Creating unique, relevant and engaging Christmas campaigns that knit the whole brand experience together, from POS to packaging,  surface design to products, in store theatre and gift guides is a key part of our offering.  

For this year’s campaign,  ‘All the way to Christmas Day’, we took our inspiration from the long list of ‘to do’s’ that customers make in preparation for Christmas.

Our focus was to position Wilkinson as the place on the high street to get everything they need for the big day.

The campaign was developed to communicate Christmas gifts, but also to drive awareness and purchasing of the essentials like tin foil, through to everything you need for the home and the finishing touches such as decorations to make your Christmas extra special.

We developed a suite of icons and graphical devices to communicate range and created a strapline that injected warmth and humour to the campaign for example “Just add… Dad’s dance moves”

The campaign’s distinctive look and feel was carried through into the catalogue, along with ideas and ‘festive knowhow’ tips.

We’ve loved working with the team at PZ Cussons Beauty on the Winter edition of Glow magazine.

From backstage beauty reports, to fashion and this year’s most wanted Christmas gifts,  we’ve created a hard working piece of editorial that’s packed with ideas and inspiration  from the iconic Charles Worthington, St.Tropez and Sanctuary Spa brands.  

As a team of women who lap up the latest launches from the beauty market, we’ve relished the opportunity to bring the expertise and results to life for market-leading new product development, such as Sanctuary 30 Day Youth Revolution and Charles Worthington Salon At Home Straight & Smooth.

You can read Glow by clicking on the link below.

http://www.charlesworthington.com/news/2011/nov/charles-worthington-glow-magazine-winter-2011

PosturePlast

Posture is widely accepted to be the main cause of lower back pain. PosturePlast has been developed by an osteopath and is a drug free solution that helps relieve existing pain while correcting posture, so back problems are much less likely to recur. This double effect makes PosturePlast unique.

PosturePlast is an X- shaped plaster, encompassing flexible struts, which control movement and keep the back in the optimum Safe Zone. PosturePlast uses Active Back Control to correct posture – easing existing lower back pain and preventing further occurrences. PosturePlast’s design takes the complex lace pattern of taping and delivers all the benefits in an authentic, innovative and patented one-piece solution.

Adam Dallison, a registered medical practitioner with the General Osteopathic Council and the British Osteopathic Association, was inspired to develop this new solution from his experience with patients from all walks of life, seeing similar scenarios and symptoms time after time caused by bad posture.

“Jupiter have taken my ideas and concept from scratch and turned PosturePlast into a finished consumer branded product, which has been very well received by consumers, healthcare professionals and retailers. Expert help from them all the way with all aspects of design, PR and web based activity, as well as being honest, reliable, and fun to work with.” Adam Dallison.

http://www.postureplast.co.uk

1 in 2 households in the UK own a pet and delivering great value, range and expertise to pet owners is a key part of the Wilkinson offering.
 
We’ve redesigned the pet category in order to drive awareness and sales of the range, which includes a wide range of food and accessories for dogs, cats, small animals, fish, reptiles and even chickens.

The look and feel has great presence and a touch of Wilkinson quirkiness, using real pets and owners to communicate their relationships and personalities. The approach spans POS, on-shelf merchandising, packaging together with an online and social media presence.

Springtime saw several Bank holidays, a royal wedding and Easter.

We created an integrated through-the-line campaign to capture the optimism of Spring and to embrace the opportunities that this season gave consumers to enjoy time together with friends and family.

We created a campaign based around ‘getting together’, a communications concept that had to transcend every category and every channel.

The highly distinctive campaign was flexible, had immediate impact instore and worked hard to inspire and excite customers.

POPAI (Point of Purchase Advertising International) recently conducted consumer research into purchasing behaviour and Spring instore experiences. They found that “Wilkinson really stood out” and “was the only one of the major retailers that talked about Spring”, demonstrating the consumer’s appreciation of a more emotive retail experience.

Dobbies was established in 1865 in Scotland as a seeds business. It evolved into a retail garden centre business of 25 sites, approximately half of which are in Scotland, where it is a household name.

We were approached by Dobbies in order to create a new identity for Dobbies Essentials – a value range of gardening products and to refresh the identity of Dobbies Select – a premium range of plants and accessories.

We developed branding, tone of voice and packaging across the brands and also created bespoke packaging guidelines in order to support the smooth development and implementation of packaging through to print.

This iconic brand is synonymous with all things glamorous and 15 years after its launch, is still the self tan treatment market leader.

In order to stay ahead, the range is constantly evolving through new technologies and formulations – extending from self tanning, gradual tanning, preparation, maintenance and into skin finishing products.

We’ve worked with the St.Tropez team to create GLOW, using editorial to bring the brand’s new and exciting news to life with up to the minute fashion trends and celeb features.

The Wickes brand offers straightforward, professional, own brand products and advice to UK tradesman and serious DIY’ers.

With increasing competition from the trade merchants and DIY stores, we worked closely with the Wickes team to develop this successful and iconic catalogue in order to drive trade appeal.

We crafted new thinking around content and messaging and created hard working templates to maximise space for new and expanding ranges – all whilst keeping it simple to use and operationally straightforward to create.

In partnership with Wilkinson, we’ve entirely remodelled the brand’s look and feel through every channel.

