360.steelcase.com bringing brands to work 2 · the workplace is an important lever you can use to...

Bringing Brands to Work 2How the workplace can help build brand and culture

Q&A 10 Trends360 12 Green Giants 13 Photo Essay 14 Atoms & Bits 19

The magazine of workplace research, insighT, and Trends issue 56

360.sTeelcase.com

360.steelcase.com Brand & Culture °2

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abouT This issue: it’s a branded world. check out the business section of any bookstore, and the number of titles about “brand” abound. from pop singers to mom & pop shops, everyone is thinking about how to develop a strong brand that delivers results. brands are an external expression of an internal culture, so developing a culture that supports the brand intent is critical. enter the workplace, the theater where the drama of culture and brand is played out. in this issue we explore how the workplace can influence brand, what leading designers are saying about brand and space, and some of the latest trends about brand and culture.

1360.steelcase.com Brand & Culture °

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Feature

2 bringing brands To work Brand isn’t just a logo or ad – it’s your reputation. every experience customers has with an organization impacts how they feel about your brand. in this competitive environment, the workplace is an important lever you can use to steer an organization’s culture and strengthen the brand.

Departments

10 Q&a Nelson’s Marty Festenstein on the intersection of workplace design, brand and culture.

12 Trends 360 A sampler of brand morsels.

13 green giants Featuring Blake Mycoskie, founder and Chief shoe Giver of TOMs shoes.

14 a day in the life A photo essay showcasing Chicago designers styling their own TOMs shoes.

BehinD the Cover

if anyone is passionate about their brand and culture, it’s Google. The information-giant’s headquarters in Mountain View, Calif. were designed by Clive Wilkerson Architects to support the highly demanding work culture, balancing the need for concentration and collaboration. Photo courtesy of Benny Chan/Fotoworks.

Table of Contents

360 Magazine is published quarterly by steelcase inc. All rights reserved. Copyright 2010. Material in this publication may not be reproduced in any form unless you really want to help people love how they work – just ask us first, okay? contact us at [email protected].

21 atoms & bits

Things to check out, in person or online.


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Photos page 2 & 3: © Benny Chan / fotoworks

it was a law firm that could have come right out of a John Grisham novel. Deep south, steeped in tradition. Dark wood paneling, creaky spiral staircase, the smell of leather and paper. The office obviously hadn’t changed in decades.

“everything’s based on precedent in the legal industry,” says Lynn Osborne, legal workplace director and managing director in the Charlotte, N.C. office of Nelson, the global design firm. “This ideology is indicative of the design of the legal workplace as well.”

Yet that old-school law firm did, in fact, move to new, dramati-cally different offices. it made the change for two powerful reasons: brand and culture.

“What happened is they realized that clients had come to view a traditional aesthetic as old-fashioned, and their old offices didn’t reflect the firm’s longstanding brand anymore. Law firms are realizing that an up-to-date, forward-thinking aesthetic is one that society views as representing viable, solid performers, a look that says, ‘You can count on us.’”

The old-school law firm’s internal culture needed an overhaul, too.

“space affects behavior, and today’s legal environments are calling for spaces that provide for collaboration, flexibility, and efficient real estate. This firm now has better internal com-munication, and they’re more efficient and more collaborative.

it’s a BranD, BranD, BranD, BranD worlD

in a competitive global marketplace where consumers detect little difference between one product or service and another, it’s the brand that differentiates. A brand isn’t just a logo or a slogan; it’s the sum total of customer experiences with the company. Websites, ad

Bringing Brands to WorkHow the workplace can help build brand and culture

Google headquarters


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campaigns, and other traditional tools associated with branding can influence what people think of a company, but experience tells: a company gets the brand it deserves.

A company’s culture – the values, work practices, and processes – bring its mission to life. Culture is lived in space, and employees’ behaviors ultimately define the brand. That’s why creating space to support brand and culture is one of the hottest issues for everyone who plans, designs, or manages workspaces.

“There’s an inextricable link between brand and culture,”

says Arna Banack, a cultural anthropologist based in Toronto who helps companies think through how space can help their brand and culture.

