Video Learning Anex
Re-finding the faith to finally put quality of life first!
for
tomorrow's
home
today's
solutions
L&A was created as a specialty lifestyle division of Christopher Lowell Enterprises. Its goal is to provide smart design, turnkey merchandising programs, practical education and engaging infotainment to home centric companies looking to connect more intimately with today’s new consumer. L&A’s focus is to reduce anxiety at point of purchase by providing consumers with simple pre-coordinated lifestyle solutions that offer inspirational narratives that build confidence. We design or curate to deliver collections with high perceived value at reasonable price points made foolproof by one of America’s most trusted lifestyle authorities…Christopher Lowell.
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Lowell & Associates
After years as head of his own multi-media creative agency Christopher Lowell had a new idea for a media project using the home as an incubator for people to get in touch with their personal creativity. His documentary based on the project landed him a relationship with Discovery Channel. For the next decade, he would executive produce, co-write and host the daily groundbreaking series The Christopher Lowell Show which would dominate the how-to category in daytime television. The Emmy Award winning program reinvented the genre becoming the template for an entire new channel called HGTV.
Lowell was the first to combine practical interior design education with humor, sound psychology, and inspirational motivation that became an appointment view for 11 million weekly viewers. His six best-selling books became a publishing game changer and his brand name became synonymous with his engaging “You can do it!" credo. In fact, Lowell's profound impact on American audiences and the culture elicited U.S. News & World Report to dub him
"America’s Doctor Of Design."
Thirty-years of creating & curating programs that offer premium perceived value with smart narratives that educate & solve lifestyle problems as they emerge.
HISTORY
Lowell has guided his life-affirming You Can Do It message seamlessly across every existing media platform there is. Says Lowell, "It's the message of empowerment first." We guide those in search of discovering their own personal style on their way to having the life they really want...a safe place to dream and reinvent." As Lowell says, "The physical act of reordering one's home is one of the most personal and intimate experience a human can have."
After developing his educational format, Lowell relocated his company to LA where production began for what would turn out to be a remarkable decade on national television.
Ever conscious of the power of endorsement or implied endorsement, Lowell maintains regurious standards as to where or what he lends his name. "I've never been tempted to endorse something I don't beleive in," says Lowell. "No mater how lucrative it might be. A brand survives through authenticity and transparency."
Lowell has guided his life-affirming You Can Do It message seamlessly across every existing media platform there is. Says Lowell, "It's the message of empowerment first." We guide those in search of discovering their own personal style on their way to having the life they really want...a safe place to dream and reinvent." As Lowell says, "The physical act of reordering one's home is one of the most personal and intimate experience a human can have."
In 2004, Lowell launched his signature brand of over 3,000 pre-coordinated home products at major retailers. His ability to connect the dots between infotainment, education and commerce quickly turned his philosophy based merchandising concepts into a billion dollar brand.
Today, Lowell continues to keep his hands in many aspects of marketing, private branding and consultation work geared towards developing new concepts, products and programming solutions for tomorrow's co-partnered home.
Asking The Tough Questions
Christopher works on every aspect of design starting from the marketing first...
Color is the greatest tool a designer of retail merchandise has. Through thousands of hours of TV and sifting through millions of color swatches to create his own paint line (and a history of strong retail sales) Lowell beings a wealth of color knowledge to the table. He knows what will work best once home in the hands of the amateur.
Lowell, whenever possible tours manufactureres to fully explore production capabilities, element limitations and finishing treatments. Often he'll need to simulate high end craftsmanship within mass market budgets so precieved value is still obvious.
Christopher works on every aspect of design starting from the marketing first...
We've learned to never indulge artistically. As we design, adapt, curate or re-context products, we're always working backwards from the end user's point of view asking critical questions to vet each and every item.
Is this something that will remain timeless and flexible enough to justify the investment?
In the hands of the amateur, will this collection or product easily integrate into everyday households?
Is this product solution-driven; solving modern, real lifestyle challenges?
Is this collection luxurious enough for her, yet tailored enough for him?
