Location: Worldwide
Project: Brand architecture, retail
Client: Daimler AG
Competition: Two-stage competition, 1st place
Period: Pilots since 2016, roll-out since 2017
The world's first retail outlets with Mercedes-Benz's new brand identity can already be seen in car dealerships in Hong Kong, Beijing, Budapest and Istanbul. For three years, GRAFT has been working on concept development and engineering creating design guidelines and planning tools that will be implemented at sales and service locations around the world. The planning catalogue ranges from specifications for the facade and roof design to the interior design of customer contact areas, including media integration and furniture design.
Together with the creative agency TRIAD from Berlin, GRAFT won a two-stage competition against renowned international competitors. The concept of a new, seamless customer experience with modular “touchpoints”, developed in close cooperation with Mercedes-Benz and TRIAD, responds to changing offline and online customer expectations. With the goal of developing a customer-oriented retail experience, GRAFT’s striking architecture and high-quality interior design creates flowing transitions from inside to outside.
Within the customer service area of a car dealership, the vehicle presentation is interwoven with focused yet flexible consulting areas. Modular media elements are similarly incorporated into the interior fittings that shape the showroom, strengthening the combination of the real and virtual brand presence. This makes it possible to address and respond to the changing requirements of different target groups and to successively and adaptively incorporate these into diverse spatial environments. The resulting scenography creates numerous opportunities to interact with the Mercedes-Benz brand at different levels.
In addition to developing the concept and elaborating design guidelines, since 2017, GRAFT is also the lead planner and has been responsible for supporting the roll-out of the new brand identity in the German market. This can already be experienced around German in Mercedes-Benz dealerships including Böblingen, Berlin, Kaufbeuren and Darmstadt.