Branding and design agency Shikatani Lacroix’s digital retail design for the Toronto Blue Jays flagship retail store has received the 2015 ICX Excellence Award.

Presented at the ICX Association’s ICX Summit on June 29, 2015, this award honored the best self-service, digital signage and mobile technology deployments across all vertical market segments, and recognized design that demonstrates an innovative use of technology and entices customers to gain unique and immersive in-store experiences.

“We thank the ICX Association for this tremendous recognition, and we also thank the Toronto Blue Jays for the opportunity to work on this challenging and rewarding digital retail design project,” says Jean-Pierre Lacroix, president of Shikatani Lacroix. “This shop immerses the consumer in all things baseball, and by creating experiences that celebrate the team we’re effectively supporting a platform that drives sales and revenues throughout the year.”

The Toronto Blue Jays’ flagship store digital retail design includes seven unique digital experiences and 16 screens. Guests are greeted with a dynamic and eye-catching digital entranceway and then led through the store on an interactive journey which includes live game feeds, memorable moments from the team’s history, an animated, multi-screen hat wall, secondary digital signing that promotes new merchandise and touchscreen kiosks where customers can customize baseball attire. All digital elements work in concert and create an experience based on “Celebrating the fan” concept created by Shikatani Lacroix.

“We approach digital as part of creating the integrated experience. It is designed simultaneously with the physical environment to ensure that the customer journey is a deep and meaningful experience for the customer,” says Richard Dirstein, executive vice-president, design and innovation. “Successful digital integration is a seamless experience that immerses the customer in a dynamic and engaging content. The Jays store celebrates the fan and digital is an integral part of creating that connection in the store for Canada’s favorite baseball team.”

“Digital experiences provide a heightened level of engagement in the store,” adds Marcos Terenzio, director of digital creative experiences. “Digital serves to enhance the shopping experience, and the key for us was that it needed to be well-integrated within the physical environment. We utilized a three-part approach “attract-transact-retain” as the fundamental philosophy of our digital strategy when developing this store.”

This award is a great recognition for the Shikatani Lacroix design team and the firm’s expertise in all things retail. The firm provides retail design expertise in reinvention programs, store downsizing, prototype development and rollout management, unification of physical environments and online/mobile platforms, and creating complete environments that increase the engagement between the customer and the brand.

Judges’ Comments on the project:

• “Very good, solid implementation to meet both company and customer needs.”
• “For sure one of the better retail implementations.”
• “I like how the technology blends into the environment, and the screens do not look like an afterthought or just TVs broadcasting.”
• “The video wall is particularly impressive … [it] creates an impressive emotional connection to the brand.”
• “Superb application of signage for branding and merchandising in Retail.”