AXIS Celebrates 10 Years of Great Retail
THIS IS THE STORY OF HOW AXIS DISPLAY GROUP CAME TO EXIST. WE TELL IT NOW IN HONOR OF OUR 10TH ANNIVERSARY.
The year was 2010…
A loaf of bread cost $1.60. Starbucks only had 16,858 locations. Instagram didn’t exist. Most people couldn’t figure out how to connect to public WiFi. Words like experiential, influencer, and omnichannel had hardly entered our vocabularies. And the world had yet to meet its first displagency™
Change: the Impetus for Growth
Seems like a lifetime ago, right? Of course, this is coming from someone writing in August 2020, and we all know how many lifetimes it feels like we’ve lived in this year alone.
But in 2010, the retail industry was undergoing a change of its own. Fueled by a social technology boom, advancements in consumer electronics, especially mobile devices, and a new generation of shoppers coming of age (Millennials), many brands and retailers were grappling with disconnects between retail strategy, design, and manufacturing in their in-store display and fixture programs.
The complexities of the average 2010 shopper’s path-to-purchase had grown. Residual effects of the Great Recession dramatically affected consumer shopping behavior, and retail brands, channels, and suppliers often misunderstood and/or downplayed the nuances of how the 2010+ shopper began and completed their purchasing decisions. This resulted in disorganized, cluttered, and chaotic stores and shopping experiences. In this rapid evolution, retail lost its sense of intuition for a moment. It wasn’t intentional, but it wasn’t the best retail could do, either.
Meanwhile, somewhere just outside of chicago…
a husband, wife, and a couple of close friends who together had years’ of experience as retail display suppliers, were growing increasingly impatient with the limitations the retail industry’s inefficiencies were putting on their ability to freely create and smartly produce impactful retail programs for their clients.
A dad of three teenage daughters and an experienced fixture manufacturer, Axis Display Group’s CEO, Neil Thomas, had firsthand experience with what could go wrong when one fails to account for the unexpected, ignores red flags, adheres to the status quo, and becomes immobile or downright defiant in decision-making.
With each new project that came across his desk, he noticed more of these tendencies - these hesitations in taking strategic risk - which ultimately reduced the effectiveness of the retail program for those who mattered most - the customers.
Neil hypothesized that many of these issues could be tracked to one project development pattern he wasn’t particularly fond of: a disconnect between display design intent and the overall manufacturability of said design:
“I was working for a leading fixture producer known by many as a low cost leader. I was seeing really well-designed retail programs come through that were clearly designed by forward-thinking creative agencies and opportunistic internal marketing teams that looked great, seemed great, but lacked the attention to detail necessary for production plausibility. Likewise, we’d sometimes get programs that were under-designed or oversimplified because of cost concerns and would have to do our best in-house to come up with a solution with very little information or time to understand the program holistically. This led to MASSIVE missed opportunities for both brands and retailers. I knew there had to be a better way to maintain project control and deliver better retail.” - Neil Thomas
Many months and many trips to the local brewery later, Neil, his wife Ellette, and AXIS’ former Creative Director, Scott, merged their complementary areas of expertise and embarked on a mission to turn good retail into great through a business model they dubbed “displagency” - the display company that thinks like an agency. For a deep dive on what a “Displagency” is, read this.
Rather than outsourcing project development to many different parties, the displagency model allowed AXIS to control every aspect of the retail project - from research and concepting to engineering and manufacturing to installation and success planning - as a single company.
The initial team organized itself into “left brainers” and “right brainers,” understanding that it takes a village - full of widely varying niche skillsets - to truly execute a retail program.
The left brainers (e.g., strategists, analysts, researchers, account managers, project managers) focused on treating every retail project as a research report. Deep analysis of consumer behavior, general psychology, market research, and competitive analyses gave the right brainers a leg up when considering how to solve for humans and not just fill vacant store real estate.
With this as their foundation, the right brainers (3D designers, engineers, visual merchandisers, graphic designers) were able to let their imaginations run wild. Without much additional effort, every single client received not just one option for their ask, but a holistic kit of scalable, customizable pieces and parts that spoke to the client’s entire retail marketing strategy past, present, and future.
