Coach's "Windows of the Future" Are Not Your Average Window Displays

A GLOBAL EFFORT. That’s what it took to put together Coach’s (New York) “Windows of the Future” – a trailblazing departure from the brand’s traditional window displays that has created art installations across the globe.

“What’s most extraordinary about this project,” says Joanna Roopchand, Coach Lead Designer, “is that we made it happen remotely. We didn’t get to do any testing, hand-pick any materials, see anything on location, or meet any of our international teams in person, thanks to the pandemic.”

Quite a feat for an approach that has seen Coach replace its usual single annual creative with nine bespoke window displays that reflect community, encourage brand connection and feature concepts that resonate in each of their markets.

The design directive was to devise concepts that are customer-centric and have local audience appeal, yet are still recognizably “Coach.” The window displays offer a slice of New York in each place – from the neon signage collage in the Sanayan City, Jakarta, window to the nod to the city subway in the Ala Moana, Hawaii, store, complete with subway car, customized tiling and delightfully authentic details like a coffee cup and discarded newspaper.

Digital elements feature heavily across all nine windows. “At Coach House, the New York flagship, a conveyor belt of suspended product is backed with digital screens, making the brand ideas of the moment larger than life,” says Roopchand. “While at the Yorkdale, Toronto, location, vintage TV screens feature as fixtures for product.”

Nowhere is the digital experience more prevalent than at Pavilion Mall, Kuala Lumpur. “Here our mascot Rexy breaks through the narrative window, against a backdrop of the pink and orange New York cityscape,” explains Roopchand. This characterization lends depth to the corner space and puts the brand front and center on the street.

In a move away from predictable seasonal windows to embracing experiential retail, Coach’s Windows of the Future initiative is a compelling example of narrative storytelling using innovative physical and digital techniques, of giving customers a window into the soul of a brand.

PHOTO GALLERY (49 IMAGES)
?: Courtesy of Coach, New York