Neville: Getting the balance right on creativity in retail

Bob Neville, global retail creative director of New Balance, shares with Vanessa Ching his thoughts on creativity, the importance of storytelling and creative talent.

How did you get started in retail?

Bob Neville: I started out with a degree in product design and won a number of design competitions. I had a toy being sold at Toys”R”us so I got interested in how people interact with that product. I wanted people to pick that product in that shop. So that’s how I got into retail.

My job is getting human beings emotionally connected to the brand and the product, getting them to do things in a given space and ultimately buy stuff — creating that emotional connection.

When people think retail, at one level, they think retail associate. But ultimately, when you look at Marina Bay Sands in Singapore, as an example, you don’t even call it retail, because it’s the brand experience. For this to come together, you need loads of people from loads of disciplines. Whether they are an architect or visual merchandiser, product designer or lighting engineer. It’s all sorts of people. Retail and the environment it has created brings people together as a team.

I know a few people who’ve started out on the shopfloor, progressed through, and have gone to senior roles. The on-floor experience is the starting point. At least you’ve got the experience of what it’s like to stand on your feet for hours. Others get into retail through architecture or through product design.

For me, I don’t get excited about design in shops. What I get excited about is building branded environments that tell stories. That’s what I enjoy doing.

When I finished my art studies, we were doing industrial design, drawings by hand, models out of wood, spray painting — using very traditional methods in doing things. We were even taught how to draw with charcoal. Somebody who has got that background would have an interesting foundation.

That said, I’m excited about the future — with digital, augmented reality and virtual reality — and what other new things we can start to create. It’s so incredible. It involves a mindset change, and an appreciation of what creativity is to business. Where we are going to be in 10 years’, 15 years’ time — the greater the change, the more exciting it’s going to be.

Can you share with us your experience in promoting New Balance in China, Asia as a whole, and the importance of storytelling?

Neville: Six to seven years ago, people thought New Balance was a local Chinese brand. China consumers had no idea what we stood for. We have various price points but if you take a shoe retailing at RMB2,000 (US$314) as an example, if you have somebody else retailing shoes somewhat similar to that at RMB300, if the consumer don’t understand who you are and what you stand for, they will go for the latter. So a large part of what we did six to seven years ago was to tell our story.

The idea is, if people understand where you come from, where you are, they understand where you are going. Educating consumers that New Balance, as a brand and company, goes back to 1906. We’ve got a history and heritage that is pretty unique and significant.

How do we differentiate ourselves? Like you said to me, there’s just so much out there. I always call it retail wallpaper. How do you stand out of that? The way is, to be true to your brand’s DNA.

We, as New Balance, have no intention to be Nike, or be like Nike. We are who we are. And we want to make sure people interact with other people so they have an idea of who we are as well. Today, it’s very much digital as much as a physical interaction experience. It’s a combination of all that.

In educating consumers, it’s not just functionality, it’s about great shoes. It looks good. It feels good. A large part is getting that emotional connection.

Can you share with us your perspectives on Asia?

Neville: I first worked in China in the ’80s, then moved to Hong Kong in the ’90s. I’ve always been involved in the sports industry in my retail career. When you think about the speed of things happening in Asia, it’s just amazing. But it’s also what is happening on the global scale, and the shift ... how Chinese consumers are shifting global growth.

At our 5th Avenue stores, we see a large number of Chinese (and Japanese and Korean) tourists come to our store. The impact of Chinese consumers is not only in Asia, but other touchpoints around the world as well.

Many consumers are influenced by other countries’ consumers and pop stars so there is a lot of cross-pollination in Hong Kong. For example, we can have New Balance shoes on Korean soap opera stars and that can have a big impact in sales and products in Hong Kong, as well as Korea. The world is becoming a small place.

Thoughts about young talent coming into retail?

Neville: When you think about the number of people in a retail HQ, in terms of brand experience, essentially it still comes down to the shop staff on the ground, at the store. As brands, we’ve got to do more to engage the frontline staff. How do they engage with customers? It’s like an iceberg — the sales experience is what the customer will walk away with.

In terms of retail as a career path, they may think being a shop assistant is very one dimensional but there are lots of opportunity to evolve and grow because of the different aspects of the retail business, whether it’s purchasing, merchandising or design. There are so many aspects that make great retail.

I think that if you look at the young people coming out of universities and schools, they are very much living in the now — you don’t know what you don’t know. In developing one’s talent and knowledge, it’s important to have that balance of experience and inexperience because you need to make sure if you get up to speed quickly once you’ve been doing certain things a certain way, and if you cut corners, you have a pretty good gauge of the potential end-result.

How do you think the retail industry can recognise and be more inclusive when it comes to creative talent?

Neville: I’ve been in a number of board room meetings … Everyone sitting around the table discussing budget-cuts. I am a retailing sort of guy. I say something and suddenly everybody has got a view and an opinion and believes that his opinion is correct! I’ve got this a few times and I always get a laugh when this happens.

But I do think, how come you are open and free to express an opinion about what I do, and it seems to be ‘open house’. Everyone seems to shut up when somebody serious talks. I think there’s an element that ‘it’s not about having fun’ when it comes to work.

In contrast, I think it’s about appreciating the professionalism and element that there is a certain level of  skill and expertise that is intangible in creating great retail, by that I mean, experience, emotion and everything else.