“Companies spend a lot of time developing what their brand should be and working to differentiate themselves in the market. The culture of your organization must, in turn, be all

about how to make that brand a part of the way you do things. Without that, your carefully developed brand will remain just a concept and never a reality.”

When companies create space that supports particular behaviors, culture helps build the brand. “For example, let’s say you want clients to know that you have a great team

that works well together to accomplish what the client wants. if you break down the behaviors needed to support that brand, you can develop a long list: working as a team, sharing ideas, collaborating effectively, etc. so how does your space support that? if you have high walls, no collaboration spaces, and people feel as if they don’t have the opportunity to share ideas and don’t know who’s working on what, they aren’t going to behave in ways that demonstrate the brand,” says Banack.

“Culture and brand go beyond the interior space, of course,”

A company gets the brand it deserves.

Designed by Clive Wilkerson Architects of L.A. working together with DeGW, the space was envisioned to support the army of engineers’ need for concentration – which is a premium – and to encourage spontaneous interactions to help generate new ideas. The offices manifest the Google brand perfectly: super smart, uber functional with plenty of geek chic.

Google’s Mountain View, Calif. headquarters carries their brand from the internet to the workplace. Their spaces are like their homepage: colorful, bright, welcoming, fun places to work.


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notes Tara Rae Hill, principal of Little Fish, a brand and design consultancy in Atlanta. Many activities define the culture and brand, including HR, sales support, customer relations, and more. “But space plays a big role in helping companies live their brand and culture,” says Hill. Which explains why companies in every industry are connecting the three as big ingredients of their strategy. For example:

o Vodafone, the mobile telecomm giant, designed a space for its Amsterdam headquarters that personifies the wireless workstyle their products are designed to

provide. The workspace has no assigned desks or private offices, but plenty of space that encourages mobile workers to rub shoulders in collaboration.

o Royal Caribbean, the worldwide cruise line, opened a call center in Oregon that from the outside looks like a ship ready to sail and on the inside feels like an aloha shirt. unlike call centers laid out as a maze of cubicles, this one’s as bright, colorful, and nearly as open as a cruise ship.

o Rich Products, a food industry pioneer that prides itself on innovation and “caring for customers like only a family can,” made sure its space nurtures collaboration and the chance encounters that drive inspiration. Plus, the office can change as quickly as their business. The headquarters

internal atrium feels like a space for a family picnic.

o Google’s headquarters offices are like their homepage: colorful, bright, welcoming, fun places to work.

o Wilson sporting Goods wanted their workplace to match their standing as the world’s leading manufacturer of ball sports equipment. Product displays in the lobby, a basketball floor, exposed surfaces and infrastructure, widespread use of sports imagery – it all puts staff, customers, and visitors in the arena, Wilson’s heart and soul.

every workspace tells the story of a company. From

the symmetry of a corporate accounting office to the crazy quilt layout of an advertising firm, workspace speaks volumes about the organizational culture. enter a space and you immediately get a visceral sense about what goes on there. The mood, the energy level, even the management style is palpable. space answers the questions: What does the company do? How does it operate? What is this company all about?

The organizational center of gravity is the space where the work gets done, where staff, clients, and other stakeholders

live out the culture of the company. When space planners and designers create the company’s workspace, they naturally affect culture and brand.

Companies that get it

uncertain economic times add another imperative. “We have this dichotomy in the current economy,” says Banack. “People are not changing jobs much, but many are less engaged in their work. Morale is low, people are worried about their jobs, and they feel vulnerable and concerned about their long-term future with their organization. They’re not energized, perhaps not as committed, not upbeat

about coming into work. You want to get them feeling engaged and a part of what the organization is trying to accomplish.”

Vodafone is right there. The Netherlands headquarters of the telecomm company was designed to address recruitment and engagement through a space that propelled culture change and the brand story. They planned to move the head office from a rural part of the country to Amsterdam, merge staff from three different locations at the new site, and, at the same

time, attract knowledge workers and customers to Vodafone.

