Cisco Live is Cisco’s annual customer and partner conference. At CLUS, attendees from all over the world converged upon the San Diego Convention Center to experience Cisco’s latest technology innovations, network with peers and discover what Cisco had in store for the future.

The Cisco Store pop up objective was to offer attendees premium branded merchandise while also showcasing Cisco and partner technologies in a living lab. This showcase was through a paradigm everyone is familiar with: shopping. By showcasing these technologies in a functioning retail environment, the store served as a way to sell the value of the technology and what it can do for other businesses. At its core, the Cisco Store was a destination that sold Cisco merchandise to brand enthusiasts. However, the store was also an impactful way to educate attendees, incorporate Corporate Social Responsibility and entertain and engage with attendees through store events and activities.

The Connected Cisco Store at CLUS was created to give attendees an interactive and holistic brand experience, extending beyond typical pop-up stores. The Connected Cisco Store pop-up was crafted to incorporate the Cisco brand identity with its look and feel, but even further, with Cisco technologies integrated throughout the space. This gave visitors the opportunity to see technologies demonstrated at the show come to life in a real, functioning retail environment. These solutions ignited the Cisco brand with personalized and frictionless customer experiences, improved associate productivity, enhanced store operations and secured the store. In this way, the travel store has evolved into a unique and impactful way to interact with and educate customers and partners. This helps position Cisco as a thought leader and the envy of the industry, and personalized tours demonstrate that Cisco is willing to adapt to customer needs to win both hearts and minds.

The target audience included Cisco customers, partners, and other IT professionals. Cisco Live attendees are immersed in a week full of specialized learning sessions, connecting with peers and experts and experiencing Cisco technology first-hand. Cisco Store visitors and shoppers are enthusiastic brand evangelists that want to purchase merchandise, learn more about Cisco technology, positively impact the local community, and have fun with the brand they are passionate about.

The Cisco Store team is comfortable pushing boundaries and challenging the norms to achieve extraordinary outcomes, and this mindset was applied to the approach for CLUS. These approaches included amplifying Cisco’s brand and story, accelerating demand for Cisco’s solutions and services, inspiring customer and partner loyalty, and innovating the future of event experiences. This strategy aligned with Cisco’s overall brand vision, and encompassed a holistic Cisco experience for attendees.

Over 10,000 attendees visited the Cisco Store throughout the five-day show. Visitors were connected to the Cisco brand through almost 200 new and exciting products, and over 100 Cisco Press titles. On store tours, attendees learned about Cisco and partner solutions, such as Cisco Meraki security cameras, Oculus virtual reality, Cisco Vision digital signage with Apple technology and RFID technology that facilitated a Smart Fitting room.

For the first time ever, the store team collaborated with Cisco’s developer network to prototype an Augmented Reality solution. This solution revealed information about the store’s technology and merchandise, to educate and inspire visitors through a new lens. Attendees were invited to provide feedback with notes on the wall and took photos that were placed in a Cisco logo collage. Additionally, customers donated to Feeding San Diego to impact the local community, participated in Meet the Author Events, and received fun giveaways and prizes.

The Cisco Store at CLUS experienced 11% year over year growth in sales and an increased number of transactions, basket size and average sale. Before the show began, tour sessions were fully booked. 1,109 attendees joined a tour during their visit. Attendees from all industries participated in tours including Apple, IBM, Comcast, Walt Disney Company and Twitter. 1,225 attendees spent an average of 15 minutes engaging with the new Augmented Reality prototype. 87% of these people surveyed learned something new, and 92% would recommend the app to other industries.

$3,324 were donated to Feeding San Diego, which translated into 13,296 meals donated to those in need and 80% year over year growth. Meet and Greet book signings drove almost 30% of total book sales. In total, the store had 58,477 impressions on social media. 1,000 gifts with purchases were distributed, and 1,276 attendees completed the store survey for a prize.