THE VISUAL STRATEGY GUIDE
THE VISUAL STRATEGY GUIDE
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01
ORIGINS
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Radioshack
Radioshack Corporation, known as Tandy Corporation from when it was acquired in 1960 until mid-2000, is one of the largest consumer electronics retailers in the United States. The stores feature two main categories of goods and services—electronics parts and accessories, and telephones and telecommunications accessories— as well as audio and video equipment, satellite systems, personal computers, and other electronics products. Their original purpose was to provide equipment for the then-nascent field of amateur, or ham radio. However, through time, Radioshack decided to approach a broader audience, especially the mobile devices sector.
Through time, Radioshack decided to approach a broader audience, especially the mobile devices sector.
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“To understand why there is still hope for the future, one need only to look to the past and how many times Radioshack defied the odds and rebounded from financial mires.� DailyTech.com
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Our Past EARLY YEARS Radioshack is an American chain of wireless and electronics stores founded in 1921 by Theodore and Milton Deutschmann in Boston. The company original purpose was to provide equipment for the then-nascent field of amateur, or ham radio. In the 20s, 30s, and 40s, Radioshack weather the depression and operated as a small but successful ham radio business. By the 1950s its retail footprint had grown to encompass nine stores and a thriving mail order business. Then came the 1960s and Radioshack’s first flirtation with bankruptcy, amid a downturn. In 1962, the company was bought by Tandy Corporation as Radioshack was almost bankrupt.
The company original purpose was to provide equipment for the then-nascent field of amateur, or ham radio.
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TANDY CORP. Tandy acquired several other companies which granted Radioshack to sell products of their own brand, such as batteries and personal computers. Some called Radioshack, “The McDonalds of Electronics” or the “Walmart of Hi-Tech”. Not only did Radioshack grow in number of stores, but in the quantity, quality and sophistication of its products. The incredibly popular citizen-band radios, were one of its top selling items, and personal computers. During the ’80s, the company was considered the biggest manufacturer of personal computers in the World. Due to business change, however, the company discontinued their own brands products line and opt to invest on a repair service.
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ORIGINS
DECAY CURRENT SITUATION
During its brightest years, in the late ’90s, Radioshack
// Brand was strong, but its meaning was lost
operated stores in the United States, Mexico, United
// Nobody knows exactly what the company sells // The company is always compared to bigger chains, such as Best Buy // It is considered antiquated by the public // Audience holds strong nostalgia towards the brand // Poor management, non-competitive // Costumer satisfaction is neglected // Poor working conditions for the sales associates // Focus on mobile products // Products lines are limited and generic // Re-brand attempts fails
Kingdom, Australia, and Canada. The ‘90s brought a rejuvenation of Radioshack’s core business. The company saw an explosion in personal communications. The company invented the Family Radio Service, which uses license-free 2-way personal radios. However, due to outdated management models, small variety of products, costumer service neglecting, shortage of products, Radioshack struggled with a long decay and, in 2015, they filled for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protections.
In the beginning of 2015, Radioshack closed 1,784 stores in the United States.
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20 The Visual Strategy Guide
RADIOSHACK
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ORIGINS 21
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RADIOSHACK
The Visual Strategy Guide
Our Logo Through Time
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ORIGINS 23
chapter
02
RENEW
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New Horizons RE-BRANDING OBJECTIVE Through these last decades, Radioshack popularity declined considerably which, as a consequence, lead the company to bankruptcy. The objective of Radioshack Re-brand is to turn the company into an innovation center and restore the company’s main purpose, which is to provide the technology for builders.
MISSION Our greatest satisfaction is to provide ways so innovators can innovate. We believe it can be achieved by physical and digital inventions; as well as through enhancement of knowledge, be around the right people and being exposed to existing innovations.
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RENEW
Make innovation possible by providing access to technology
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Changing Visuals Since Radio Shack was founded until nowadays, the visual style of the company varied as well as its purpose and set of products. In the beginning, there were a strong hand craft skills aspect attributed to the audience. It was a place where consumers could buy specific pieces to build their own gadgets. However, through time, the store became a place for generic products that can be easily found in any competitor stores. The new visual focus on a technological and innovative products and concepts.