The new space was intended to reflect and amplify the Vodafone view of the mobile lifestyle, becoming a physical manifesta-tion of the brand as the world’s leading international mobile telecommunications group. “Amsterdam’s cosmopolitan lifestyle is very attractive to precisely the kind of customers and workers we want to attract: urban, mobile, heavy users of technology, and open to innovation. The capital also gives us ideal brand presence in The Netherlands and a location that exemplifies mobile working concepts. in other words, we

can live the mobile life our customers live,” says Paul smits, head of human resources for Vodafone NL.

Those concepts are evident throughout Vodafone’s workplace: mobile technology, flexible space, and furniture that supports mobile working. Leadership works in the same workspace as staff, and everyone uses mobile phones, BlackBerrys, and laptops. Paper is discouraged. There’s just one printer per floor, and most people work entirely on digital technology.

Royal Caribbean Wilson sporting Goods

Vodafone’s space personifies its brand and culture: “We’re drinking our own champagne.”


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Vodafone NL’s Amsterdam headquarters melds brand and culture. Reception hosts dress in the same jeans, shirts, and sneakers as Vodafone retail store workers. Graphics reflect company branding and introduce the color palette. standing-height tables and few visitor seats speak to the culture. “Our philosophy is: if you have a visitor, you come and get them immediately, they shouldn’t wait,” says Paul smits, head of HR. The space helped the company embrace a fully mobile workstyle and change the culture for everyone, from leadership on down, who all work at unassigned desks.

By engaging employees in planning the new Vodafone headquarters, the company forged strong connections between the brand, culture, and space. employees said they wanted support for com-munication and collaboration throughout the office, social, interactive spaces with plenty of color and light, and a “wow” space they would be proud to show others. The new space delivered on all counts.

smits says the new space exemplifies Vodafone’s brand and culture. “We practice what we preach about mobile life and work. We embedded the mobile

working concept in our office design, and it’s been embraced by our organization. As we like to say, We’re drinking our own champagne.”

Culture Change through spaCe

New space, effectively planned, can help change a company’s culture and better support its brand. Rich Products, a leading supplier in the food service industry based in Buffalo, N.Y., has been family-owned for over 60 years. “Our brand is all about food, family, and fun, and we felt it was very important to have our space be an extension of that brand,” says Mindy Rich,

vice chairman of Rich Products Corporation. The company wanted space to support that brand and family culture, as well as help the organization deal with rapid change. “We saw a need for flexibility as an extension of that brand,” Rich says. staff worked frequently in groups, often outside their workstations, and needed more team and collaboration spaces. How could space provide more flexibility for a rapidly changing organization, yet include some of the casual, interactive spaces that support employee workstyles and also their “fun” and “family” culture?

Barbara Gisel, principal of Barbara Gisel Design, responded with a very flexible space. it has demountable walls, no private offices, and the capability to be reconfigured in just 12 hours. That kind of flexibility helps companies like Rich Products respond to a constantly shifting marketplace.

Gisel designed many of the Rich Products workspaces to function as conference rooms, team spaces, or project areas. Casual meeting areas, cafés, and hospitality areas abound, and they support the company’s desire for more collaboration and casual conversations where

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Not long ago, Paul siebert went around the North America, asking a simple question to every architect and designer he met: What do you think of steelcase?

The question was central to interviews with designers, dealers, and customers to get a true reading of the steelcase brand. “Your brand isn’t what you tell the market it is, it’s what they think it is,” says siebert. “You can design your touch-points, but the world defines your brand as a gut feeling.”

As director of corporate strategy for steelcase, siebert led a company-wide effort to re-energize all of the company’s core brands through a research and design driven process. “in the past, the ‘brand’ for most businesses was merely marketing communications. But greater under-standing views brand as a multitude of different ‘touch-points’ that foster interaction and experi-ences. each one creates an impact or impression that helps define your brand. showrooms, for example, are very important for steelcase. We have dozens of showrooms around the world,and we wanted to move them beyond just showing products and workspaces. We see showrooms as a forum for interactive storytelling about insights, problem solving, and possibilities.”

