Gideon D’Arcangelo speaking at the POPAI 2014 Conference in Milan, Italy

Gideon D’Arcangelo, ESI’s Vice President of Creative Strategy, recently traveled to Milan, Italy to speak at the POPAI 2014 conference on retail communications design. The conference’s theme for the year was Digital Innovation and Technology and Gideon presented on the impact of technology on the retail experience. His work with ESI has encompassed energizing many brands’ retail experience, from Best Buy to Staples. His thesis is that engagement is the next frontier of retail design. Engagement through experience with the brand. Engagement through turning the brick and mortar store into a Place. Engagement through enlivening the retail experience with community, learning, and growth. Take a look at a few examples of ESI’s retail innovations in our portfolio.

Other speakers on the panel with Gideon represented Sephora and the Italian retailer UNES. The conference was held at the Instituto Politecnico in Milan, the preeminent design school in the city. POPAI is a sister organization of VMSD, hosts of International Retail Design conference, where Gideon spoke in September of 2013. The organization is dedicated to advancing retail communications design. The austere organization was founded in 1936 and is headquartered in Chicago.

You can read further into Gideon’s ideas about how to energize and engage customers here: Community Retail at Scale.