RENEW
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THE FIRST LOOK
Crafting Hardware Home
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THE PREVIOUS LOOK
Lazyness Remote Control Suburban
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THE NEW LOOK
Urban Future Smart
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chapter
03
AUDIENCE
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INNOVATOR 01
CARLA LORENZO THE DREAMER PROFESSIONAL 35 years old
// When she was a child, her father purchased a
// She always keeps a sketch book where she takes
computer and, since then, she has been amazed and
random notes and writes her new ideas for future
passionate about technology.
personal projects.
// She is quite introspective and avoids confrontation. However, she is constantly willing to help and is
// Carla is satisfied with her job. However, misses having her own team to execute her own projects.
great to mediate meetings. // During her free time, she is constantly reading news //As she is a skillful programmer, she was invited by
about her field.
two friends to join their start up company which is where she currently works.
// In several cases, she had difficulties to overcome the gender bias towards programmer women, especially during college.
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INNOVATOR 02
MICHAEL WOODS THE BUSINESS EXPERT 45 years old
// Michael is an experienced professional in the technology business.
// His company is constantly offering opportunities for new professionals. For this reason, Michael always look for new talents to work with him.
// He has a strong sense of leadership and an encouraging spirit. He is able to listen to others’ thoughts and insights to drive them to achieve
// Michael enjoys sharing his knowledge and encourage people to expand and develop their ideas.
results. // He understands well the market necessities and // He has been married for five years, but he and his wife have no plans to raise a family.
trends in the technology world.
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INNOVATOR 03
JOSH WILLIAMS THE CREATIVE STUDENT 23 years old
//Josh is a design student who is very interested in problem solving through unique ways. // During high school, he was interested in mobile
// His professional interests are focused on digital products, especially the ones for mobile devices. // His professional dream is to work with a team to
games, especially the ones about challeging
create innovative solutions to make other people’s
puzzles.
lives easier.
// In college, he became aware of how apps and soft wares are influential in people’s lives as some of
// In his opinion, his university fails to provide meetings between students of different courses.
those products are really smart and useful. // He is an extroverted man. He has a strong leadership personality and works well in groups.
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INNOVATOR 04
JULIA ANDERSON THE NEW GENERATION 17 years old
// She is quite extroverted and articulates meetings
// Her greatest inspiration is her father, who works as a
well. She is not necessarily a leader, but she quickly
programmer in a small company. She is also admired
understands and explains instructions and thoughts
by all the new possibilities technology allows.
to the group members. // She truly believes technology will allow her to // She has a group of friends that are interested in technology as well as her, and they develop small
develop great ideas that may change others perspectives.
projects. However, in her opinion, these projects are too technical and not innovative.
// She is very focused on her objectives. Her discipline and organization skills stands out as well as her
//Julia is a high school student interested in digital
ability to manage her time.
technology. She frequents study groups about digital solutions and programming after her classes.
//Julia wants to improve, so she is constantly checking websites and blogs about digital innovation, and frequently accessing online forums.
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INNOVATOR 05
CHRISTOPHER ANDERSON THE ENCOURAGING FATHER 50 years old
// He is a suburban father and has 3 kids. His other child is Julia.
// He works at a small company as a programmer. He enjoys his work, but is unsatisfied by the lack of innovation of his company.
// Christopher enjoys spending his spare time with his kids, especially to encourage them to enhance their interest in technology.
// He is passionate about his profession and encourages younger people to follow the same career as his, but with the “innovation thinking� factor.
// Christopher wants to meet other people related to his field, besides workmates, to exchange
// He follows a few websites and blogs to keep himself
knowledge and experience. However, he is not a
updated, but he is thinks his knowledge has not
pro-active man, which means he will not put an
improved much.
extra effort to gather these people. // He works mostly alone, but he is a good person to work with because of his easy going personality and eff iciency.
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INNOVATOR 06
RICHARD THOMAS THE ELDER ENTHUSIAST 68 years old
// Richard is a retired engineer who, from a young age, was interested in technology and building gadgets. // Through time, he became more intrigued by digital technology.
// Richard is very curious and constantly seeks for new interests and hobbies. // He has the habit of purchasing softwares to try them out according to his new hobby, which can vary from photography to programming, among others.
