I must have walked by hundreds of mall kiosks this past holiday season. You know, those carts set up in the aisle-ways, designed to maximize rental revenues. Although I generally walk right by, this year my wife stopped in her tracks and exclaimed, "Look at the cute TVs!"

TVs? I thought to myself. On a kiosk? Sure enough, right in front of us was a colorful kiosk full of flat-panel LCD TVs from Hannspree. Hannspree is a new division of an established Taiwanese company seeking to extend its product and brand presence with a lineup of highly stylized TVs. What s really neat about these products isn't necessarily the design, however, but rather the fact that Hannspree has decided to eschew traditional retail channels.

As we have increasingly become an experience-driven culture, smart brands are responding to this shift with branded retail locations, pop-up (i.e. temporary) stores, and kiosks. These outlets can be thought of as "brand boutiques," places that sell a brand by creating an experience designed to engage, inform, and entertain the consumer. Far more than a traditional end-cap or store-within-a-store, the brand boutique allows for unprecedented control of the brand at the most critical customer touch point: the point of sale.

Many of today s consumer electronics and other products roll off the same assembly lines used by their competitors. Huge companies like Flextronics crank out gadgets and gizmos for nearly every top consumer electronics brand. In Taipei, a single factory might make Dells in the morning, and then Macintoshes during the night shift. Similarly, when you boil it down, there is very little service-level differentiation between providers of services like cable and wireless. Companies like Apple know very well that the experience, the suite of products and services offered and how they work with each other, is just as if not more important than technical innovation in order to differentiate from the mass of similar products and services in the market.

The realization that consumers primarily seek experiences, as opposed to specifications of features and benefits, is now extending beyond the creation of products and into the sales channel, impacting how products and services are sold. Packaging, websites, and support are becoming more important; and so is the retail presence.

It wasn t so long ago that boutiques were strictly the realm of luxury retailers like Chanel, Gucci, and Coach. The retail trend for most other products was in the direction of big-box retailers ranging from Wal-Mart to Best Buy. Eventually, brand-centric organizations craving differentiation, like Gap and Nike, started to establish branded stores.

As companies have become more concerned about brand, they see a need to control how their products are sold and how the brand is perceived. Third shelf down in aisle four at Circuit City is no longer sufficient. Through direct one-on-one contact with buyers, manufacturers can also learn about consumer preferences very quickly, and finely tune their products and experience in response.

There has been a recent surge in brand boutiques, both temporary and permanent, for an incredible array of products and services, including Song Airlines, MTV, Sharp, Suave, Purina, and Palm. While Apple was not the first technology-centric brand to open brand boutiques (Sony and Gateway were faster out of the gate), it was arguably the first successful one due to the complete experience its stores offer. More than a sales channel, brand boutiques provide a brand identity for consumers to associate with.

So, do they work? Yes, but only if handled the right way. My friend Nish Nadaraja, a San Francisco-based marketing executive, helped Method Home with their brand boutique strategy in 2004. Method Home sells a line of home cleaning products mainly through Target Stores. While sales were good, Method felt it didn t have enough exposure. Being a new brand and a startup on a tight budget presented quite a challenge. In an effort to gain maximum exposure while still controlling the brand experience, Nish suggested that Method dip into the marketing budget and open a Union Square pop-up store; that is, a branded, interactive retail store that pops-up for a limited time and then goes away. The results were better than anyone could have imagined. Aside from creating buzz and sales, Method was also able to gain valuable customer feedback and even rotate employees through the store to get them more in touch with their customer base. For the budget of a decent print-marketing campaign, Method generated buzz, gained new customers, and even earned a profit. Nish says one of the secrets to a successful brand boutique is having the right evangelists out there supporting it, and planning exclusive fun events like wine tastings targeting specific demographics and engaging seminars in the space.

These efforts can clearly result in a better consumer experience. Boutiques are obviously more pleasant, approachable, and visually diverse than big box retailers. This adds to the fabric of neighborhoods that have been increasingly trying to keep big-boxes out. Aside from being nice places to shop, brand boutiques generally have salespeople that are incredibly knowledgeable about the products they are selling, and how they compare to those offered by competitors. As consumer electronics and services grow increasingly complex, boutiques may very well be the only way these products can be sold. Obvious drawbacks are that it s not as easy to compare competitive products when they aren t located in the same store, and of course it s not in the brand boutiques salespersons interest to have you buy anything elsewhere even if it is a better match for you.

Companies that establish successful brand boutiques will be able to use them to introduce new and complementary products and services. Just watch over the coming year as Apple takes advantage of its brand boutiques by launching a cellular phone and service.

Brand boutiques are catering to the notion that people want to be entertained, engaged, and informed. As consumers, we can just sit back and enjoy the show!

Mahin Samadani is a Business Development Director for frog design.

Read more frog Design Mind.

