Amplifying Skullcandy’s cult-status in the brand’s hometown HQ

Skullcandy are the original audio lifestyle brand. Worn by skaters and sold in snowboard shops, their headphones are popular among the action sports community. To amplify their brand experience and product innovations amongst early adopters in music and tech, we took Skullcandy’s global retail concept to a new level.

This is the story of how a global merchandising design project evolved into an retail R&D playground, right in the heart of where things started – at Skullcandy’s global headquarters in Park City, Utah. A modular interior design, where in-house teams test product displays and learn first-hand from consumers, in order to drive a global brand transformation. In the process, this under-the-radar concept store became known as 'one of the best Flagship store designs in the world'.

Skullcandy wanted to immerse consumers in its audio innovations like never before. A successful challenger brand, it invested in creative brand campaign activations and launching new product innovation via global retail partners. But in these multi-brand retail spaces, the product was getting lost. Our brief was to establish greater brand awareness and achieve a higher level of brand consistency globally.

To get under the skin of the Skullcandy culture, lifestyle and product innovations, we flew to their HQ in Park City to experience it first-hand. First, we worked with the brand design team to create a series of modular retail ‘stage sets’ and demo bars that would help bring each their new product marketing campaign ‘12 moods’ to life. One thing led to another and we went on to develop an R&D retail playground in the atrium of their HQ. This is the place for the team to test and create in real-time, which went on to became Skullcandy’s first-ever Flagship store concept.

With its roots in board sports and indie music culture Skullcandy has never been afraid of challenging the status quo. So, we took our inspiration from the skate parks, the music scene and the irreverent attitude of Skullcandy itself. Creating something progressive yet pragmatic. A future-proofed retail concept far beyond the brief, which never stood still. A multi-dimensional ‘stage set’ in the brand’s HQ which made each new product launch activation its headline act whilst demonstrating to global retail design partners what Skullcandy could offer them, in terms of customer experience.

Skullcandy also saw this creative retail space as an opportunity for the brand to give something back to the community that raised it. Products would launch here first, before anywhere else in the world – so board sports fans travelling to the nearby Olympic Park get exclusive access. The new Flagship store also invests profits back into local non-profit programs focused on music, mountain, and board sports education. This unique concept store capitalises on Skullcandy’s challenger brand experience whilst successfully driving significant uplift in multi-brand retailer interest.

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