Shop! Ideation and Retail Challenge took place from Oct. 7-8, 2024, in Kansas City, Mo. With a lineup of industry leaders as speakers and the annual Retail Challenge, this year’s program highlighted a variety of topics relevant to the evolving retail industry.
Kicking off the first day of Shop! Ideation and Challenge was the keynote, presented by Brett Townsend. Townsend highlighted how brands evolve to incorporate meaningful storytelling to their campaigns.
Jon Arriaza of Chase Design Group (pictured) and Adam Hanson of Häagen-Dazs then spoke about how Häagen-Dazs incorporated its new brand design.
Hanson (pictured) and Arriaza highlighted how communication to customers was key to the successful rebrand.
After the speaker sessions, the evening started with a networking reception.
Hosted at the Marriott Downtown Kansas City, the reception included cocktails and appetizers.
Attendees of Shop! Ideation + Retail Challenge included retailers, industry leaders, designers, suppliers and more.
To start the second day and the 2024 Retail Challenge, Marcelo Kertész of Manscaped discussed the brand and how it captures attention across in-store and digital platforms.
Manscaped was the focus of this year’s Retail Challenge, and teams would need to blend humorous and creative designs with practicality.
For the third year, Bevan Bloemendaal inspired the teams and helped guide them throughout the day. The winning team will have their project built at Shop! Marketplace taking place April 8-10, 2025, hosted in Charlotte, NC.
With Manscaped, a men’s grooming company, as the subject of this year’s challenge, Bloemendal highlighted a few of Shop! Ideation’s best facial hair.
With eight hours on the clock, the 2024 Shop! Retail Challenge began.
The teams were challenged to create a new, mobile pop-up for the brand.
Each team received help from a representative from Manscaped to answer any questions about the brand and its strategy.
The teams also received Manscaped products to help them in their design process – as well as tennis balls to test the products on.
Throughout the day, teams collaborated on different designs, specified details and fixed last-minute obstacles.
The teams could include digital and physical aspects in their final design.
The teams kept the brand strategy of Manscaped in mind during their brainstorming sessions, throughout the design process and in their final presentations.
The teams were helmed by industry leaders and designers, and comprised of retailers, designers, suppliers, researchers and students.
With the teams’ final designs ready, they presented to a panel of judges, and the other teams.
The teams got creative, showing off their understanding of the brand and its products.
The winning team will have their design created at Shop! MarketPlace 2025.
As evening arrived, Shop! Ideation and Retail Challenge closed with dinner, reception and presentation from Bloemendaal who revealed the winning team.
The 2024 Retail Challenge winner is team 4, led by John Carvajal and Jamie Poulos.
Team 1
Eric Daniel, Little Diversified
Candace Kubicek, Lynx Innovation
Leslie Vickery, AT&T
Steve Alexander, MANSCAPED
Gina Walton, CD Companies
Adriana Dika, Tricarico Architecture & Design
Cindy Heigl, ROYAL
Jonathan Glanz, Dynamic Resources
Nick Hughes, Smurfit Westrock
Danielle Marzarella, Visual Elements
Ty Van Cuick, Universal Custom Display
John Tanner, Chase Design Group
Cynthia Granger, OPTO International
Melissa McDowell, Triad Manufacturing, Inc.
Jennifer Kosmide, MBH Arch
Team 2
Jon Arriaza, Chase Design Group
Jimmie Marco, Bish Creative
Heidi DeMers, Target
Henry Arlander, MANSCAPED
Andrea Grist, Florasource KC
Bernice Johnson, Brother Int’l Corporation
Faith Gustin, Oracle Netsuite
Desmond Chan, Visual Elements
Michael Gompf, Smurfit Westrock
Miho Koshido-Downey, DFab
Craig Pierce, Flower City Group
Oskar Kjorneberg, Visual Creations | Rose Displays
Jane Le, Visual Elements Manufacturing
Liz Cooper, Triad Manufacturing, Inc.
Patrick Graf, Great Northern Instore
Team 3
Mat Gurda, WD Partners
Bryan Meszaros, OpenEye Global
Scott Hill, Albertsons
Steven Arteaga, MANSCAPED
Bill Manoliadis, Tricarico Architecture & Design
Tara Hamel, Benoy
Jim Scarpone, Schimenti Construction
Ron Apel, Ex-Sell Canadian Instore Services
Kimberly Guyton, Hera Lighting
Troy Kowalski, Bish Creative
Randy Simmen, Visual Elements
Mike Morrison, WS Display
Jay Long, Visual Creations | Rose Displays
Annie Greenhouse, Sandro & Maje
Team 4
John Carvajal, Brother Int’l Corporation
Jamie Poulos, Opto International
Stephen Valdez, Tori Richard
Eli Everhart, EPS Specialties
Bill Kambol, MANSCAPED
Samantha Zeno, Brother Int’l Corporation
Maximus Coric, VIZEXbranding.com
Ryan Brevda, Ryan Scott, Inc.
Jennifer Gutierrez, The University of Kansas
Nick Harbaugh, Flexecution
Tom Pratt, Marketing Alliance Group
Jeff Van Vactor, Pratt Visual Solutions
Steve Varon, Crown Metal Manufacturing Co
Brian Thibault, MANSCAPED
Team 5
Nadine McLearon, D|Fab
MJ Munsell, MG2
Alison Bardin, Le Creuset
Charlie Wolff, MANSCAPED
Brett Townsend, Quester
Mindi Trank, Chute Gerdeman
Kimberly Capin, Smurfit Westrock
Bill Hawker, Elevate97
David Lee, Oracle Netsuite
Marc Roberts, Marketing Alliance Group
Stephen Hekman, Kingsmen Projects US
Christine Wright, McIntyre Manufacturing Group
Lee Wilkinson, EPS Specialties
Wesley Hooker, Outform
Team 6
David Kepron, Aedifica
Lena Lim, B&N Industries
Ken McQuade, Target
George Povich, Edo Agency
Cynthia Ortiz, MBH Arch
Jillian Kellas, Dynamic Resources Inc.
Christopher Henderson, Visual Elements
Jerry Schiro, OPTO International
Anthony Vitiello, Innomark Communications
Nanci Bergman, MANSCAPED
RJ Dadd, Retail Elements LLC
Michael Fuchs, Great Northern Corporation
Shop! Ideation + Retail Challenge 2024: Photo Gallery
Shop! Ideation and Retail Challenge took place from Oct. 7-8, 2024, in Kansas City, Mo. With a lineup of industry leaders as speakers and the annual Retail Challenge, this year’s program highlighted a variety of topics relevant to the evolving retail industry.