Mercedes lounge areas in high end malls
Some people clearly get what brand associations are all about. A tip of my hat to Mercedes demonstrating it’s knowledge of brand association with their hallway lounge areas in high end malls. I came across one while going through Sherway Gardens, a upper end mall here in the west end of Toronto. What Mercedes had done was put out these very comfortable leather lounge chairs in the hallway of the mall with Mercedes symbols on custom furniture all around, even embossed into the leather of the seat. This allowed exhausted holiday shoppers to rest in Mercedes’ big comfortable chairs and breath a sigh of relief on Mercedes behalf.
What does this do for Mercedes? More traditionally, it puts the Mercedes logo in front of it’s exact target audience: well to do people who buy high end items. But the real value is in the brand associations created. People will associate that feeling of relief and comfort with the Mercedes brand. Plopping down into that comfortable seat after long hours of shopping might just as well be climbing into the leather seat in your C-Class after a long day at the office. The neural connection between Mercedes and comfort is made. Perception is reality. That experience the customer has in the lounge at the mall will actually make the future Mercedes seem more comfortable.
Cheers to you, Mercedes!
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By Colin Finkle. Colin Finkle is an award winning industrial designer who works with large multinational brands everyday designing retail displays for FX Displays in Toronto, Canada. He is the principle designer at Firebrand Creative. He also writes for AMD’s FireUser.com blog.
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