Additionally, the AXIS Team refused to operate their business according to tired and typical corporate standards most display companies had come to adopt. They wanted lean, agile, extraordinarily adaptable, and the ability to always say yes. This meant (and still means):
Forgoing physical offices - our overhead savings = more price flexibility for our clients.
No owned machines for manufacturing - no need to pigeonhole project potential by using a machine or material out of necessity rather than choice. Limitless capabilities is where it’s at.
An approachable, reliable core team that will always remain small, highly specialized, and adaptable.
A commitment to remain strategic partners, not one-off producers - our favorite part of our job is developing the long game. It’s what we lead with.
The displagency model created the container for Team AXIS to think like people, design like ad execs, and execute like lean manufacturers. It also allowed for a new definition of what it means to be a “low cost leader” - one who stands up to the status quo and evolves alongside, never behind, the ebb and flow of constant industry evolution.
Taking Risks Is Risky…
“That first year? Luck. Sheer luck. Okay, not just luck...we knew what we were doing... But we weren’t sure if others would see the value in it, too.” - Neil Thomas
As any entrepreneur knows, taking risks is risky. You have to REALLY believe in what you’re preaching. Believe it to be different, not just in words, but in action. Thankfully, the Team’s nervous excitement was quickly quenched.
From the beginning, AXIS adopted a “doe or die” mentality and the industry responded quickly and favorably. With innovation, flexibility, and efficiency as their defining currencies, the displagency model took off with mounting success.
“We are eternally grateful for those first few key relationships - the believers that jumped on board because they weren’t satisfied with the status quo - the client partners that had the foresight and the vision to “trust the process.” There were many long nights fueled only by ambition, faith, and the belief that we could surely change the (retail) world, but we never gave up. We are appreciative of the blessings and opportunities we were given in those first 18 months.” - Neil Thomas
But it Pays Off In the End
After much work and many blessings, AXIS began to land projects, one of which came from a major cell phone carrier that provided the company with enough workable income to double down and grow the business exponentially.
“Each year we found ourselves expanding into something new - whether in refining our approach, getting familiar with an up-and-coming industry, or accepting unconventional projects. In order to gain our clients’ trust and cement our reputation in the industry, we had to become the masters of everything we touched. That meant in those first five years we schooled ourselves not just in the details of every retail trend out there, but in our clients’ industries too. We became master cyclists, audiophiles, system processors, workplace consultants, wine aficionados, home improvement DIYers, work boot testers, and so much more. There was never a dull day.” - Ellette Thomas
As we expanded our project portfolio, we expanded our core AXIS team in tandem. We hired on a couple of people to aid in business development, beefed up our project management team, got an official accountant so Ellette could have her evenings and weekends back, and greatly refined our engineering design team. We forged strategic partnerships to service regional clients from satellite “offices,” expanded our global manufacturing operations, and continued to cultivate our commitment to sustainability.
Here are some of our favorite highlights over the years:
Vision for the Future
Many years, lessons, and grandkids later, we’re still going strong.
Where we’re at in history right now is truly incredible. Every decision we make - both large and small - carry ramifications greater than most of us could have ever imagined. From keeping our friends and families safe, to keeping our clients and businesses afloat, to slowing down and having a year to reassess what, for many, seems like decades of go, go, go, we stand in awe at the dedication and tenacity of those we’ve chosen to surround ourselves with.
“We have big plans going forward. The retail industry needs smart strategists who know how to genuinely empathize with the collective feelings of humanity more than ever before. It doesn’t need another display company.” - Sheila McKay
If agility was important before, it’s a survival skill now. Same with adaptability. We’ve chosen to let our creativity - our ingenuity, our ability to confidently challenge the norm - drive us, not just because it’s fun, but because it’s necessary. We have to look at spaces differently. We have to embrace new patterns of shopping wholeheartedly.
In many ways, we’re right back to where we were in 2010. We’re being called to level up and thrive in the dismantling of the status quo…and there’s no challenge we’d rather pursue. Here’s to the next 10!