How Cheil's Creative Team Revolutionized Retail

We recently saw a new round of Cannes honorees, but the Media Grand Prix winner from last year, conceived by this creative team from Korea, has had the lasting impact you don't see with many other celebrated campaigns. The Tesco Homeplus Virtual Store -- inspired by the creatives' experience as working moms -- literally changed the way retailers do business, not just on the team's native turf of Korea (there are now 23 virtual stores in the country) but around the world. Check out how the idea has traveled across the globe: In August 2011, Chinese retailer Yihaodian was the first copycat to appear, introducing nine virtual stores to metro stations in Shanghai. Commuters snapped to shop, with products delivered to their doors within 48 hours. Last October, P&G set up shoppable facades in four of the most-trafficked subway stations in Prague that allowed shoppers to purchase its products and set up delivery times before they made the trip home. You can't replicate the Homeplus idea in NYC subway stations because of the city's limited connectivity, but Glamour magazine created its own version, a shoppable Apothecary wall outside of New York's Standard Hotel for New York Fashion Week. Bill Wackermann, Glamour exec VP-publishing director, told Ad Age in February that the push was directly inspired by the Tesco effort: "We thought, 'How can we bring that here?'" This June, company Digital Foodie teamed with grocery retailer Alepa to bring the shoppable wall idea to commuters in Finland.

How Cheil's Creative Team Revolutionized Retail

Featured Stories