Hall of Fame Profile: Renee Richardson

It's an iconic multimedia brand, one so ingrained in us that just a silhouette of Mickey's ears is guaranteed to bring a smile to our faces. Renée Richardson, executive director, worldwide trade marketing, store planning and design at Walt Disney Studios Home Entertainment, delivers that smile at retail through innovative P-O-P and in-store marketing concepts that really are "retailtainment." In fact, Disney delivered more than 3 million displays over the last two years, reaching 10,000 doors for 76 direct accounts (and that's just North America).Playing with properties like Enchanted and Pirates of the Caribbean can only inspire, while playing with retailer restrictions can only be tough -- Richardson is both visionary and a retail partner. Her team provides expertise for marketing programs through custom collateral and displays that cross all channels, markets and categories through concept, development, printing, engineering, manufacturing, fulfillment and execution. Add a little pixie dust, and it's Disney magic in stores.Richardson is the first of three P-O-P Hall of Fame inductees to be profiled. Ed Trygstad of Miller Brewing Co. and Bevan Bloemendaal of The Timberland Co. will be profiled in following issues. All three will be honored in a ceremony held at the In-Store Marketing Summit, April 16-18, at McDonald's Hamburger University, Oak Brook, ILHow did you get started in P-O-P? We were so poor when I was born I slept in a cardboard box -- have you heard that one before? (She laughs.) My previous jobs were in advertising, public relations and store design. I started with Disney in the real estate development arm called Disney Development Company. My group was working on "The Second Gate," which has ultimately become California Adventures. DDC was soon absorbed by Walt Disney Imagineering; then, possibilities opened for me at Disney. I interviewed with someone who kept talking about corrugated, B-flute and E-flute -- you know the feeling when you're drifting and you see their lips moving but you just don't get it? (Some peers may have experienced this in meetings with me firsthand.) Finally I said, "Do you mean cardboard?" and the rest is history.Briefly, describe your role. My role is visionary and strategic. I drive and develop new concepts at retail with focus on Disney-branded entertainment destinations and events to capture consumers' loyalty while driving the market basket. In 2007, my focus was updating the Disney brand globally: The Disney Branding Initiative is creating brand continuity and fostering increased sales and profitability by obtaining the highest standards in production efficiencies and creative content.This worldwide retail integration and concept development includes: The Disney Branding Initiative; permanent fixturing; worldwide Blu-ray rollout (consumer education, associate training, permanent integrated fixturing solutions); and P-O-P display and consumer promotional materials (including presell and gift-with-purchase programs).Other areas of marketing support include: account-specific ad layouts; custom/specialty packaging such as gift sets; road-show account-specific materials/collateral; P-O-P for new business development; retail environment renderings for promotional, seasonal or event-driven themes.Have you and your team created a display or a merchandising system that you are particularly proud of, or that performed beyond expectations? It's tough going while we are living it, but the projects that are the most challenging -- the ones that make you question what the heck you are doing in this business -- make my team shine the brightest. We are the "go-to" team. When everyone else gives up, or they say it can't be done, they call us. It's really great fun producing something that has never been done before. Sometimes we feel like "Ghostbusters," "Who Ya Gonna Call?"Home Entertainment is a category that is known for weekly, corrugated shippers; however, Disney really has a reputation for creating innovative displays and large brand statements. What strides do you make to break from the mold and how hard is it not to just do the shipper?Retail restrictions are rampant. Clean-store policies and retail corporate branding restrictions are making it more and more challenging to get P-O-P sanctioned. We play by the rules but constantly throw ideas against the wall and occasionally they stick.I am extremely proud when we get a display up against all odds. If allowed, I'd have a "Disney Village" in every retail location worldwide, a little shop-in-shop that would showcase all divisions of Disney including consumer products, music, publishing, interactive, theme parks and digital.When we are in development for the theatrical release, I just look out and see things -- like 3-D images that morph and build -- developing entire campaigns at retail. It's kind of like A Beautiful Mind when all of those mathematical formulas are floating in space around the guy's head. That's what creative conceptual design is like for me. I see visual merchandising from presell to street to catalog.How difficult is it rolling out or changing out new temporary displays and materials every week, and are you moving toward more permanent units where you change out graphics and titles? The difficulty is not in the manufacturing and distribution of the displays, although through the years there have been some tremendous learnings. Anything imagined can be produced! The challenge is in compliance at store level, the last 100 yards. That's where our in-supply chain kicks into gear. No matter how great the display is, if it doesn't get up, who cares?I believe in the five-minute rule -- if it takes more than five minutes to assemble, and I believe extra time is worth it, I reach out to our