Are there enough storylines, touch and talking points to help retailers position the products at the store level or online in an often "self-serve" environment?
Is the inherent lifestyle clearly defined and immediately identifiable on the page or in a busy store aisle?
Today it's no longer just about the "stuff". Consumers are savvy and no longer motivated strictly by impulse. To get them to open their wallets, retailers must build in multiple reasons to justify a purchase.
Lowell's commercial clients and associations are diverse: Home, fashion, beauty, haircare hotels, home products, and multimedia productions
They have included:
Revlon, Framisi, National Lighting Association, Paul Mitchell, Office Depot,
Jo-Ann Fabric & Craft, 3-day Blinds, Smith + Noble, Flexteel Furniture, LA Summer Olympics, Surbert Theaters, Matrix Essentials: Biolage Direct Buy, FIDM: NYC, Procter & Gamble, May Company Stores, Sauder Furniture, Omni Hotels, Clarkson Potter, Bush Industries, Simplicity, New Hampshire Ballet, Williams Sonoma, Shop NBC, Fine Living Channel, Morgan Ayers Men's Fashion, The Tonight Show With Jay Leno, The New York Post, PK Kaufman/ Waverly Fabrics, World Market Center, Omega Cabinets & Kitchens, Leisure Arts Publications, Mattel Toys, Rivr Media, House to Home Magazine, Burlington Coat Factory, Fayette Renaissance Group, Fitz and Floyd, Provona Spa, Groco Paint, Creative Nail, Discovery Channel, Scripps Howard Network, Atlanta Furniture Mart, The LA Times, The Fine Living Channel, Catalina Lighting, 44 Blue Productions.
Lowell was the first to design fully intragratable home office units and the first to create designs that acknowledged working women.
Lowell was the first to design a new dynamic for open concept kitchens based on hotel and restaurant ideas. He believed that open concept rooms should be able to morph from den to restaurant to nightclub.
Lowell helped beauty and haircare manufacture Matrex reimage all their professional brands as their national creative director. He would also create and direct their brand relaunches. Lowell worked closely with the company to develope the very first "green" wet line. His "Science in sync with nature," campagine, packaging, billboards and TV spots resulted in Biolage becoming the most successful brand introduction in the history if the hair and beauty industry.
Lowell was the first to design fully intragratable home office units and the first to create designs that acknowledged working women.
Michael brings to L&A the rare combination of both skilled artistic talents and the ability to develop and implement successful and compelling marketing and public relation strategies. His first hand knowledge in creating strong corporate identity programs have found him both in front and behind the camera as artistic director and head of marketing and communications for the past twenty-five years.
He offers our clients seamless platform integration often implementing comprehensive branding programs that increase name recognition, financial support, media coverage and even community awareness.
Over and above his multi-talents, perhaps his greatest value to us (and all who collaborate with him) is a strong yet intuitive leadership style. He offers a rare transparency that evokes loyalty that kindles inspired productivity and a sense of personal ownership within everyone who contributes to the projects he champions.
Michael is also on the board of
directors for our information
sharing think tank
...Is an info sharing think tank that is dedicated to getting important concepts and voice in front of audiences hungry for new points of view.
...who know the power of today's up and coming influencers who often defy categorization.
Our criteria for including new members is simple: Is the voice or talent or concept relevant to or in support of making or planet better? Are the underpins of the concept rooted is a desire to affect positive change on a humanitarian versus political level?
...Is an info sharing think tank that is dedicated to getting important concepts and voice in front of audiences hungry for new points of view.
"My on-going interaction with millions of everyday Americans has given me a rare insight into the personal dynamic of today’s transitioning households.
Gone are the traditional lifestyle mandates of the past as consumers now search for solutions that offer a better quality of life.
How this philosophy translates into product and personal effects is as much about the language and relationship as it is about the stuff itself.
Designing and curating home products and furnishings for every room of the home has given me a rigorous understanding of global multi-category manufacturing and retailing...but it's the
creating of tomorrow's new lifestyle essentials that offers me the kind of meaningful challenge I love."
