Background:

Siobhan McIntosh is a Mother, Businesswoman and homemaker. She gave up her corporate job a few years ago to pursue a dream to become a designer which would also allow her to work from home and be closer to her six year old son. Siobhan started with a premium range of cushions, lamp-shades, picture frames, tea towels and eco-shopping bags aimed at middle-aged professional women, usually with kids. The brief at the Idea Shop however was to help Siobhan launch the signature range of her products.

Solution:

The Ogilvy team set about taking the new products back to the core of where they came from. Siobhan’s story as an ambitious young mother and entrepreneur gives her brand a unique positioning in a market cluttered with Ikeas and Habitats. The fact that all her products were designed by her and handmade give them a personal identity that the big brands simply cannot replicate. This would be her differentiator when it came to pitching her products. We devised a communications pack that Siobhan should put together including a business card that would use materials from her designs to stand out from any other, a folding display she could take to boutiques to showcase her work, and a leave behind that would tell her story.

We then worked with Siobhan to devise a launch and contact strategy.  One of the key things missing for the new range was a good set of photographs displaying the new designs, and a premium looking website for those products to live.  One of the solutions was to take her business plan back to her University lecturers to try and get the students there to work on the project as a live brief.  Siobhan had a good relationship with the professors on her course and creative courses are always looking for real-life briefs to work from so we felt this would be a good place to start to minimise any upfront capital. Once this was in place Siobhan could set about identifying the stores/boutiques she thought would fit her products.  It will be important for her to set some clear objectives against a defined time frame to ensure that she has an efficient attack plan to get her product on the shelf.

We left Siobhan with some clear action points and direction to help take her signature range forward. Siobhan left us inspired by a young lady who was determined to make a success of herself as a businesswoman whilst continuing to be a good mother. We wish her all the best in taking the interior design world by storm!

www.siobhanmcintosh.com

Post by Oli Goulden

Account Director, Ogilvy Advertising

Tags: Idea Shop Brixton, interiors, launch strategy, web