Beecroft’s
Evolving the brand and developing a new visual identity and integrated marketing communications for a refreshed heritage brand
Founded in 1822, Beecroft's is one of England’s oldest toy shop brands. The last members of the Beecroft family decided to retire and the business has been acquired by new owners with big plans.
We have been asked to evolve the brand, develop a new visual identity and integrated marketing communications to relaunch Beecroft’s as an online and mail order business. Watch this space!
Our bright thinking
• Vision and Values
• Qualitative research
• New brand strategy
• Internal workshops
• Strategic Consultancy
• Website design
• Launch
Having worked with lots of heritage brands, we knew it was about balancing the values of the past with the promise of the future. We had to turn what had been a shop in Nottingham into a national brand, competing with several very well known and established competitors.
After a detailed briefing, brand workshop with the management team and extensive research, we recommended building the brand around the core idea of ‘Fun for Generatons’, blending the history of the brand with an important and distinctive promise to deliver entertainment for all the family.
Our inspired creativity
It’s all about having fun. In looking for a symbol that combined the lineage of the brand with its promise to deliver fun for generations, we combed Beecroft’s archive of photography and ephemera and kept finding bow rocking horses, that classic of Victorian childhood with enduring appeal. We drew the rocking horse so that its base works subliminally as a smile, reinforcing the promise of fun.
Browsing and buying toys should be fun for everyone. We have developed an online experience that aims to bring the magic and sense of discovery in a browsing in a traditional toyshop to the screen.
We commissioned and art directed photography that brings alive Beecroft’s values and promise for its target audience in a strongly differentiated context; outdoors and active. The aim is towards the premium end of the market and using consumer and desk research we have developed a content strategy built around the identified preferences of the audience in creating integrated marketing communications including an e-commerce website, catalogue, advertisements and stationary.