The eXP team (for “brand experience”), of which siebert was a part, completed research that drove nine major projects at steelcase. This included the creation of an e-commerce site, a digital modeling and specification tool, a new approach to workstation mock-ups, interactive showrooms, and how the company could further convert factory space into a compelling new space called “WorkLab,” as a hub for learning and collaboration with designers, dealers, customers, and employees around the world.

steelcase began studying the influence of space on brand and culture 20 years ago as part of planning a new research and design facility. The result was the pyramid-shaped Corporate Development Center (CDC) in 1989, designed to promote more collaboration and creativity. A new open-plan executive leadership suite,

a dramatic departure from traditional private offices, followed in 1996. steelcase repurposed a former manufacturing plant into a dynamic learning center in 2000, furthering a culture of collaboration and knowledge sharing. This building has evolved to become a sweet spot where culture and brand intersects through social learning, fostering a curious and connected enterprise. The center included wireless technology, formal and informal workspaces, classrooms and labs, a café, and flexible work tools. “it quickly became a popular gathering place for all levels of the company, the local community, and customers and visitors from around the world,” says siebert.

steelcase showrooms were also rethought to better engage key constituencies and tell the brand story. The newest ones, steelcase WorkLife Centers, “are active spaces where ar-chitects, designers, customers and students can come and find inspiration,” said James Ludwig, vice president, Global Design. “They experience and see the power of integrated architecture, technology, and furniture solutions firsthand. They see leading thinking in applications and products, and also some familiar settings that give them a toehold to say, ‘Yeah, i can relate to that.’”

The company is reevaluating its own spaces, too, to help employees live the steelcase brand by living in their brand. A new space at the company’s global headquarters campus, currently under development, is being designed to better support groups working across depart-ments and time zones. The space will replace the 20-year-old “pyramid” and is planned to foster knowledge-sharing and partnerships with key stakeholders and support people interacting in both physical and virtual workplaces. A wide range of settings will support individual focused work, collaboration, learning, and socialization. it’s also intended to meet the needs of multiple generations.

“Our goal is to foster employee behavior that builds our brand. so our design intent has to align with our brand intent,” says John Ziech, director of Workspace Futures Design.

“The market defines your brand” How Steelcase uses space to

reinforce its culture and brand


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Food, family, and fun. That’s the Rich Food Corporation brand and culture in a nutshell, and their space embodies it. it also reflects the rapid growth of the organization and its increasingly team-oriented workstyle. Photos, artwork, and corporate colors are frequently used to communicate a company’s brand in its space, but branding can’t stop there. Rich’s uses an atrium with a suspended biplane to provide a fun, family atmosphere, as well as a variety of spaces for collaboration. Cafés and hospitality areas provide pleasurable respites and also increase chance encounters that lead to sharing new ideas and inspiration.

information and ideas can be shared. Product imagery, wall graphics, and the interior palette help tell the Rich Products brand story. “To have the design be part of their brand is the best thing you can do for them,” says Gisel.

The new workplace has helped evolve the culture. “There’s more open dialogue, there’s a lot more accessibility, and i think there’s a lot more collaboration,” says Rich.

Many CeOs understand the need to develop brands to help differentiate a product or company in a competitive marketplace. But in an era of economic uncertainty, real estate compression, and cost-cutting, space is often underutilized as a tool to support organizational culture and build the brand. Banack says there’s opportunity to make a strong case with executives for investing in the workplace as a way of investing in their brand.

“The literature has not done a particularly good job of demonstrating culture’s impact on the bottom line,” she says. “A company’s largest fixed cost is salary and benefits, which is all about their employees and organizational culture. Real estate averages about 7% of costs, a small amount compared

to HR costs. The opportunity is to use that 7% as a strategic tool to help create the kind of culture you need to accomplish your goals and make your largest fixed cost – people – more effective. Part of being effective is living the brand. it’s all connected: brand, space, and culture.”

There’s an even greater need to reinforce the culture of an organization with mobile workers. For example, professional services firms often embed staff (accountants, lawyers, consultants, etc.) with clients. These workers spend large chunks of time away from the corporate office. They can become so focused on providing service to clients that they begin to feel more a part of the client organization. A corporate office with a strong brand and culture reinforces their connection to the home organization.

triangulating the spaCe

How do you create spaces that express the true brand and culture of an organization and, as such, can advance its strategy? Architects, designers, and steelcase researchers say it’s important to understand the brand and culture of the organization before planning the space.