Product
Design & Curation
Christopher
Lowell
Visual marketing differes from traditional marketing is the respect that much of the heavy lifting is done as much visually as in backroom strategy. In the world of HOME, visual marketing often supersedes written strategy because perceived value and color play such a major role.
Our strategic planning starts very simply. Consumer first. The what, where and why is always best answered by being in the consumer's shoes, not behind the corporate desk. What makes sense around a boardroom table often does not at store level. Our strategy is always What's the draw? What's their perception. Where are the sweet spots? What makes them put it in the carte or put it back?
Today new product introductions happen in many forms from pop up stores, to events that put the right product into the right lifestyle context. We help in creating the right associations within the right environments for lifestyle concepts to connect.
Visual marketing differes from traditional marketing is the respect that much of the heavy lifting is done as much visually as in backroom strategy. In the world of HOME, visual marketing often supersedes written strategy because perceived value and color play such a major role.
Lowell has designed
in the following categories:
Upholstered Furniture
Casual & Accent furniture
Case goods
Outdoor furniture
& Accessories
Office furniture
Office accessories
Rugs & carpeting
Home accessories
Lighting
Wall art & framing
Kitchen cabinets,surfaces
& Hardware
Cookware
Table linens
Cutlery
Artificial plants
Home designer fabrics
Outdoor fabrics
Bed Linens
Top of the bed
Bath & accessories
Window treatments,
shades & blinds
Window hardware
Paint & Color
Luggage
Gifts & candles
Fragrance
Fashion
Hair care
Theatrical set. costumes &
Lighting
.
The products in this slideshow were designed by Christopher more than a decade ago. Yet they are as timeless fresh and modern as if they'd been designed for a future collection. All to prove a point that good design never goes out of style.
"What makes something timeless and thus worth its investment?" It's the number one question on Lowell's mind at all times.
Those who work with Lowell get the benefit of his talents where color comes into play. Having already sifted through millions of colors to find those that intergrate best into American homes,he's been through the drill. This gives manufacturers and buyers a competitive edge. Lowell's years seeing his color implemented in millions of viewers homes gives him an inventory of what works best and on what.
The products in this slideshow were designed by Christopher more than a decade ago. Yet they are as timeless fresh and modern as if they'd been designed for a future collection. All to prove a point that good design never goes out of style.
We can work in house
with your existing staff and/or
with your multiple preferred vendors to create, adapt or curate foolproof collections. We build turnkey lifestyle programs that connect immediately and easily integrate into today’s American homes.
If the goal is to relieve stress at point of purchase, then the first way to do it is to streamline choices for consumers. The first issue is color. While it's the first thing to attract shoppers it's also the very thing that prevents them from making a purchase. Fear of color choice shows up continually in everything from paint and fabric to things like personal cosmetics. Unlike clothing where you try it on a single item, in home interiors hundreds of things must coordinate.
With clothing you look in the mirror and decide. Even if you make a mistake it's hidden in the back of a closet. But with home design everything is visible and everything is subjective to everyone who enters that room. So we do our best to do all the heavy choosing for customers in advance.
In designing for mass market one must continually ask "In the hands of an amateur, will this item or color still work?" With our 7 layers, we also educate what is a background fabric or color and what is an accent fabric or color so amatures don't build a trendy accent into a high ticket item like a sofa. Go crazy on the accent pillows because when they date or taste changes, it's no big deal to change them out.
If the goal is to relieve stress at point of purchase, then the first way to do it is to streamline choices for consumers. The first issue is color. While it's the first thing to attract shoppers it's also the very thing that prevents them from making a purchase. Fear of color choice shows up continually in everything from paint and fabric to things like personal cosmetics. Unlike clothing where you try it on a single item, in home interiors hundreds of things must coordinate.
President,CEO
If we’re not laughing together were not thinking together! We start with “Don’t you hate when that happens?”…then work backwards from there. In the end, we’re all looking for the A-HA moment…solutions that make life a little less messy and a little more fun.
