Concept design and prototyping for Valentine’s Day integrated / POS campaign

To develop a successful in-store campaign, a marketing team has to coordinate many elements to ensure shoppers experience the same message everywhere.

A physical anchor or theme helps to make the words more memorable and connect with the audience. For their Valentine’s Day gift range, diamond jewellery brand, Forevermark, chose the iconic hot air balloon to symbolise their “True love is unstoppable” message.

Challenge: Design a single concept for global stores / one size fits all

Forevermark were developing a brand campaign message to capture the imagination of shoppers through social media, online advertising and in their in-store marketing.

Globally they have Authorised Forevermark Jewellers with very different sizes of shop windows and display counters. For consistent branding, Forevermark provides white point-of-sale (POS) display frames to create displays for different pieces of jewellery in each store. The idea was to provide fresh artwork to enhance the in-store displays for 2-3 weeks running up to Valentine’s Day which would fit all POS stands regardless of scale.

Forevermark needed a unique 3D design for their concept of red hot air balloons which would reflect their brand globally and communicate their ‘True Love is Unstoppable’ message. Although they wanted a very special design, they had to consider overseas manufacturing and how to distribute it cost-effectively.

Prototyping the physical campaign elements

Forevermark chose the hot air balloon as a perfect Valentine’s Day symbol for freedom and adventure, because it’s also a romantic way of travelling. Our role was to develop the hot air balloon design concept through to a physical prototype ready for production and distribution to each store.

We had to devise a method of construction, with clear manufacturing and assembly instructions, creating a single design that would fit to all POS stands.

Project manager, Sophie Adams-Foster, worked closely with Forevermark to understand their brief and mature the pre-production ideas. While developing the balloon design, we explored possible options, cost-effective materials and advantages or disadvantages of each concept. After testing the design on textured acrylic, shotblast acrylic and with paper, we sent several prototypes to Forevermark for review – with a vintage look and feel. Forevermark gave us clear feedback, steering the design towards a finalised laser cut design. We evolved this to encompass a miniature design for the counter top highlighter.

Handover to manufacturing

To ensure the team could brief their overseas manufacturers, we provided assembly instructions with the final  design files. Our guide included a bill of materials with a step-by-step breakdown for constructing each layer of the balloons. Forevermark’s preferred manufacturer then took over the mass production for the artwork and balloons to ship them with a tight turnaround to the stores. As the campaign rolls out in the stores, we’ve seen a range of elegant animations and images on social media to share the message with Forevermark fans.

When your next project involves mass-manufacturing, but you’d like to test the ideas to achieve the best design for your brand, talk to us on 0117 9249596.