Finding out where the city’s pulse is starting to beat.Getting involved and making a mark on the landscape.Then disappearing when the first tourist buses stop in the area. With its Instant Stores, Swatch has no intention of riding right on the crest of a trend wave. Instead, the company wants to set trends and make its presence felt at lightning speed among city dwellers.Thanks to an innovative shop-fitting concept, new display solutions can be installed so quickly that they can even just pop up for a few hours on the fringe of events.
Society is moving with increasing speed, while the public is becoming increasingly fickle. Trends are coming and going faster and faster, often spreading simultaneously round the globe. On the prestigious shopping streets in large cities you will usually find the same chain stores – perhaps in a slightly different order.
Stores should spring
out of the ground worldwide
A shop strategy that revolves around setting up and dismantling everything
at lightning speed makes it possible for Swatch to immediately pop up
anywhere in the world where a refreshing cultural scene is emerging. The
plan is for Instant Stores to shoot out of the ground in all large cities
like mushrooms, enjoy a brief, intensive presence, then disappear and
pop up again in a different place from one day to the next. Thanks to
a guerilla strategy and flexible infrastructure, Swatch is able to act
speedily and make the most of any surprise opportunities that may crop
up anywhere. Where necessary, a shop can be set up for a single day or
evening. An Instant Store can therefore be set up locally whenever there
is a festival or some other event or happening that fits in with the company’s
“Instant Style”. Alternatively, an Instant Store could also
stay in a single location for a month, a year, or even longer –
it’s no problem as long as the store remains authentic!
Metamorphic
fittings
Stores that come with no intention of staying need a pragmatic shop-fitting
solution with a flexible interior in Amsterdam by Pixelpunk.
Thilo
Brunner has
therefore developed a furniture module that can be assembled
and dismantled at the required speed. Instant Stores are entirely fitted
out with this module, which has a geometric shape consisting of two modified
hexagons but can be used in an extraordinary number of different ways.
It can be used as anything from a display cabinet or laptop furniture
to a couch for chilling out or a table. Aluminum rails make it possible
to attach display material. With these metamorphic and avant-garde fittings,
the Instant Stores aim to surprise people, make them curious, and encourage
them to experience something new.
Not taking yourself so seriously
That the designers of the Instant Store are the bad boys of Swatch, as
it were, is demonstrated by the fact that they have even diverted the
Swatch logo from its intended use. They have painted over the familiar
Swatch logo in a provocative way and added an asterisk – making
fun of the Swiss cross. This makes it possible to add changing subtitles
and messages to the logo. In fact, a healthy mix of provocation and irony
is an essential component of the strategy as those who are unable to laugh
about themselves often make a fool of themselves in an attempt to be cool.