To support the successful roll out of the new Wilkinson branding across over 130 of their stores, we’ve created a new approach to the look and feel of their fleet of lorries.

The fleet is a key part of the brand’s communication – helping to raise awareness and a few smiles along the way.

The Wilkinson brand is synonymous with offering families genuine value for money in the heart of their community. As part of the work that we’ve done to refresh this 80 year old family-owned retailer, we’ve created a fresh new approach to the Wilkinson value range.

Our brief was to create a honest, simple and straightforward value brand with a touch of humour. We’ve developed an instantly recognisable look with superior shelf stand out.

The Autumn/Winter 2010 catalogue has just hit stores and is also available online.

This is our fourth catalogue for Wilkinson and we’ve relished working with the team at Wilkinson to create the biggest and best yet, with over 380 pages and 1000’s of must have items all at great prices.

The catalogue aims to brings the family company’s commitment to giving customers good, honest products at fair honest prices approach to life and showcases their expertise and own brand offering.

We’ve created a new identity and packaging for Wilkinson own brand toy range.

Wilko Play! is a compelling, modern and simple proposition that supports the core Wilkinson brand. It’s a range that demonstrates expertise in a crowded marketplace.

We started by introducing clear colour segmentation to aid merchandising and navigation, highlighting that the range includes pre-school, girl’s, boy’s, games and pocket money items.

A new suite of key messaging icons were introduced to immediately communicate the age range suitability of each item and to share the learning skills that each toy helps to develop, helping customers with their choice. We devised a new approach to the use of illustrations, graphics and photography across the range, adding life relevance and a sense of personality to each piece of packaging.

Our challenge was to inject personality and inspiration into a new range of own brand stationery products.

We reviewed and translated global trends and audited the UK market to identity gaps and opportunities for differentiation. Our new range of creative themes and concepts target a younger, more fashion-led customer.

As ever in life, one man’s loss is another’s gain. And while I’ve mourned the disappearance of Woolworths from our high streets (when a store that big closes, it’s the retail equivalent of having a front tooth extracted), I’ve also been acutely aware of the vultures that have circled overhead, picking off the bargain-price unit, redundant staff – and of course the shoppers. The 99p Shops and Poundlands piled in first, recognising that their profiles were probably closest to Woolies. But recently, as retail analysts have observed, the brand that stands to benefit the most from Woolworths’ demise is Wilkinson. Already a fixture in the North and Midlands, Wilkinson has opened 17 new stores in the past year alone, and delivered commendable profit growth of 120 per cent. Sounds like a business that’s going places.

The windows
The Leeds shop is one of a number of Wilkinson stores that have been upgraded with new branding and fixtures. The marketing focus is on fun and value, with jolly windows promoting a bottle of factor-25 own-brand sun cream, keenly priced at £2.98 (although I’m not convinced I’d trust it to protect a toddler on a sunny day). My eye is also drawn by a confident message welcoming new customers – ‘We’re a family company, committed to giving you good, honest products at fair, honest prices.’ Nice start.

Shopability
Much of the shop is laid out as your average supermarket, but with impressively clear signage for the confectionary, cleaning, health and beauty and stationery departments. The only thing you won’t find here is food. Most surprising was the size of the DIY department, with an outdoor living area to rival B&Q. I also loved the express tills, which genuinely seemed to be moving customers through at a pace. Overall, it’s a modern, fresh-feeling store that I enjoyed shopping in. As ever in the value sector, there’s a fair amount of prize tat here, notably a horrible bronze rose-arch garden bench (not even worth its £35 price tag) and an appalling selection of ‘gorgeous brands at bargain prices’ piled on the end of a gondola. Spotting two shelves of Charlie Pink Perfumed Body Fragrance, I headed for the checkout…

Was I being served?
… But not before I’d checked out the customer service desk, where two bubbly blondes sat behind a little sign saying, ‘GUESS OUR NAMES. ONE QUID A GO.’ I presumed this was all part of Wilkinson’s good honest family fun philosophy, yet was bemused to find both girls had name badges on. All became clearer as I approached and one of them pointed out a fishbowl at the end of the counter containing two scraggy-looking goldfish.

Online
Like the store, this is a well-designed and customer-friendly website. Beyond the online shopping experience, there’s plenty of interesting blurb on the company itself, especially its ‘vision and values’ manifesto (most firms keep this sort of thing private). I’m also intrigued and impressed to read about Wilko’s efforts to raise money in local communities. What’s more, I learn that management provides subsidised breaks for 300 workers at its holiday parks, all of which, I’m sure, engenders a large amount of goodwill among staff.

Verdict
Wilkinson’s success shows just how far the value sector has come recently. Where once value shops were all about price (and very little else), Wilkinson delivers not only good value, but also a smile and a pleasant shopping experience way beyond the family motto that hangs above the door. Over the next few years, ambitious brands such as Wilkinson are going to reshape the British high street, challenging the clunky old middle-market brands like Bhs (and, dare I say it, M&S) and reframing our expectations of both value and experience in a post-recessionary world. Bring it on, I say.

Rating 7/10
Good for value and a sunny, fun experience.
Bad for some of the tat

The Mail on Sunday yesterday featured a piece about the Heart of Gold brand.

Read the full article on the Daily Mail website. For a more detailed insight into the story on how we created the brand click here.