We offer cohesive anxiety-reducing instruction within everything the consumer sees and touches at point of purchase. Lowell’s best-selling educational library offers more compelling reason to purchase because the narrative makes sense and the proven education (successfully implemented by millions) is solid.
Michael
Green
Senior VP of Marketing & Communications
It took Lowell almost 6 years to break the often abstract design process down to seven simple sequential steps that could be implemented by literally anyone. It would become the centerpiece of all his programming, manufacturing and designing and what underpinned his entire educational base.
This book was by audience request. It spotlights some of the most requested demos, ideas and products used over Lowell's years of TV show segments.
Lowell offers all collaborators access to his private inventory of design notes and special consumer languaging that turned his own home collection into an instant billion dollar success.
It took Lowell almost 6 years to break the often abstract design process down to seven simple sequential steps that could be implemented by literally anyone. It would become the centerpiece of all his programming, manufacturing and designing and what underpinned his entire educational base.
Education
That Reduces Purchasing
Anxioty
Sell Through
We
pre-coordinate entire
lifestyles
so consumers
simply can't make
a mistake.
Books & Tools
Lowell has designed or curated products for every room in the home, office or even public display spaces. From utilitarian cooking items to statement pieces Lowell always works against a rigorous check list to assure that products don't just sell it...but sell through!
Lowell's collection for Office Depot was the most successful in the history of Ready To Assemble. Why? Because Lowell understands that we are forever changing how we live in the spaces we call home, and that home and work have become one.
The more we can build touchpoint, talking points, and education into what ever hits the floor, the more we bond with customers. Today they need more reasons to buy beyond impluse.
Lowell has designed or curated products for every room in the home, office or even public display spaces. From utilitarian cooking items to statement pieces Lowell always works against a rigorous check list to assure that products don't just sell it...but sell through!
Previous experience with home building and planning companies include: Marketing Manager Responsible for marketing strategies, budgets, and new product analysis. In- house graphic design and production of all marketing materials including flyers, websites, brochures, direct mail, displays, signage, and advertising. Coordinated model home merchandising, event planning, sales and marketing analysis.
Michael is able to not only spearhead multi-platform projects, but on numerous occasions he is also called upon to spokesperson these projects on camera. His ability to effectively interact with media provides clients with even more seamless messaging integration.
Michael understands the visual and emotional variables that help connect message, cause and call-to-action through transparency and authenticity.
Previous experience with home building and planning companies include: Marketing Manager Responsible for marketing strategies, budgets, and new product analysis. In- house graphic design and production of all marketing materials including flyers, websites, brochures, direct mail, displays, signage, and advertising. Coordinated model home merchandising, event planning, sales and marketing analysis.
Hiring Lowell for The Hotel SHADE began as a way for owner Mike Zysless to find a way to get permission to break ground. It was a property ensconsed and incumbered in bureaucratic red tape for over 25 years.
Hiring Lowell for The Hotel SHADE began as a way for owner Mike Zysless to find a way to get permission to break ground. It was a property ensconsed and incumbered in bureaucratic red tape for over 25 years.
SPACE
design
Designing award winning
public spaces continues to enriched our ability
to understand how human-based interior design can
profoundly impact the emotional experience of an entire community. Dealing with communal, multi-use, multi-gender spaces have greatly influenced what we now design for residential homes. It can offer solutions like the high traffic, flexibility issues that are becoming the residential "New Normal."
We designed The Shade Hotel from the dirt up along with most of its furnishings. While it has become an iconic meeting place for the Manhattan Beach.CA community it is also home for A-listers like Cameron Diaz and Brad Pitt.
Christopher later developed his hotel design into a top rated series for Fine Living/Scripps Howard called
Work That Room; From Hotel To Home
Lowell conceived a hotel for the people. As he called it, the fanciest community center ever. The first floor lobby was able to be completly open to the streets on several sides so people could walk freely through the comunal space without having to feel intimidated or obligated in any way. It was designed as an easy central place for the community to meet up or use the space as an extension of their own living rooms.
With space limited but fire a critical design element, Lowell was the first to use cyclone tubes that provided atmosphere but rquired no ventilation. These now appear in many hotels nationwide.
