States.
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This book is a non-commercial design project for education purposes and is not intended to represent The Sharper Image brand. r06inchin@gmail.com robinxiao-design.com Design_Chengsongmei (Robin) Xiao Course_Nature of Identity Instructor_Hunter Wimmer Photography_unsplash.com
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Copyright © 2018 Chengsongmei (Robin) Xiao All right reserved. No part of this publication can be reproduced or transmitted in any form of by any means, electrical, mechanical, including photocopies or any storage, without prior written permission of Chengsongmei (Robin) Xiao.
THE SHARPER IMAGE VISUAL STRATEGY GUIDE