|
|
|
|
|
| ABOUT US | CORE SERVICES | ASSOCIATED SERVICES | NEWS ARCHIVE | ||||
|
|
|||
 |
 |
|
 |
|
 |
||||
| posted:
22.12.05 "We want to put the theatre back into shopping." Those words were a part of our brief when we were asked to put together an 'eleventh hour' pitch for the launch of a new pilot shop brand for Gilesports. Gilesports are a leading independent sports retailer in Wales, the Midlands and South West who pride themselves in providing quality products and great value for money. With a nationwide store network they provide sporting and lifestyle clothing, carrying brands like Nike, Adidas, Reebok, Animal, Quiksilver & Ripcurl. "We've been keeping a close eye on trends not only in our own stores, but across the industry generally and we've been surprised by some of our findings," comments David Jones, Marketing Director of Gilesports. "For instance, we know that more than half of our customers are female, even though many of our goods are for teamsports such as football and rugby. We are also aware that sports clothing has colonised the street and that urban lifestyle brands are sought after not only by sportsmen and women, but by a much wider audience. We want to make sure that our stores align with our customers' aspirations." What a great project! We were hooked, even though the schedule was almost suicidal and the learning curve steep. Our enthusiasm to reach the right solution helped us to raise our game and meet the deadlines. "When Day1 were recommended to us, we had already been working on the rebranding project for 3 months, but we hadn't yet reached our 'Eureka' moment," comments Andy Giles, Director. "I have to admit that after Day1's first presentation, they got us thinking long and hard which could only have been a good thing. And their observations regarding our selected route rang true and made us stop to reassess. This of course put all sorts of pressure on the schedule." "I became convinced we needed to be more radical in our thinking and address our real customers, not who we thought they were. The move away from 'sport' in the brand name was a big decision for us, but we think it was the right one," says Andy Giles. And our solution? Well we didn't quite experience a 'Eureka' moment, but after a great deal of research and assessment of retail trends [difficult for the shopoholics in the team], we were able to reach a couple of viable routes by deduction. "It all came down to whether the brand should be based on an 'idea' like 'Urban Splash' or a simple descriptor like Lloyds Bank. There are loads of 'Sport/Lifes' around and we knew that the brand had to differentiate from [rather than taking on] the volume, low margin, lower quality retailers. There needed to be a little 'wit' and a brand idea for the targets to relate to," explains Andy Uren, Day1 partner. And so 'Alive!' was born. Two new stores in Grantham and Hull have been opened under the new livery and, whilst there's still work to do on internal styling and signs, the new look is certainly turning heads. "The electric blue and black colour scheme looks amazing when its back-lit and the huge wall graphics are amazing," says David Jones. "We've had a really good response so far to the new image, but we'll do some more scientific customer surveys in the new year and those will help us decide how to roll out the new brand across the country."
|
14.02.07
Get into INTO more >> 
02.02.07
The power of three more >> 
30.01.07
Action in the UK more >> 
20.12.06
Bid success more >> |
|||