BBH's Zag Develops New Positioning, Identity and Online Experience for Furniture Retailer Swoon

Swoon, one of the UK’s leading online furniture retailers, launches fresh new distinctive identity with new logo, upcoming debut TV campaign and website created by Zag (part of BBH). 

  

Founded in 2012 by Debbie Williamson and Brian Harrison, ‘Swoon Editions’ was born out of a desire to offer distinctively designed quality furniture at disruptive prices.

Unlike traditional furniture brands that often work on eighteen month design cycles, Swoon is unique in its ability to respond to customer demand and trends using real time data, launching new designs daily. The business works with talented craftspeople around the world, with a focus on utilising design techniques from skilled artisans. 

Swoon has seen rapid growth over the last six years and within the home market has risen at a compound annual growth rate of over 100% since inception. Following a Series B round of investment of £15m led by Octopus Ventures in 2017, Swoon decided to invest in a rebrand to help the business evolve from disruptive UK challenger to established global leader. 

  

Through extensive ethnographic research, Zag identified the customer heartland as the ‘hip & humble’ customer - the home obsessed creators and curators of home that evolve with changing visions and the unique sense of style of its owners 

In a category which obsesses about the designs, designers and collaborations Zag’s strategy was to hero the vision and ideas of Swoon’s customer, after all it is the customer that helps determine which products become bestsellers. This led the brand positioning being 'For the home obsessed' and ultimately influenced the rebrand moving forward. 

  

The individuality and distinctiveness of Swoon’s customer and the furniture pieces themselves has been brought to life through Swoon’s new marque.  Each of the characters within the name references different furniture design details and making processes used by the company; the ‘W’ referencing bent steel, the ‘N’ joinery that you might find in a chair, the double ‘O’ reflect the on-going never-ending process of creating your perfect home.  Individually the letters have their own character but they come together like furniture in a room set.  Thick and thins show the motion through the marque, which was designed in collaboration with typographer Rick Banks of foundry F37. 

  

As well as the marque, a set of conceptual guidelines have been developed alongside a new website using a brand system Zag call ‘The Living Sketchbook’ reflecting the idea of combining furniture styles with fabrics, colours and accessories. This system lives across both print and digital executions and has been brought to life in collaboration with the Swoon brand team for a press and outdoor campaign to support the TV launch. The colour palette will change seasonally and will be driven by Swoon’s interior trends forecasting.   

 

Social will play a key part in Swoon’s reach to its customers and the new website now includes a redesigned blog upping the level of story-telling from the brand; key to sharing ideas and trends with its customers. 

  

Swoon’s debut TV campaign champions the company’s ethos to inspire home obsessed creators of the ‘ever-evolving home’. It is directed by award winning choreographer and one to watch director talent, Holly Blakey and produced by BBH’s Black Sheep Studios and will air on 4th April. 

  

Chief Marketing Officer for Swoon, Noel Eves, is looking ahead to the next ten years, 

 

“Our products and business model are unique within the industry and we now have a fresh and distinctive visual identity to match. We are excited to be launching a TV advert for the first time which will allow us to speak directly to new customers and share what we do best. The plan is to be a major force within the industry over the years to come and become a onestop destination for all things home - first in the UK and then beyond into international markets.” 

   

On working with Swoon, Aran Potkin, Managing Partner, Strategy at Zag said: 

  

“It is all to rare that you get to work with brands that are genuinely disrupting a marketplace. Underpinned by a genius business model and continued investment in innovation, we really believe this a step change moment in Swoon’s growth trajectory. In helping to identify the customer heartland, define its vision and story and reimagine the entire brand experience, we believe Swoon now have everything in place to go on to dominate the market for years to come” 

  

In March 2018, the first regional pop-up Swoon store launched in Birmingham, displaying key collections for purchase and hosting interactive workshops for customers. The regional roadshow will continue throughout the UK this year visiting London from 14th April, and several other UK cities. 

  

Swoon also recently launched a concession space with Debenhams, in their Westfield White City store.