Lowell conceived a hotel for the people. As he called it, the fanciest community center ever. The first floor lobby was able to be completly open to the streets on several sides so people could walk freely through the comunal space without having to feel intimidated or obligated in any way. It was designed as an easy central place for the community to meet up or use the space as an extension of their own living rooms.
Whether developing a public co-brand or behind the scenes creating private label brands, Christopher Lowell offers partners an iconic yet pristine, transparent and respected brand association that’s rare in this social media age. His public identity continues to registers trust with a reputable voice that resonates in multiple platforms. Lowell continues to exceed expectations while delivering the most reliable consumer bases with the most predictable expendable incomes.
TV Series
Association
This series debut to Fine Living audience months after Lowell's departure from the Discovery Channel.
While audiences didn't know it at the time, Lowell know that it would be the last year of the Fine Living channel's existence. They wanted to end on a high note and wanted a memorable series as their swan song. So for Lowell it was a one-off mini series to test new programming waters.
The series for Fine Living helped show advertisers and sponsors the viability of embracing the public space influence in their own product offerings and has since triggered many new products with the buzz words "Hotel inspired" Or "The Fine Hotel Look."
This series debut to Fine Living audience months after Lowell's departure from the Discovery Channel.
Personal creativity is the most powerful catalyst for positive change. Self- empowerment begins under one’s own roof and the home is the ideal incubator for it.
MEDIA
A Pristine
Brand
In addition to Christopher’s freelance directing projects, he’s developing a new groundbreaking program called RightSIZE UP!. It’s an exciting fresh lifestyle web series designed to help viewers understand and embrace the newly emerging American lifestyle that places more emphasis on quality of life in an unpredictable political climate. In addition to original new how-to programming RightSIZE UP! also features the return of the iconic Christopher Lowell Library. It’s the first time the a-ha filled thousand hours of evergreen instructional infotainment has been seen in its entirety since it’s departure from network television in 2009. For more: double click on the slideshow below.
NEW MEDIA:
IN
Development
We’re proud to
have delivered
over a thousand
hours of
award winning
programming.
Lowell spent a week on the Tonight Show transforming Leno's green room into a guest oasis. The astonished Jay announced to viewers that in his opinion Lowell was the very best designer he'd seen.
Lowell was profiled by BIO for being the first to create programming that had literally transformed the face of the how-to genre and having an astounding impact on the culture at large. Lowell would divulge that it wasn't about interior design, but using the home to rekindle inherent personal creativity, essential to our human spiritual wellbeing.
As Lowell's popularity grew it was only a matter of time before the great satire show SNL would pick up on his cultural impact. They literally recreated his entire show open and spoofed him using regular Chris Kattan. One Chris played another. It was another signal that in short of a few years, Lowell had become a bit of an icon himself.
Lowell spent a week on the Tonight Show transforming Leno's green room into a guest oasis. The astonished Jay announced to viewers that in his opinion Lowell was the very best designer he'd seen.
Iconic Impressions
Christopher has always created shows to inspire everyday folks to make positive change.
As his fame and popularity grew, Lowell was determined not to separate himself from his core audience. He was judicious about when he'd appear with the "Hollywood" crowd and limited his red carpet duties to the bare minimum.
Christopher has always created shows to inspire everyday folks to make positive change.
Lowell and DCI met at the NATPE programming convention while searching for a tentpole show to rebrand their daytime slot. They liked Lowell's innovative new concept and within months debuted him on national TV. It would begin a decade-long relationship that would incorporate many projects as Lowell took on the role as the channel's daytime spokesperson.
I.M. was the debate series that launched Lowell into millions of viewers living rooms. DCI assigned Lowell a production company that did not catch Lowell's bigger more long term vision for the series. Still Lowell managed to get on air the highest rated show the channel had seen to date. It was due to Christopher's ability to connect and motivate the viewer talking directly to camera. Lowell was given more authority to shape the show and conceive a new one more on-target with his vision.