in-store supply chain. These guys are amazing. The team creates training packages including mpegs, instructions and hot sheets, countdown calendars and dress rehearsals. They are the Disney difference.P-O-P isn't just a pretty picture delivering a marketing message. Anyone can make P-O-P look good, if you don't know what's going on behind the curtain. My team thinks about it from initial concept to the retail floor. We are fully integrated with all facets of manufacturing and distribution. We consider all aspects such as sheet size, mounters, substrates, ease of assembly, tabs and slots -- you name it. How does it come into our distributor? If I can glue a piece to make assembly faster -- it's done. If you work for me, you will earn every dime, but you will shine and go home at the end of the day knowing that you have made magic happen.I challenge my team to think about the whole picture. We are integrated in all aspects of design and manufacturing including prepress, print, corrugated, plastics, metals and packout. This includes details great and small such as shipper size and OSHA. It takes a village to get P-O-P from concept to front-of-store.Approvals on the front end are required by three levels of brand marketing, retail marketing, sales, retail buyers and visual merchandising, proof, legal, talent -- the road is long and street date so short. Most displays only stay on the floor one week, but if I can get product front-of-store in a display, and we have a strategic media/marketing campaign behind it, the product will sell. It's not rocket science.In your opinion, what have you found to be the most important elements of a successful product display? Disney magic. It's real. It lives in us all. We hide all the hard work behind pixie dust. A display must engage the consumer immediately. It has to break out of the noise. The most important communications are: What is the product (let the product be number one)? Why does the consumer need it? How much does it cost?Your brand is in so many accounts from Best Buy to Claire's. How do you juggle all of these retailer requirements?My department is flexible and extremely nimble. We are able to maneuver through the politics and challenges at retail, because we have a defensive team in place that lets us do our job -- our senior management. It's not easy to work around the flavor of the day, but it's critical if you want to survive at retail, which is our battlefield.If I know something is right, I fight for it. I want what is best for the retailer. Not everyone has the expertise that we do, and I feel it's our responsibility to share that expertise with our retail partners. When we help the category grow, we grow ... with just a little bit of pixie dust and a lot of chutzpa.What market forces and cultural changes are affecting your company's use of P-O-P materials? "Environmentality," the Disney word for sustainability. Becoming as green as we can be, while looking at all aspects of the supply chain and life cycle including transportation of goods and materials. The actual display is such a small part of the total carbon emissions.In the end, retail is retail. Change is the only constant. Morph or die. Welcome to the jungle and bring it on.I saw that your company is rolling out Blu-ray endcaps and displays. How is it different for you to develop P-O-P for that product compared to movie titles? It's not just a new product; a new product is like PSP or TV on DVD. What an amazing time to be in the visual merchandising business. Our primary role is to educate the consumer in an environment where technology and sensory overload are heavy hitters. There is a great deal of confusion in the marketplace about the difference between HD DVD and Blu-ray. We want to keep it simple while engaging the consumer with the Blu-ray point of differentiation, focusing on the full experience including sound, sight and content.I was with Disney when VHS transitioned to DVD. There is so much to consider, and the industry can't address it all at once. Some of the challenges surrounding packaging are how will Blu-ray be differentiated from DVD to the consumer. The Blu-ray product is smaller, so permanent fixturing will need to be addressed. Higher price brings loss-prevention concerns. The migration of space allocation for product is extremely interesting to watch. Blu-ray has very little presence in software fixturing today, but within a few years it will be challenging to find DVD. What retailer do you know that still sells VHS?What do you like best about your job? I love a challenge and live for adrenaline. I've pretty much seen it all, and when I am faced with a scenario that I never saw coming -- well now, it makes me laugh. Ten years ago, I wasn't laughing. I was driven and mistakes were unacceptable. Now I know that when you reach for the stars, you will skin your knees every now and then.I love the creative process and working with the most innovative, dedicated and talented people in the industry. I get up in the morning and go into work knowing that I work for Walt Disney Studios Home Entertainment and what I get paid for is selling smiles. It's a wonderful life.What advice would you give to anyone just breaking into the P-O-P business? Come and work for me. OK, seriously: Be flexible. Be tolerant. Stay out of the politics. Be ethical always. Don't develop what someone asks without making it part of you. Remember that everything you do is a reflection of, first, you; second, your company; and third, the industry.As we move into a more digital world, be prepared to adapt. Film houses didn't go away when we quit using film, they became prepress houses, and I think we may pay more for the virtual than we did for the physical! Evolution, ain't it great?

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