//Although his devices—such as computer, phone, tablet—are quite outdated, Richard is constantly
// During family meetings, he approaches anybody
trying to keep up with the latest news by talking to
using a digital devices and asks several questions
his children.
about the product. // He frequently goes to tech gadgets stores to talk to sellers and learn about the new products and their functions.
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chapter
04
COMPETITORS
RADIOSHACK
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The Visual Strategy Guide
Current Competitors The current competitors are the companies that compete with Radioshack’s audience by providing
MAIN COMPETITORS
the same services and products. Some companies listed are partial competitors because they operate in fields that competes strongly with at least one of the multiple Radioshack’s sectors.
BEST BUY The reason why this company is one of the main competitors is because they operate in the exact Radioshack business, but with larger stores. They were one of the main reasons why Radioshack lost a big portion of its public . Best Buy is an American multinational consumer electronics corporation headquartered in Richfield, Minnesota, a Minneapolis suburb.
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COMPETITORS
F R Y ’ S E LEC T R O N I C S
A M A ZO N
W A LM A R T
They are a consumer electronic store chain which
This was one of the responsible for a revolution on
Walmart is not a consumer electronic store, but
one of the main competitors was Radioshack.
online sales of consumer products. Despite Amazon
they are a strong competitor as an electronic seller.
However, despite the chain is not massive as
is more than an online electronic products retailer,
As an hypermarket, the variety of products allows
Radioshack once was, they are still around.
they certainly influenced on the drop of Radioshack
the public to buy all they need at one trip, including
popularity due to convenience and variety of goods.
products they would buy at Radioshack.
Fry’s Electronics is an American big-box store and
Amazon is an American electronic commerce and
Headquartered in Bentonville , Walmart is an
retailer of software, consumer electronics, household
cloud computing company with headquarters in
American multinational retail corporation that
appliances and computer hardware. Fry’s has in-
Seattle, Washington. It is the largest Internet-based
operates a chain of hypermarkets, discount
store computer repair and custom computer building
retailer in the United States.
department stores and grocery stores.
services.
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RADIOSHACK
The Visual Strategy Guide
OTHER CURRENT COMPETITORS
COMPETITORS
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RADIOSHACK
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The Visual Strategy Guide
Future Competitors These competitors are the companies Radioshack envision where it will be after its re-branding. Some of
MAIN COMPETITORS
the companies may be from very different fields, but they stand for similiar ideals or execute services that attends Radioshack’s ideals.
H O N DA Honda is a great example of technology for innovation. Although their main products are cars and motorcicles, they also invest in adjacent sectors involving transportation—such as airplanes and new energy—,as well as robotics and human physical needs. Honda is a Japanese public multinational corporation primarily known as a manufacturer of automobiles, motorcycles and power equipment.
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COMPETITORS
I D EO
G O O G LE
O PE N S O U R C E
This company focus is design for people. They use
This is a massive company that launches several
Open source concept is the “collaboration for
design thinking and research to solve problems
digital products. They are not afraid to support and
development� which Radioshack also stands
in innovative ways. They proved that thinking
launch inexistent services and innovative products.
for. Open source is an excelent example of how
differently and using tools creatively can lead to
In addition, they encourage their employees to
sharing the knowledge can enhance the quality and
great solutions.
create and invest on new ideas.
innovative level of products and services.
IDEO is an international design and consulting
Google is an American multinational technology
The initiative was formed by Eric S. Raymond and
firm founded in Palo Alto, California, in 1991. The
company specializing in Internet-related services
Bruce Perens in 1998. The open-source model is a more
company uses the design thinking methodology
and products. These include online advertising
decentralized model of production, in contrast with
to design products, services, environments, and
technologies, search, cloud computing, and software.
more centralized models of development such as those
digital experiences.
typically used in commercial software companies.
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RADIOSHACK
The Visual Strategy Guide
OTHER FUTURE COMPETITORS
COMPETITORS
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First published in 2016 Š 2016 Evelyn Furuta All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in retrieval system or transmited, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopy, recording or otherwise, without the written permission of Radioshack. Printed in the United States of America.
Title: Radioshack The Visual Strategy Guide Designed by: Evelyn Furuta yurifuruta@gmail.com website www.innovationwithinreach.technology