In his opening presentation, Bevan Bloemendaal, Chief Brand and Creative Officer for NELSON Worldwide, reminded attendees and teams of past winners and introduced the criteria for the challenge.

The team leader of the winning 2022 team, Robin Novak of Agar, gave this year’s challengers advice and wished them luck.

This year’s Retail Challenge focused on the salon and hair care brand Aveda.

Teams were challenged to create a new pop-up for Aveda incorporating their core values and mission.

The winning team will have their project built at Shop! Marketplace taking place April 9-11, 2024, hosted in Cincinnati, Ohio.

With eight hours on the clock, the Retail Challenge began. Each team received help from students from the University of Minnesota.

Throughout the day, teams collaborated on different designs, specified details and fixed last-minute obstacles.

The teams were helmed by industry leaders and designers.

The teams kept the philosophies of the Aveda brand in mind during their brainstorming sessions, throughout the design process and in their final presentations.

Each of the five teams presented new and diverse designs to the panel of judges.

The Retail Challenge and Shop! Ideation closed with dinner, reception and presentation from Bloemendaal, during which the winner of the Retail Challenge was announced.

Jeff Hastings and his team took home the prize with their four-part brand activation pop-up store.

The team’s design will come to life at Shop! Marketplace taking place April 9-11, 2024, hosted in Cincinnati, Ohio.

Jeff Hastings, Visual Creations | Rose Displays

Melissa McIntosh, McKee Goods
Patricia Stensrud, Stylmark
Anthony Montagano, L&S Lighting
Candace Kubicek, Lynx Innovation
John Carvajal, Brother Int’l Corp
Marisa, McLaughlin, Student, University of Minnesota
Jerry Schiro, OPTO
Alea Adou, Aveda
Gabriella Wollo, Student, University of Minnesota
Jon Glanz, Cue Gravity
Sydney Heise, Student

Cynthia Ortiz, MBH Architects
Jessie, Sanders, ArcVision
Jerry Fox, Bish Creative
John Thompson, Installation Solutions
Diane Archibald, Reitmans (Canada)
Anneka Salstrom, Student, University of Minnesota
Adimika Jaia Owens, Floor & Decor
Samar Younes, Samaritual
Erika Pedregon, Student, University of Minnesota
Raj Khosla, D|Fab
Jamie Poulos, OPTO
Mardi Najafi, Figure3

Pamela Demarest, Snipes USA
David Kepron, aedifica
Anthony Wickner, Stylmark
Lena Lim, B+N Industries
Isaac Bindert, Installation Solutions
Tracy Stum, TiLT A Tracy Stum Museum
Lee Tuggle, Student, University of Minnesota
Bernice Johnson, Brother Int’l Corp
Lily Osterberg, Student, University of Minnesota
Nadine McLearon, D|Fab
Stephen Hekman, Kingsmen Projects
James Farnell, Little

Faith Huddleston, NELSON Worldwide
Emily Rosdahl, Student, University of Minnesota
Jim Scarpone, Schimenti Construction
Maximus Coric, VIZEX
Ryan Brevda, Ryan Scott, Inc.
Heidi Waller, Surfacequest
Isabella Luna, Student, University of Minnesota
Nathan Lee, Student, University of Minnesota
Angela Gearhart, AAG Consulting Group
Kevin Strain, Cue Gravity
Aaron Rosensweet, Kingsmen Projects
Steve Varon, Crown Metal Mtg

Eric Daniel, Little Diversified
Christopher Henderson, Visual Elements
Kim Guyton, Hera Lighting
Alyssa Alfson, Cubic
Geoff Wigner, Nashville Display
Chris Schram, Surfacequest
Gage Vizecky, Student, University of Minnesota
Matt Isenburg, Marketing Alliance Group
Michelle Adams, Marketing Brainology
Jay Long, Visual Creations | Rose Displays
Deanna Crowe, Student, University of Minnesota
Vinay Vaswani, Vaswani Inc.