Everything is Local

 

If you build a new retail store in the mountains, make it look “mountainy;”

In the city, appear “urbanesque.”

Therefore if you build a supermarket at the beach, it makes sense that you should at least be “beachy.”

That’s exactly how Food Lion appears in Oak Island, a beach town near the very bottom of North Carolina. We visited there and several other Carolina beaches for our vacation this year. 

It was kind of cool to see a blue and black Food Lion sign, which are their official branding colors, although most stores I’ve seen in Virginia tout white wall-mounted letters on brick or stucco backgrounds. The store at Oak Island was very nautical and matched the style of many other stores on the street.

Three main take-aways from vacation:

1) Sea Turtles’ innate ability to return to the same beach to lay their eggs after years of traveling the seven seas blows my mind and makes me wonder why I can’t even find my beach chair after returning from a 20-minute walk down the beach.

2) Sunset Beach, NC can almost be legitimately given that unusual name for an Atlantic Beach since the beach faces south and you can see the sunset on the right over the sand dunes as you face the waves.

3) Even though trademarks are sacred things, sometimes it’s okay to alter them a little to fit a particular environment. The bright blue words with the black iconic lion make up the standard logo of Food Lion stores. At the beach, the retail chain utilizes the pure brand and adds architectural embellishments to the buildings to match the beach. Around Richmond, the store goes with red brick and stucco buildings and sometimes alters the standards to keep it’s brand readable while at the same time blending it’s stores in with the local environment. After all, isn’t meshing with a community part of branding? And isn’t everything local when it comes to marketing a brand?

Happy end of summer!

 

 

Many Other Interesting Stories:

• What is the Cocooning Effect?
• Shopping Center Repositioning
• Re-Branding a Retirement Community
• Turning Eyeballs into Smiles
• Green Marketing
• Site Lighting and Your Brand
• Flexible LED Case Study
• Custom Awnings
• Richmond Executive Airport
• Branding Grace Church
• Shopping Center Makeovers Boosting Economic Development
• Branding and Anniversary at Kings Dominion

 

Tags: Electric Signs NC-VA, Virginia Beach Property, Channel Letters for Supermarkets and other retail stores