Fire & Heat, a retailer of luxury heating products including wood-burning stoves, contemporary fireplaces, and state-of-the-art media walls, approached the team at Blumin in early 2023 to help create a compelling brand identity and formally launch the brand to both B2C and B2B audiences.
The objective from the outset was to develop a comprehensive brand messaging framework that encompassed the company’s key sales messages and reflected the premium price point of their products and services – ensuring brand voice and tone were consistent across all communications channels including a new website, a full suite of social media channels and other key marketing touchpoints.
With a physical location via their immersive showroom in Cheshire as well as digital channels and an online presence, we have implemented a comprehensive marketing strategy that incorporates both above-the-line (ATL) and below-the-line (BTL) marketing techniques to establish (and grow) brand visibility, customer engagement, and drive sustainable growth – laying the foundation for all future brand-related activities.
Following a comprehensive brief from the client and a review of the competitive landscape, our creative team set about designing a visually appealing and cohesive brand identity, including a logo, colour palette, typography, and other visual elements.
It was important that the visual identity reflected the brand's premium personality and resonated with the target audience – identified through psychographic and demographic analysis and by creating buyer personas/avatars.
A key marketing channel, both for brand launch and as the company moves towards an eCommerce model later this year, we designed and built the website to help establish the brand’s online presence, showcase their products, and signpost visitors to information regarding the showroom in order to increase footfall.
A user-centric design approach was adopted from the outset, focused on intuitive navigation, responsive design, clear call-to-action buttons, and user-friendly layouts. We created wireframes to help visualise the structure and user flow and used visual elements to enhance the user experience and evoke the desired emotions and engagement.
We knew that head-turning visuals would be integral to the Fire & Heat brand launch and ongoing communications. A mix of compelling and informative content to educate, engage, and connect with the target audience on an emotional level was essential - and photography and videography were therefore non-negotiable.
We created a detailed brief and enlisted the help of Rob Whitrow Photographer and Bigtank Productions – both long-term collaborators with Blumin, who were able to bring their expertise (and A-game!) to the project which culminated in an on-site photoshoot at the showroom.
The Blumin team helped to design and curate the overall look and feel of the shoot with detailed digital storyboards, selection, and sourcing of props and accessories to complement the concept, and individual set design to create inspirational and aspirational living spaces to bring the hero products to life.
We also acted as art director on the shoot to oversee the creative process, ensure the styling aligned with the brand’s vision and strategic objectives, and maintained aesthetic integrity to support the brand narrative. Some of the team acted as, ahem, ‘models’ in some frames too!
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Whilst the wider Blumin team have A LOT of strings to their bow, we are also firm believers in bringing in other talent and the best-of-the-best when it comes to collaboration with other creative professionals. This project allowed us to do just that.
For a new B2C brand, social media was always going to be a significant element of the wider marketing communications strategy – not least because it would be visual language and repetition of key sales messages and product features that would kick start a brand awareness campaign.
We set up an initial suite of channels (Pinterest, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, LinkedIn, YouTube, and Google Business) including visual banners, logo, and relevant bios/copy to describe the business and signpost enquiries back to the website.
We also helped to set up various online directories and listings to ensure the foundation was set to aid online visibility, drive website traffic and leads, and target niche audiences.
Once the channels were set up, a social media content plan was designed and implemented, kicking off with a competition to increase followers/connections, distribute and amplify content, and reach targeted audiences through sponsored and paid-for posts. The full service included the creation of graphics, reels, short videos, and all copywriting - pulling out features and benefits of the stunning products and showroom, as well as promotion of the competition.
To complement the digital channels, we also researched both local and national trade and lifestyle magazines, as well as opportunities on radio to reach audiences in the local vicinity (and most likely to physically visit the showroom) as well as a mass audience to increase brand awareness in the build-up to an eCommerce sales model in the future.
For this element of the project, the Blumin team undertook a number of steps in securing and booking advertising space with media outlets after a period of research and analysis to define objectives and target audience, clarify campaign objectives, and determine the most appropriate channels that aligned with those.
We then helped to design and create visuals and copy, including radio scripts, as part of a seamless end-to-end process that will also include motoring, analysis, and evaluation of ROI to assess reach, engagement, and impact.
3 Harding Close,
Selsey,
Chichester,
West Sussex
PO20 0FG.
