Picture it. The commercial flashes across your TV screen. In the soft glow of Christmas lights, a woman wipes sleep from her eyes as she sits down to take a sip of coffee. Then she sees the blue box tucked under the Christmas tree, white bow perfectly in place. She smiles softly.
Whether or not you’ve ever tucked one of those blue boxes under a Christmas tree, you likely know they’re synonymous with luxury. Tiffany & Co. has built an exquisite brand, designed around luxury and quality. One of the elements of branding they’ve been especially successful with is branded environments.
The iconic jewelry house has created branded environments to put their products in front of a broader audience, giving more potential customers the opportunity to buy in. Let’s see how they do it.
History of Tiffany Blue Box® Branding
Through the years, the Tiffany Blue Box® has become as iconic as the brand itself. Founder Charles Lewis Tiffany chose that particular shade of blue when the company was first publishing its catalog in 1845. In 1998, Tiffany’s trademarked the color, officially calling it “1837 Blue” and standardizing it so it’ll always appear the same — on every store sign, blue box, advertisement, and more.
The box itself came on the scene at about the same time as the color, the famous white ribbon added a hundred years later.
“Widely regarded as the most recognizable and coveted packaging in the world, the Blue Box is only available with a purchase at Tiffany & Co., a tradition that dates to our founder.” – Tiffany’s
Tiffany’s Hummingbird Effect
How did a simple box come to represent luxury? Chinese developers had crafted corrugated cardboard in the 1600s, but it wasn’t until 1817 that the English produced the first commercial cardboard box. Eventually, the new commodity replaced wooden boxes and crates that had long been used in shipping.
Fast forward to 2009 when Tiffany & Co. launched a pop-up store shaped just like its iconic blue box, complete with faux white ribbon. Remember the Hummingbird Effect we discussed in an earlier post? Small changes that create ripple effects across a brand and strengthen it even beyond how it had been planned.
When the English sold those first commercial boxes in 1817, they couldn’t have envisioned the life-size version of a box that would appear on their streets nearly 200 years later. When Charles Lewis Tiffany and his team chose the now-iconic blue color and designed the fashionable box, they couldn’t foresee the effects it would have on the Tiffany & Co. brand.
This is a great example of the Hummingbird Effect. A small cardboard box inspired the Tiffany Blue Box® and turned into pop-up shops across the globe.
Designing Branded Environments
With just one glance, anyone familiar with the brand will recognize the pop-ups as Tiffany’s. You may be wondering how that’s possible. It’s because the company has done a phenomenal job of creating branded environments. At Hummingbird, we talk to our clients about branded environments as a part of their brand strategy.
You may be wondering what a branded environment is, but you know it when you see it. Here are some examples:
- A trade show booth showing off your company’s logo and signage, brand colors, and messaging.
- The environment in your headquarters and satellite offices — the lobbies, conference rooms, and individual offices. Colors, signage, and swag in the spaces reflect the brand throughout.
- Core values walls in each location to keep the company’s values front and center for team members in every corner of your company.
- A video playing in the lobby, introducing all aspects of the company to the team members as well as customers and vendors.
The environment we’re in has a lot to do with how we interact within it. And branded environments are part of creating company culture. They play a significant role for the internal team as well as in the external message of your brand.
Tiffany Blue Box® Branded Environments
When Tiffany Blue Box® pop-up shops appeared on the streets of London, New York City, and Los Angeles, not only did they look very much like the brand’s signature gift box on the outside — complete with an exterior painted in 1837 Blue. They also looked very much like Tiffany’s on the inside — with that same brand color and similar designs sprinkled throughout.
The LA pop-up also replicated the Atlas clock reminiscent of the original Tiffany & Co. at 57th Street and Fifth Avenue in New York City. But more than the visuals alone, Tiffany’s created branded environments. What someone feels when they step inside at any of the pop-up locations is similar to how they would feel going into a flagship store.
Replicating the visual aspects of the brand adds to the awareness and recognition. Recreating the environment with the brand’s signature design and the sense of luxury gives shoppers the feeling that they’re visiting something special, not unlike The Landmark, Tiffany’s 10-floor home on 5th Avenue.
The Landmark, by the way, is described as “a place of wonder, where brilliance is found around every corner, never-before-seen designs dazzle the eyes and extraordinary experiences stir the soul. Ten floors of magnificence await.” And the pop-up shops bring that same sense of magnificence on a much smaller scale.
Branding Lessons from Tiffany’s
What can we learn from this iconic brand? Tiffany & Co. established itself well early on and has maintained strong brand recognition for several hundred years. In 2021, global luxury products group LVMH Moët Hennessy Louis Vuitton SE acquired Tiffany’s but without making significant changes to the outward facing aspects of the brand.
The lesson we can take from Tiffany’s is not to leave your branding strategy at the door when you’re designing your company’s headquarters, satellite offices, trade show booths, and other environments where you’ll interact with your team members, customers, and vendors. Consistency across every element of these branded environments will help you continue to build awareness and brand recognition at every point of interaction.
If your team wants to increase engagement by creating more effective branded environments, reach out to Hummingbird Creative Group.