“if you start with the logo, the website, the interiors – that’s backwards,” says design and brand consultant Hill. “it starts with the brand. You have to go back to the essence of the company, explore with the client the whole picture: the culture, the products, services, people, competition. There’s an exercise we use: we ask key stakeholders to throw out five words to express the essential concept of the company. You’d be surprised how many times the words come out differently or are in conflict. stakeholders frequently have different ideas of their culture, their image, and, more importantly, what the outcomes should be.”

Marty Festenstein, managing director at the Chicago office for Nelson, concurs. “every project we work on delves first into goals and objectives beyond ‘the lease is expiring’ or ‘we want to downsize,’” he says.

That frequently means research. “We work with anthropologists and researchers, sometimes we even document work processes and behaviors with photography to identify what the client’s culture is all about. As a result of our research, we often find so many ‘ahas!’ it’s amazing.”

Many designers consider this work part of programming.

“The process of discovery, visioning, or programming, however you express it, is key,” says Festenstein. “engagement is a critical component of bringing people together to understand the nuances of where opportunities are relative to brand. Typically we ask the senior leadership not to be a part of this dialogue so we can report back to them what the findings were, and the people we engage with can speak freely.”

This process not only informs the design process. it also helps employees feel more engaged and makes it easier for everyone to align around the core mission, benchmarks, and other goals.

each and every organization has a brand, culture, and space, whether they’re well-conceived or not, says siebert. “space is essential to defining your company. The workplace is the theater for the drama, the day-to-day rituals, behaviors, and events. if you’re not using physical space as a lever to further your brand and culture, you’re missing an essential part of the production.”


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Lessons Learned

Architects, designers, Steelcase researchers, and other workplace planners agree there are essential steps to leveraging the brand, culture, and space of any organization:

o stay authentic to the brand and culture. The workplace is where the organization lives what it believes. “if you’re supposed to be a creative and innovative company, which is how so many companies want to be perceived today, but your space is dead boring, what’s that say to employees? And to anyone else who enters the space?” asks Arna Banack, a cultural anthropologist based in Toronto.

o start inside first. start at “home,” as Tara Rae Hill, principal of Little Fish, a brand and design consultancy in Atlanta, says. understand the essence of a company, its mission, culture, brand, people, products, etc. understand the behaviors needed to ensure that employees support the brand and culture. Only then can a space be designed to support those desired behaviors. engaging all levels of the organization in the planning process creates a better overall solution and builds company-wide support for new space, culture, and behaviors.

o Think multi-layered. Brand is “a multitude of different customer communications and experiences,” as Paul siebert, director of corporate strategy for steelcase, puts it. space should be similarly multi-layered. using corporate colors, logos, and product imagery and messaging is just a beginning. Drive culture

and brand behavior through adjacencies, traffic flow, different work settings, and by paying close attention to the products and materials used in the workplace. For example, a company committed to sustainability will want to consider energy-saving lighting, low VOC materials, etc.

o employ symbols and rituals. Product displays are important. But what other artifacts and traditions can help inspire people to build the brand and culture? Rich Products built an internal courtyard reminiscent of a family outing to express their family orientation. Wilson employees work in a sports arena-style office, not just as a marketing statement but also as a symbol of their culture and ideals. Vodafone lives the same wireless style they promote to their customers. express the company’s cultural tenets in the symbols, artifacts, and rituals to help make the space a true representation of it.

o look long-term. understand that a down economy doesn’t negate the need – or the ability – for any company to use space to further brand and culture. “everyone has constraints with financial realities and space,” says Banack. “That doesn’t mean your space can’t contribute to the solution. There are ways to push collaboration, trust, the generation of new ideas, knowledge-sharing, and on and on, with space.” in an uncertain economic time, financial survival is top priority for every business. “But for the companies that ‘get it,’ brand and culture are numero uno,” says Hill.


