Case Study: KingsHaven
Consumers are no longer merely interested in purchasing products to fulfill what they want. In this modern era of transparency, they seek connections with brands that understand them and their inherent needs. The brands that truly grasp the importance of going beyond a supply-and-demand mentality are the ones that create and maintain ongoing relationships with targeted audiences, ultimately, engaging with customers above and beyond sales alone.
The owners of KingsHaven founded their international lighting and furniture brand with this branding concept at the forefront of their business.
When the company was formed, the owners knew introducing and marketing a new brand of lighting, furniture and accessories would be a tall order. Their objective was to retain the services of an agency that specializes in Consumer Product Marketing, one with an impressive reputation in the Lighting and Furnishings Industries and Specifiers sector.
Eberly & Collard Public Relations was invited to serve, and we jumped at the exciting call to action.
How we got there:
The branding team with Eberly & Collard Public Relations (ECPR) began with an intensive profile appraisal of the budding brand, involving a series of roundtables as part of our proprietary Research and Discovery assessment. Side by side with our new clients, we undertook the task of exploring all facets of mapping for the new brand.
Knowing the lighting category is one of the most competitive markets in which to launch new brands and product lines, ECPR unearthed valuable insight through a SWOT analysis about the new brand’s essence and offer. A Consumer Product Introduction strategy was brainstormed and written to account for one-year goals, alongside future-years’ goals and objectives.
Campaigns were conceptualized with market-savvy promotional and publicity action items focused upon a national brand launch. This led to integrated marketing being quickly dissected into 5 core areas of deployment for unveiling the new brand, and the results soon shed light upon why and how KingsHaven is the go-to lighting resource in North America, and beyond.
The Results:
Due to the flooded lighting market, light fixture options abound for consumers. Many lesser-quality lights can steal market share and share of voice, but the reality of lighting is that you get what you pay for. Our solution for our client’s brand and product launch was rooted in two simple facts: The brand’s products are handmade of the highest-quality materials by skilled artisans, and they are entirely unique.
Making sure consumers from coast to coast, and across the pond, were fully aware of these facts involved meticulously planned Integrated Marketing, and this is where it got fun.
Branding:
- We started with target audience definitions and a review of both present and intended brand perceptions.
- Brand messaging unified with inbound-and-outbound sound bite content paved the way for internal and external communications.
- Logo, font and color style guides; brand standards research and development; and ongoing digital art and print collateral were established as part of a collaborative effort led by several members of our Brand Creative staff and artist Dave Hanas.
- Brochures, catalogs, postcards, and other print collateral supported digital content.
- Video scripting, art direction and creative led to create “Brand Personification” by showcasing the company’s CEO in her day-to-day activities and discussing the brand’s USPs.
- At the heart of the launch were tactical business-to-consumer and business-to-business branding ratios.
Digital Marketing:
- ECPR oversaw the gamut of digital campaigns to launch and market the brand and product lines as they were created, from development to execution to analytics.
- We oversaw and guided the creative process to produce a brand video for our client, spanning an artistic group consisting our in-house digital / video planning team and All Ages Productions.
- Search Engine Optimization and Search Engine Marketing campaigns powered the digital launch and traffic of a new website and the new video.
- Google Ad Campaigns were produced and managed on a daily basis- at first, generating key national messaging, and, then, leading to an increase of 95% in online commerce.
- Our Digital team oversaw KingsHaven’s Facebook Ads Manager based upon targeted geographic and demographic stats, with creative ads being designed and served across FB newsfeed, FB Direct Messaging, Instagram, FB articles, Stories, and paid-with-unpaid content.
- Organic social channel content calendars served authentic consumer connections and product sharing.
- Opted-in Contacts Databases and E-newsletters promoted product launch details, consumer and trade events, and brand news with an average near-27% click-through rate.
Public Relations:
- Key industry memberships with the nation’s applicable lighting and design associations were vetted and maximized with 50% average negotiated discounts for promo benefits.
- Speaking, designer show house and design center events put our client and the brand’s products in front of significant design-specifier and consumer communities.
- The ECPR publicists created PR programs to double visibility for the brand and products in under one year.
- Our PR pros assembled partnerships with top influencers, brand ambassadors, and consumer / industry organizations to benefit brand connections.
- We helped our client edit and publicize her new design and lighting book (by Images Publishing) through a robust book tour and author signings.
Media Relations:
- We executed assertive consumer awareness and corporate communications programs which regularly secured brand and product coverage- spanning consumer, business and trade media outlets.
- Press campaigns earned quick-hitting feature and cover stories, co-features, articles, product reviews, Editor Product Picks, quotes, and impressions, with online publicity rife with link-backs to the brand’s website.
- Back-to-back press campaigns achieved 214 million impressions in 18 months, and nearly doubled in year two, with year three already off to a booming start.
- Press tours at the Architectural Digest Design Show and a press campaign concentrated upon product launch at High Point Market yielded a 30% surge in publicity coverage.
Advertising:
- Our ad specialists planned every component of advertising creative, graphic art, and layout design with our in-house and vendor artists, and led copywriting, media buying, ad cost negotiations, and overall ad submissions and tracking.
- Our media buyers saved our client an average of 63% in ad costs compared to published media rates for three consecutive years.
- Sponsored and native ads were utilized for paid content storytelling, which led to hyperlinked in-content product promotions.
- Digital and print advertisements across regional and national magazine titles accomplished surges in web traffic and sales conversations with each campaign.
