Create a roadmap for your brand's

Digital & Physical Experience
+
Produce a one of a kind pop-up

Applications close May 13, 2016

We’ve curated an esteemed group of experts in both digital and physical user experience to guide participants through a comprehensive roadmap that outlines strategies and plans to create compelling and authentic retail and digital experiences. How can you effectively share your vision with your audience, create a lasting impression on visitors, and engage your existing community? How can you create authentic content, leveraging physical spaces and human interactions? How can you build strategic partnerships that fortify complementary brands and businesses, online and offline? These are some of the questions we will cover throughout the two-day workshop.

Our instructors have come together to create a interactive and comprehensive roadmap for participants to complete throughout the workshops. Upon completion, our goal is to leave you with a valuable tool that helps guide both your digital UX and Physical Experience initiatives moving forward. Afterwards, participants will have two and a half months to work together, apply what they’ve learned, and produce a popup. 

miLES Experience Lab provides merchants, creatives and entrepreneurs with an opportunity to further develop the skills they need to bring their brand or small business to the next level. The program kicks off with two, full-day, intensive workshops (Saturday June 4 and Saturday June 11) and concludes in September with a pop-up in an NYC storefront, produced by participants. Participants can choose to partake in just one day of workshops, both days of workshops, or both workshops and the pop-up.

WORKSHOP DELIVERABLES THAT PARTICIPANTS WILL WALK AWAY WITH: 

• A holistic model that enables you to think strategically and makes digital marketing simple and approachable
• The most commonly used and profitable methods for reaching your ideal audience
• How to prioritize marketing channels and focus on what’s best for your unique situation
• How to build a stronger presence online so people who need your products/services can find out about you
• A set of short case studies into leading independent brands and their experience-minded, world-building initiatives
• A well-articulated position on the customer your brand is attracting, in terms of the lifestyle & world they want to be a part of
• A shortlist of strategies for initiatives that work to build ongoing relationships with customers
• Guidelines for creating an effective PR strategy and a step by step guide to media relations
• Creative story angles and messaging for your brand
• Social media management checklist and tips
• The outline of a 2-minute “Kickstarter-style” pitch aimed at fostering support among partners with shared customer audiences
• A starting list of potential distribution partners that will make up the world you’ll be building
• A hands-on practical guide of how to execute a physical in-store experience for your brand  
• How to assess each component of a retail experience, from the customer's perspective
• How brand strategy can be interpreted across all parts of the retail experience
• Pop-up logistics and best practices
• How a flexible staffing model with dynamic wages can help your brand eliminate unnecessary labor costs for physical store locations

The first intensive day of workshops focuses on Digital UX, with experts facilitating sessions on UX & Design Strategies, Brand Strategy, Customer Insights, Trends & Innovation, and more. Gears shift for the second full-day workshop as expert instructors guide participants in exploring retail experience design, PR, staffing, pop-up management and logistics, and more.

Throughout the two Saturdays, participants will explore how to apply their learnings to their own brands. Afterwards, participants will have two and a half months to work together, apply what they’ve learned, and produce a popup.

The curated theme for the upcoming Experience Lab's theme is:

MAKING IT IN NEW YORK

If you're a New York based team, manufacturing or producing in New York, we'd love for you to join us in bridging the gap between Physical and Digital UX.

DAY 1 : DIGITAL UX EXPERIENCE  (JUNE 4 SAT)

Class Topics:

Miles Begin | UX & Design Strategies

Kyle Studstill | Customer Insights

Shira Wheeler | Branding

Shane Rasnak | Digital Marketing

DAY 2 : PHYSICAL & RETAIL UX EXPERIENCE (JUNE 11 SAT)

Class Topics:

Rachel Ginsberg | Retail Experience 

Courtney Cervantes | PR Strategy

Stacey Ferreira | Staffing Strategy

Eric Ho | Pop-up Management & Strategy

1 WEEK IN SEPTEMBER : COLLECTIVE POP-UP IN A STOREFRONT

Hands-on Support:

Staffing

POS Reporting

Merchandizing & Furnishing

Exercises: Coordinating a Coherent Story and Narrative for participating brands

WHAT:
Intensive, hands-on, expert-led workshops for merchants and entrepreneurs.

PLUS a collective pop-up, co-created by participants.

WHEN: 

June 11 + June 18
2 full days of workshops

One Week in September
Pop-up in NYC storefront

FOR WHO:
12-16 curated brands that are "making it in New York."
*To qualify as making it in New York, brands should be manufacturing its goods, producing its services, or creating its art within New York.

COST:
$2,000 ENTIRE PACKAGE INCLUDING POP-UP

$950 FOR EITHER DIGITAL UX or PHYSICAL UX ONE DAY CLASSES

Application closes May 13, 2016

WHY PARTICIPATE THE EXPERIENCE LAB

Think of the experience lab as a bootcamp for your brand’s user experience and engagement, both online and off. The two packed days of workshops offer professional development for merchants and small business entrepreneurs-- a chance to learn from domain experts on a range of directly applicable trends and tactics. The pop-up that follows presents the opportunity for participants to translate learnings into action. With two and a half months between the workshops and the one-week collective pop-up, participants are challenged to apply what they’ve learned and collaborate to produce a one-of-a-kind pop-up that bridges the gap between digital and physical UX.

The two days of workshops provide “recipes” for success, and participants will leave with an intellectual understanding of the topics covered. The planning and production of the pop-up invites participants to get their hands dirty, truly learn by doing, and “bake the cake” themselves. In addition to deepening understanding and making the learnings stick, the final pop-up is also a wonderful way for participating brands to engage and grow their existing communities. Just as a group show for independent art or music brings more fans than a solo show, the Experience Lab’s collective pop-up merges together the communities of the participating brands, attracting more exposure and potential customers than one brand would on their own.

WHO IS MILES

miLES is a civic startup, comprised of designers, architects, event producers, social entrepreneurs and real estate professionals committed to activating urban neighborhoods as canvases for pop-up entrepreneurship. We provide entrepreneurs, creatives, brands, and neighbors with accessible space, talent, and tools to realize their visions within physical spaces.

Inspired by and started in the Lower East Side of Manhattan, miLES enables the connection between people and spaces across neighborhoods of different cities, near and far.  Since starting operations in April 2013, we have enabled 100+ pop-ups ranging ranging in length from 1 day to 6 months. The function and style of the popups have been as diverse as the people creating them. We work to reimagine retail, for brands, their communities, and their neighborhoods. In addition to providing space and consulting on pop-up production and logistics, we offer our clients unique and innovative strategies to pop-up and bridge the physical to digital divide.

Want to join the Experience Lab? Whether you’re interested in one day of workshops, both day of workshops, or the full experience of both workshops and the collective pop-up, you can apply to participate by filling out this form.

Application closes May 13, 2016