Manufacturers are taking showrooms to a whole new level, according to BUILDER’s Lisa Bonnema. Experience centers from companies like Kohler and Marvin not only allow visitors to see the products, but also to use, feel, and touch the items. The centers not only enhance the vistitor’s experience, but also allow manufactureres to demonstrate how to use their products in innovative ways:
This was the goal for Marvin Windows and Doors’ first brand experience center, Marvin at 7 Tide, which opened in late 2016 in Boston. Working in conjunction with longtime Connecticut distributor A.W. Hastings, the Marvin marketing team created the 3,500-square-foot facility to look more like a high-tech art gallery than a product showroom. According to Miana Hoyt Dawson, marketing strategy manager at A.W. Hastings, the intent was to develop a creative space that would be inspiring and experiential, with absolutely no sales pressure.
“We were seeing this trend of people wanting more personalization,” Hoyt Dawson says. “Everybody cares about something different when they are creating their home. We recognized that Marvin didn’t have a platform to conceptualize the window from the ground up in the context of a homeowner’s personal style. We wanted to be able to demonstrate the possibilities.”
For Marvin, this meant ditching any traditional notions associated with picking out windows and doors. The manufacturer and its distributor teamed up with a design firm to add artistic details like a wall display of yellow felt roses that references Marvin’s logo and a deconstructed window mobile hanging in the entryway of the facility. Rooms are filled with beautiful furnishings and high-end finishes, as well as cozy touches like plush couches and a fireplace.
“The intent is to educate, engage, and inspire,” Hoyt Dawson says. “These exhibits are meant to stop people in their tracks and reset the expectation of what it means to look at windows and doors.”