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Marty Festenstein is a nationally renowned interior designer with 28 years in practice with firms including Gensler, ISD, and Nelson, where he is currently a managing principal of the Chicago office. Heir to a creative family legacy, Festenstein’s grandfather was a celebrated cake decorator (“His cakes were architecture”), and his mother was a professional calligrapher (“She had a beautiful hand with quill and ink... even wrote Academy Award invitations”). A graduate of Northern Illinois University in DeKalb, Ill., Festenstein has degrees in interior design and art history.

360 talked with Festenstein in Nelson’s offices in downtown Chicago.

with Marty Festenstein | On branding, design strategy


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360: What is “brand” in a design sense?

MF: Years ago, brand meant logos and colors. Now you talk to clients and they say, “We want brand in our environment,” but what they’re really talking about is their culture and spirit and energy, who they really are.

360: How do you convey brand and culture in the space?

MF: Through the story the space tells about the client and employee experience. For example, if the point is to get an energy level across, it’s about getting the environment to generate that experience.

360: So brand involves more than just executives and marketers?

MF: What’s fascinating is that, as organizations become flatter, empowerment is had on a much broader scale. People who historically weren’t empowered are empowered now. Many more people are speaking on behalf of the organization, even at the lowest levels.

360: Is it worth the effort, especially for larger companies?

MF: Well, you can have hundreds of thousands of people in a huge corporation who don’t even know it’s putting out a certain type of toothpaste. They need to know what products they’re putting out in the marketplace, so they can be more informed and in tune, and even motivated by what the company is trying to create.

360: Why is branding such a big deal?

MF: Because it’s more critical now, not just to visitors to the space but to the people who are living it day-to-day. They need to be able to articulate the brand, and the product and service offerings that the company provides.

360: How do brand and space rank as employee motivators?

MF: Salary and benefits are key, of course. But there are other ways to encourage and motivate a person do a better job. I think that all employees are account leaders, in a sense, and we should think about what can we do to get them keyed into what they’re doing everyday, to be challenged, motivated, to be stimulated. And that’s the environment that we create and the tools and mechanisms we support. It’s a very strategic approach.

360: So branding is fundamentally more strategic than aesthetic?

MF: Fifteen to 20 years ago, I couldn’t even spell strategy. Today, the strategic approach to space is the most critical component. It has to be very much embedded into the design of the project. How does design align with the business goals and objectives the client is trying to embrace? That has to be a clearly defined element in the design solution.

360: Has it always been this way?

MF: Design had a rather limiting definition years ago. Image, form, texture, color, light: design used to be limited to just those components. Design is much less about the aesthetic today. It’s more encompassing now relative to cost, efficiency, how the design solution contributes to work getting done. Just in the programming process, we’re asking questions

that we didn’t ask back then. How can the workplace solution affect speed-to-market condi-tions? How can the occupancy strategy assist you in reducing your carbon footprint? The industry has become much more sophisticated. How the workplace solution can contrib-ute to financial performance is a greater priority now.

360: In this economy, some clients think designers are a cost to reduce. How can designers have an impact on profitability?

MF: You need a design solution that can respond without having to drive a significant amount of capital into the facility. Flexibility used to be associated

with things that were kinetic, moveable, mobile, demountable. It’s really more about the ability to accommodate change for a space to be whatever it needs to be.

360: So branding is part of the solution?

MF: When brand is part of the design solution and deep into the facility, not just at the front door, then it becomes almost subliminal in its ability to reinforce the company brand and culture, for the staff, visitors, everyone.


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name this BranD

The world may be flat, but some of the biggest brands are still unheard of on the flip side of the globe. For one example, China National, otherwise known as PetroChina, is the world’s largest company by market value. its 2008 sales: $181 billion.

The colors of the logo are taken from the national flag of the People’s Republic of China, and the petal imagery is intended to evoke business cohesion plus harmony between energy and the environment. For good measure, a rising sun is there too as a symbol of, what else, prosperity.

the punisher & miCkey?

Disney’s decision to acquire Marvel entertainment shows the challenges companies face as their brands become one — or not. What to blend and what to keep distinct is an important and usually difficult decision for the growing number of companies pursuing mergers and acquisitions, and it brings into focus the strong tethers of culture, strategy, and brand.

warmer, Fuzzier logos

There’s a new breed of corporate logo emerging from the ashes of economic recession. it’s “non-threatening, reassuring, playful, even child-like,” according to The New York Times.

