Imagine a pink pill-box hat.

A Robin’s Egg blue box.

Thick green glass.

All iconic images that instantly bring a person (Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis) or a brand (Tiffany and Coca-Cola) to mind.    No question.    Think about your brand.  What sets you apart?

In the world of retail, creative directors spend weeks, months even, putting together a plan for how the environment is going to be recreated multiple times throughout the year – a plan-o-gram or store layout – whatever the term assigned.  Here’s a thought.  The consumer doesn’t have that plan-o-gram or a list of the big ideas handy when she comes in to shop.  She walks in, looks at the immediate in front of her then looks up taking snapshots of the environment to take it all in.  She should be able to ‘read’ the store – to know what the store stands for.  The big ideas.  The experience.

Thinking in terms of being iconic, does the environment stand for something?  Is there something that makes the consumer realize ‘this is the place to be!’?   Why they should be there rather than somewhere else?  It’s all about being true to the brand identity – embracing the iconic.

Now, think about yourself, personally.  What about YOU says, YOU?  For me, it’s a certain Pantone color – 390C - a cross between Chartreuse and olive greens, an obsession with the creative, an opinion about everything, being inspired everywhere I go.   You can be an icon.  Everything we do creates that iconic image of who we are and how we’re perceived.  Corporately and personally.