The Brief
ScS had hit the ceiling for growth and were stuck relying on price promotions to drive traffic. This had eroded their brand image and as such, consumers had no understanding of what they stood for or what they represented, bar being a discount furniture store. This meant their core audiences were rejecting them; as Greg in Glasgow said, ‘I’d be so embarrassed if I bought from there and someone found out.’
Our task was to bring ScS back into the minds and hearts of consumers and give people a reason to purchase that wasn’t based purely on price.
The Insight
Using subconscious research we found that consumers say they purchase based on design and trends, but in reality, their subconscious guides them to an emotional connection with a piece of furniture that ultimately becomes as much a part of the family as a pet or relative. Therefore, we needed to rebrand the whole of ScS – logo, look and feel, stores, point of sale, van liveries, website and more, all laddering up to a newly created purpose, ‘Helping create the home you love’.
The Idea
Our communications focussed on the feeling of coming back to a home that you love, and that symbiotic relationship of your home loving you back, in what can only be described as ‘The hug of home’. Our redesign used softer, comfier shapes – an overlapping logo to simulate people squished together on a sofa – and used heuristics that included the price, but didn’t shout it.
Results
From drastically under category conversion, we took ScS to above category conversion – a 2% market share increase – with a decreased media spend, in a declining market, while maintaining sales. So good was the job we did that Poltronesofa, an Italian sofa giant, purchased ScS to expand in the UK. (And took the work in-house. Conversion instantly fell again…)
For reference - Here is the old advert and branding... And i'm not being harsh. There was far worse to choose from