Among the similarities of recent redesigns: toned-down types (lower case letters instead of bold capitals and fonts that are lighter and rounder, too). When it comes to images, whimsical twinkles and sprigs are lightening the mood (Wal-Mart’s new get-up, for example). And the colors? They’re happier. Lots of school bus yellow, for example. Greens still abound to suggest sustainability, but clear, mountain-stream blues are gaining ground as a stand-in.

in neeD oF a BranD-aiD

There’s never been a better time to infuse new life into brands. interbrand’s annual survey of the value of brand names, published in Business Week, shows that the combined value of the top 100 brands declined in 2009, and even the value of the top 10 went down for the first time in the decade that the study has been done. interbrand says the downer is due to a loss in trust that started with financial companies, then quickly spread beyond.

Just say no to logo-wear

even when your company logo is as cool as Apple’s, it’s hard to be hip wearing it on your chest. Co-founder and CeO steve Jobs successfully made a plain black tee shirt his signature statement

and, in so doing, has also made it acceptable corporate-code dress for many. Before him, says Fortune magazine, “sporting underwear to work was a pipe dream.” Attention, designers: the uniform you invented as your own has been co-opted by the masses. Time for a new look?

BFF BranDing

Google co-founders sergey Brin and Larry Page were roommates in a dorm room at stanford, and they still share a single office today even though now they’re each worth about $15 billion. staying cozy appears to be keeping their brand and business strong.

Workplace togetherness is a fast-growing trend that’s taking hold in all kinds of companies. According to recent steelcase research, there’s a clear shift toward clan values. Most workers now want “the family room” where they can share ideas and talk amongst themselves, whether it’s face-to-face or technology-enabled.

Cult BranDs

Tab, Coca-Cola’s first sugar-free drink, once dominated the market. Then came Diet Coke. But “Tabaholics” have kept the brand alive by consuming about 3 million cases each year. Does anybody want a stick of Black Jack gum?

DormanDise

All kinds of brands still live inside our heads, even though the merchandise no longer exists. And that makes them oh-so-hot as “dormandise,” says trendwatching.com where “dormandise” is coined as nothing more – or less – than recently resurrected products, brands, logos, campaigns and spokespersons that have been given new life. What’s the trendy soothsayers’ advice? “Dive into your company’s history and retrieve as many discontin-ued products, ancient advertising campaigns and forgotten brands as you can.” Apparently, the past isn’t as passé as it used to be. Maybe there’s still hope that Kodachrome can come back someday?

Being & BranD spaCes

some hotel lobbies are still primarily surrealistic pass-throughs, but many have turned into high-powered brand spaces where customers can lounge, have refreshments, access WiFi and workstations, or be seduced by plasma TV. sheraton hotels in san Diego and Boston, for example. The hospitality industry has realized that people don’t always want to hang out in their rooms. in the same spirit, the corporate world is also looking for ways to make their lobbies engaging, brand-building spaces. Read about some in this 360.


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Blake Mycoskie

Founder & Chief shoe Giver, TOMs shoes

TOMs shoes was founded in 2006 when American traveler, Blake Mycoskie, befriended the children of an Argentine village. Wanting to help, he created a company that would match every pair of shoes sold with a pair given to a child in need. One for One. Along with a group of family, friends and staff, Blake returned within a year to that same village in Argentina with 10,000 pairs of

shoes to match purchases from caring TOMs customers. This inspiring journey was filmed and the resulting documentary, “For Tomorrow: The TOMs shoes story,” premiered at the Tribeca Film Festival in 2008.

TOMs now includes 45 full-time employees and over 30 interns that work out of a warehouse space in santa Monica, California. shoe Drop Tours are volunteer opportunities that take

place in Argentina every other week, giving caring customers the ability to hand-place shoes on children’s feet. TOMs has since partnered with Whole Foods and Polo Ralph Lauren. The partnership with Ralph Lauren marks the first time in Mr. Lauren’s career that he has ever collaborated with an outside brand. TOMs has been featured in The Los Angeles Times, People magazine,

Time magazine, Vogue, Oprah magazine and CNBC’s “The Big idea with Donny Deutsche.”

