With a range of colourful keep cups, aluminium water bottles, food storage and kitchen accessories, Smidge are a challenger brand focused on sustainability and practicality. In an increasingly saturated category it’s a tough place for brands to stand out. Heavily commoditised, consumers aren’t looking for brand leadership in the space. Although Chill’s are a dominant force, they’re an outlier, rather than a leader. We needed to find a way to help Smidge grab some attention.
The price is right
We took a deep dive into the category, mapping both consumer behaviour and culture, understanding need and key motivations, taking the temperature of the market. We realised quickly, that this fundamentally wasn’t a brand problem, primarily it was a pricing issue. To grow market share, and define a position from which to grow, we needed to carve out a niche, that meant developing a position based on value and price, measured against key branded competitors and own label offers.
Pricing alone helped us achieve two important things. 1/ The moderate price per unit increase at current sales levels significantly improved the business’s bottom line without a penny spent on marketing. 2/ We were able to develop a compelling brand proposition by moving away from the commoditised, lower end, into a more open middle tier, where brands are expected, welcomed and engaged with.
Creative simplicity
We loved the bold simplicity of the Smidge brand, we didn’t want to lose this stylish essence instead, we embraced it. Employing a more direct, compelling tone and language, combined with effortlessly stylish motion graphics and design. The creative has an accessible, mainstream aesthetic, that feels sophisticated without ever becoming style over substance. An extensive roll-out across all digital and physical assets, Smidge is an exercise in restraint, sound marketing and observing the classic tenets of brand building.
A truly great range of products that are practical, stylish and above all, made to last. And last. And last. Quality measured in decades of ownership. The way things should be.