Work that room was based on Lowell's concept of giving homeowners a united design concept based on a hotel or public space they both loved. Each week he transformed on room in their home as a template for them to use in the rest of the house while giving viewers tours of great destinations. The top-rated series gave Fine Living the prestige exit program as a final crescendo before becoming the FOOD Channel.
Lowell and DCI met at the NATPE programming convention while searching for a tentpole show to rebrand their daytime slot. They liked Lowell's innovative new concept and within months debuted him on national TV. It would begin a decade-long relationship that would incorporate many projects as Lowell took on the role as the channel's daytime spokesperson.
Our goal in programming is to continue to spotlight viable lifestyle options, tools and companies that can give viewers a clearer vision of how they really want to live today.
In addition to film directing, Lowell is called upon to shapes or reshape narrative through editing. As he says, it's the other part of the story.
Christopher has written, oc-directed, executive produced and starred in over 1,700 hours of Emmy-winning national television for Discovery and Scripps channels.
RightSIZE UP is part humor, part Bio, part forecasting and part how-to. It's about finding one's new essentials.
In addition to film directing, Lowell is called upon to shapes or reshape narrative through editing. As he says, it's the other part of the story.
.SmartHOME lab is a new interactive web series in development. It allows visitors to interact live with lifestyle authorities and consumer advocates who test new products for tomorrows home.
Contact
us
here:
We’re about using visual marketing to re-connect consumer’s internal GPS to consider new lifestyle possibilities that make changing the one they’re living, worth it!
MORE ON LOWELL
A History With
Personal Creativity
For 25 years before his debut on national television, Christopher had quietly earned a unique corporate reputation as a creative and marketing visionary and “fixer.” His uncanny understanding of consumer perception and ability to foretell the next media zeitgeist quickly became a secret weapon for many Fortune 500 companies. Using his intuitive skills and honed artistic design talents Lowell was called upon to conceive and direct projects that spanned everything from major productions in the American theater to global multi-media ad campaigns…many of which, have become iconic. His ability to step seamlessly from one medium to the next defied being pigeonholed.
Throughout his career, Lowell also gained a reputation, as a mentor believing that teaching the power of personal creativity was an important part of his legacy. In 1991, Christopher set his sights on teaching the creative process on a mass scale through television. Today, whether as a spokesperson, on stage, in front or behind the camera or in the classroom, Christopher’s commitment to spreading the gospel of the power of personal creativity remains central in his life.
The quest for personal happiness is our individual right.
We can chose the redirection of our lives at every moment. When we give up judgment we drop fear. "Where's there's fear there is no creativity."
It takes courage to love and be loved in the right way.
The quest for personal happiness is our individual right.
In the end when it comes to 'HOME" consumers don't care where a product comes from or who originally designed it. What they want to know is: Is this a style I can live with? If I invest in it, what else goes with it? What do I do with it once I get it home? Is it in good taste? We try to aleavate the anxioty, answer these questions and solve the problems at first glance ...and within seconds. An empowered shopper is a consumer having fun.
While we can design at any price point, the lower the margins, the more chalenging the task. At lower to mid tier it's all about perceived value. We start with two simple concept: Could this item sit in a boutique speciality store an hold up next to products twice the price? Is the cost of designing this product from scratch worth it? Does it offer something truly new in terms of visual trend, function or philosophy? Will it endure the test of time long enough to add product extendsions?
Lowell's repitoir of expertise includes the culinary arts as an important part of home and lifestyle. Lowell's book The Hassel-Free Host was a national bestseller because it sopke to time-challenged, insecure hosts with wit and humor, starting with the premise of "don't panic we all go through this." Lowell's successful pre-coordinated party design, cooking, tabletop and gourmet collection for Burlington Stores proved that consumers responded to Lowell's "You Can Do It" message.
In the end when it comes to 'HOME" consumers don't care where a product comes from or who originally designed it. What they want to know is: Is this a style I can live with? If I invest in it, what else goes with it? What do I do with it once I get it home? Is it in good taste? We try to aleavate the anxioty, answer these questions and solve the problems at first glance ...and within seconds. An empowered shopper is a consumer having fun.
