Fall 2021 Environments
Brief
Pandora does not want to invest in a long-term lease, however, they do want to put themselves in front of new and existing customers. Therefore, your client has decided to pursue the pop-up shop model that will be located in urban centers for short periods of time (3–4 weeks) and then moved to other cities around the country. This model will allow them the flexibility to experiment with ideas and reach a broad audience. While coined a pop-up “shop”, the client is more interested in the space being an expression of the brand, rather than a revenue-generating store.
Brainstorm
To begin with, I looked at the three key insights I have previously analyzed.
1.Pandora is a personalized radio-like listening experience meant to promote music discovery and personal taste.
2.Pandora revolutionized the sphere of listening to music online, and as a result, has the strongest digital music brand awareness amongst teens and adults in the US.
3.The 18–24 year old listener segment has the greatest room for growth out of all of Pandora’s listeners.
After reviewing these key insights, it gave me an idea that Pandora’s weakest segment was the young generation.(Early 20s to mid 30s). Statistically, Pandora is known to be the most well-known brand in the music industry but I found this fact very odd since Pandora had the least amount of customers among the young generation.
Thus, I decided to target this segment of the business model. “Targeting the young generation”. I wanted Pandora to seem “cool” and “unique” since I thought that would interest the young audience and also transform the old boring representation that Pandora currently holds.
Pop-Up Concept Development
In order to target young customers, I first analyzed the environment they are usually in or places that a lot of young people tend to visit. I figured that many young people enjoy hanging out in cafes with friends during the day and many people also enjoy music festivals.
This gave me the idea that a cafe and music festival could work in my pop-up store. Something common about these two areas is that both areas play music in their setting. I am planning to host a cafe during the day and a music festival at night.
Marketing effect
I also realized that making my pop-up store into a cafe and music festival sponsored by Pandora would be very cool and intriguing. Pandora is currently only known as a music provider company but opening up a cafe and music festival would definitely alert many customers. I believe it will be a great way to attract attention and make Pandora well knwon.
Choosing Location
I decided to choose Schenley plaza as my primary location for the pop-up. Schenley plaza is located right between UPitt and CMU. The two biggest colleges in Pittsburgh and I thought opening up a store right in between was a great advantage. In addition, many college students also like to hang out in Schenley and I could also utilize a great amount of space in the park. Since it is located right in the middle of two colleges, I could also lessen the expense of advertising expecting words of mouth will spread fast in the community.
Pop-up Design Iteration
Moodboard
In order to get a better grasp of my concept, I created two moodboards. I tried my best to depict the colors of Pandora and the mood I wanted to create in my environment. I imagined the festival to be very dark yet neon-like. This also gave me an idea that of using LED panels and beams.
I wanted the daytime cafe to be very vibrant and friendly. After Pandora’s rebranding in 2016, Pandora started to use many energetic and vibrant colors in their UI and poster designs. I thought utilizing these colors would be perfect in setting the mood and also representing Pandora.
Shipping Container Concept
Before I began choosing the dimensions and structure of my Pop-up, I looked over the entire schedule of this pop-up. I realized that my client(Pandora) wanted the pop-up store to travel across the country every 3–4 weeks and showcase in different locations.
Thus, I thought of different ways that could be beneficial economically, saving time, and simplicity. Soon, I realized a lot of shipping containers moving by when I was walking around and it gave me an idea of using shipping containers as my Pop-up.
The shipping container could not only save a great amount of costs and save time but, the dimensions of shipping containers also fit perfectly inside the regulation (400sq ft / 15ft tall). A shipping container is approximately 20ft long x 10 ft tall x10ft wide. This way, Pandora will be able to have an easy time traveling across the country instead of installing the pop-up store from scratch every time they move on.
Initial Concept 1
I began to make 3d models of the pop-up store right away after my general idea was developed. This was just to see a general idea of what it would look like. The pop store had 3 stages. 1. Box 2. Cafe 3. DJ booth up top.
The first stage is when the pop-up store is closed. Just like a pandora box, all the interiors will be stored inside during this time for safety and enclosed like a pandora box.
The second stage is the cafe. All 4 sides of the wall will flap out and there will be poles holding the ceiling floor. I am planning to install bean bags and create this area relaxed so that people could come in and enjoy their moment in Pandora cafe. A barista will be located at the center of the pop up store.
The third stage is the festival. Just like the cafe structure, all 4 sides will open up but the barista area will be completely removed. Instead, a dj booth will be installed up top, so that everyone could see the DJ easily.
Feedback
After talking to Daphe, she loved the idea of using the shipping container. She thought it was innovative and effective regarding the regulations instructed by Pandora. She also loved the idea of a cafe and music festival and she found this very interesting.
Furthurmore, there were some areas I still had to rethink about such as the floorplan and the structure of my pop-up. The barista area looked like it was too tight for movement and the poles surrounding the barista area makes the shop feel very compactful.
