Kid’s Play

When you’re the new kid on the block you look for a way to stand out. That certainly was the goal when 77kids, the new brand from American Eagle Outfitters, began opening stores earlier this year.

With an eye toward creating unique retail locations, the 77kids team partnered with R/GA to design an engaging, interactive environment that can entertain kids as parents shop. Utilizing 77kids-branded photography and characters, R/GA – a New York-based firm best known for working with retailers to deploy innovative mobile, signage and touch-screen technologies in stores -- put together a digital environment with which children can interact.

Each 77kids store has 32-inch touch-screens that young shoppers can use to play DJ and manipulate music, try on virtual outfits and pose for photos that they can later take home. Kids can also see their reflection in a digital mirror and play with a make-believe world of animated 77kids-branded characters. There’s even a “follow spot” game that projects 77kids graphics on the store floor. As kids try to step on the graphics, the images move, “hide” and reappear.

The interactive features debuted at the store in Pittsburgh’s The Mall at Robinson, and locations in cities including Danbury, Conn., Bloomington, Minn., and Cherry Hill, N.J., are scheduled to open soon.

“Our goal for 77kids was to create a game-changing retail experience,” says Betsy Schumacher, chief merchandising officer for 77kids. “R/GA is an ideal partner, given their understanding of how the boundaries between online and bricks-and-mortar are beginning to blur and technology and interactivity become a part of the in-store environment.”

The in-store experiences are part of R/GA’s custom-built platform that enables the staff at 77kids stores to change and launch new styles, interactive messaging, promotions, campaign elements and applications according to each retail season.