Control Group enhances social side of Kate Spade Saturday brand

NEW YORK — Control Group, a New York City-based technology and design firm, has unveiled its work with the newly launched Kate Spade Saturday brand. The unique concept celebrates the social side of shopping by bringing the online experience into the retail stores. The first experience will be through the flagship store in Tokyo, which opened on March 2. It will roll out to all other retail stores – both in the United States and Japan – throughout 2013.

Control Group worked with Kate Spade Saturday to create an entirely re-imagined retail environment that provides a more engaging and fluid experience for customers. Apple iPads will be strategically positioned throughout the shop, featuring content that is relevant to items in proximity, such as timely marketing messages, style suggestions and video, and user-generated images to encourage engagement with the brand and its products. The iPads will additionally educate customers on multiple ways to wear and use select products.

Control Group designed the entire iPad experience on a custom-built remote management platform. The flexible framework is built to accommodate additional devices, stores, countries, languages, and media as the brand expands and evolves. Efficient management of the system will also help assure uptime and create a seamless customer experience.

“What we’ve done with Kate Spade Saturday is less about point-of-sale marketing and digital signage and more about brand immersion in a new era of retail,” said Colin O’Donnell, Partner at Control Group. “The new shopping experience is designed to increase dwell time, encourage more social shopping, and provide easy access to product information. This will translate into a more rewarding relationship between Kate Spade and their customers.”

Kate Spade Saturday was created to channel the spirit of Saturday seven days a week. Launching in Japan in March 2013 through e-commerce at www.saturday.jp and a flagship store in Tokyo, the Kate Spade Saturday brand is expected to launch exclusively online at www.saturday.com in the United States in Spring 2013. A selection of product from the Spring 2013 launch collection had been sold on fab.com prior to the US launch.