As of February 2009, TOMs has given over 130,000 pairs of shoes to children in need through the purchases of caring customers. TOMs plans to give over 300,000 pairs of shoes to children in need around the world in 2009.

sustainable environments begin with sustainable communities. By helping

people. And by helping the planet. sustainability of the earth and the people

that live in it. That’s the difference between just being “green” and being

a GreenGiant.

each issue we will feature one of the GreenGiants who have inspired us and

we hope will inspire you to Be A Green Giant too. To nominate someone you

know, visit us at www.beagreengiant.com


i s s u e 5 6

A Day in the LifeStyle Your Sole


i s s u e 5 6

Last month the steelcase Chicago team hosted a “style Your sole” event, with our partners at TOMs shoes. Area designers were each invited to style a pair of shoes with whatever design they imagined, while they learned about TOMs’

simple mission — with every pair purchased, TOMs will give a pair of new shoes to a child in need. One for One. Professional writer and amateur photographer Mike Firlik attended the event and captured these images.

each issue of 360 will feature a photo essay of images that reflect what’s

on your mind. Whether it’s issues in the workplace, design, pop culture

or causes you support, share your shots. Amateurs or professionals

are welcome. Please submit your photos to [email protected]

(if accepted, we’ll need high res images).


i s s u e 5 6


i s s u e 5 6

attracting & engaging Today’s workers The generation divide isn’t as big as you might hear. eight major shifts in workers’ expecta-tions cross all generations. Check it out at: http://steelcase.idigitaledition.com/issues/2/

need Your spaces to work harder? Organizations are exploring real estate strategies and alternative work strategies, such as tele-commuting and hotelling, to help their spaces be more efficient and effective. This Deep Dive paper introduces steelcase’s latest research about emerging Work strategies that link the design of the physical space to the specific needs of mobile workers when they come to the office. http://www.steelcase.com/na/real_estate_utiliza-tion_research.aspx?f=38584

blown away! Check out the live data feed from the Wege Wind energy Farm. it’s capable of generating up to 35,000,000 kilowatt hours of electricity each year – enough to power 2,925 homes. http://www.steelcase.com/files/flash/na/Windfarm/WindFarm/index.html

coming up…

steelcase inc. 10th annual wreath and menorah design competition and charity auction....................................................... Date: Thursday, December 3, 2009....................................................... Time: 5:30pm - 8:30pm....................................................... Location: Chicago, ill. Merchandise Mart suite 300 .......................................................

steelcase is partnering with The Children’s Place Association, whose mission is to improve the present and secure the future for children, youth, and families confronted by HiV/AiDs and other life-changing health conditions. For more details visit us at: http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=160101402757

happy holidays from steelcase. This season steelcase has made a donation – in honor of our partners in the design community – to Friends of TOMs, the non-profit organization that mobilizes, connects, and empowers supporters of the TOMs shoes One for One Movement. if you would like to join us in this gift, you can purchase your own pair of TOMs shoes and TOMs will give a pair of new shoes to a child in need on your behalf. One for One. Plus, your name will be entered into a drawing to join TOMs on a shoe Drop in 2010 when they deliver and distribute the shoes. To participate:

• Purchase your own pair of TOMS at www.TOMsshoes.com

• At checkout, enter the promo code “STEELCASE”

let us collaborate!! Did you know that “finding a place to meet” is one of the biggest time wasters for workers? 70% of employees report losing up to 15 minutes a day looking for a place to collaborate with teammates. A whopping 23% waste up to 30 minutes daily.*

small is big Mobile workers report that they spend nearly 50% of their time working in small groups of 2-6 people.*

Quiet please… Generation Y may be famous for multi-tasking, but Generation Y workers’ biggest pet peeve is getting access to a quiet, private spot for focused work. 91% say it’s important, but 64% say they don’t have those kinds of spaces in their workplace.*

*source: Steelcase Workplace Surveys, consolidated surveys from 98 organizations with nearly 20,000 respondents.

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