Made for CES

The ubiquity of the iPod was the most notable thing this year at CES. Standing in the Microsoft booth at the Playsforsure kiosk, an attendee looking at the 40+ MP3 players before him said, "Where's the iPod?" "Apple doesn't come to CES," the flummoxed Microsoft responded. "They have their own show." Looking around CES, it was clear that Apple didn't need its own booth, since the iPod was everywhere. Companies either have an iPod product (like Bose speakers, the Griffin iTrip, or Belkin cup holders), products that work with the iPod, or products with the "iPod look" (think Sonos). Apple sets the standard for design.

According to the NPD Group, iPod peripherals will have a market north of $2 billion in 2006. That's a nice little industry as it is. But look for this to grow as product peripherals develop around video like they did for music. Made for iPod, a program which will apply an Apple "iStamp" of approval on products that work with iPod, is gaining ground just as quickly, regardless of whether you agree or disagree with Apple's intention to monetize the program. iPod has officially joined the ranks of products where the company's brand name has replaced the actual product name and become the product: you use an iPod to listen to music in the same way you use a Kleenex to blow your nose, you make Xeroxes with a copy machine, and you Google for information.

The iPod's success has inspired a deluge of compatible products. At this year s Macworld, for example, Apple announced a car stereo deal with the Chrysler Group. Apple s vice president of Worldwide iPod Marketing says that in addition to the 3 million Chrysler, Jeep and Dodge automobiles, "over 40 percent of all cars sold in the US in 2006 will offer iPod connectivity." Wow. So in addition to the iPod accessories, cassette adapters, FM adapters, cables, headphones, and cases that are iPod compatible, the entire car should be added to the list. iPod integration into cars isn't new, but the sheer number of cars is astonishing. I wonder how many people purchasing a car consider how well integrated it is with the iPod? Perhaps just a few of the Apple faithful.

There are also numerous products that have adopted the Apple aesthetic. Companies seem to think that if their products look like an iPod or an Apple, they are also recreating the entire User Experience—a supposition that simply isn't true. It's one thing to look like a product, it's another to behave like one. This point has been made by a number of people, but it s worth repeating. The iPod is successful because of a combination of things that look-alikes can t deliver. It's clean and easy to use (see "The iPod and the Bathtub"). It is backed by iTunes that has integrated e-commerce, and iTunes is supported by relationships that encompass, essentially, the entire music industry.

The iPod has succeeded far beyond what anyone expected. When it launched, everyone said, You re kidding right? Another MP3 player? But here s the thing. You can t just encase your product in white plastic, call it a day. Companies have to look deeper than that. From a design perspective, it s clear that many companies think that if they follow this pattern, they can achieve what Apple has with the iPod. But the pattern they see is one of imitation. The pattern I see is one of imitation. Apple is clearly engaging design where most other companies are not. In order to get closer to what Apple has achieved, companies can do several things:

A. Hire a competent designer at the C-Level in your company, and trust her/him to help integrate design into your infrastructure. Apple follows this model, as Jobs serves as the CDO (Chief Design Officer). He has a great aesthetic and works closely with his design team to build superior products.

B. Take a user-centered approach to product design. Seek out real people and engage them in the design of your products by asking them what they need, prototyping the possibilities and getting feedback from them on the result. I m not talking about focus groups, either. Groups end up being ruled by one or two strong-willed people, and the rest of the group will defer to their opinions. Do one-on-one interviews in people's homes to get their personal opinion, and observe their surroundings. What they say and how they live will tell you more than the lemmings that comprise most focus groups.

C. Craft a distinct look and feel for your entire product line, thereby
setting your products apart. NAD has such a distinct look, and one could easily pick them out in of a line-up of components. The design isn't award-winning, but at least it's recognizable.

Hannspree, which had its first appearance at CES this year, has a very distinct line of flat screen TVs that are all crafted to match a particular taste: basketball, racing cars, etc. Seen together, they comprise a unique Hannspree brand, but individually, the products take on the persona of their specific design. I wouldn't think "Hannspree" if I saw the Buzz Lightyear TV, I would think of Pixar instead. It remains to be seen if the Hannspree products will sell well and if their brand will emerge from this variety, but at least they stand apart from the sea of gray/black/silver flat panel TVs. It's a start.

Which brings us back to my discontent with the iPod. With the iPod, Apple has achieved an excellent design which has been brilliantly marketed and has transformed the consumer electronics industry. We're all very proud, but I'm sick of talking, hearing and reading about it. Is there a product besides the iPod that we can hold up and say, what a brilliant and well-executed design this is? No. Not at this year s CES. Companies seeking to innovate like Sony, who s recent failures have made them look really bad (see Sony rootkit) need to be willing to think more about solving customers problems by incorporating a user centered design to achieve what the iPod has. Who has the guts to step out on the dance floor, ask design to dance and shake their thang?

David Hoffer is a Senior Design Analyst for frog design.

The frog Design Mind column appears every Monday on Gizmodo. Read more frog Design Mind.