RESULTS: CASE STUDIES

CASE STUDY 1: Move a well known designer/manufacturer of contract textiles to household name status in the residential arena.

We introduced the client's first outdoor fabric collection to a new audience: residential. The patterns were exuberantly colorful, bold and graphic; an easy sell. The message, however, was tricky; the yarns were manufactured by a noted outdoor brand, a name all consumer editors knew, but the client's name was less known because her previous focus had been to-the-trade. Our objectives were to create a national name for the client in consumer shelter and regional magazines and blogs, to broaden presence in industry publications, and to promote the weather-resistant, outdoor features of the yarn ingredient while clarifying the fabric belonged to our client and not created by or for the yarn company.

The "hand" of the fabric (how it feels to the touch) was more in keeping with a luxurious interior textile than something for outdoor, which tends to have a coarser surface. We also recognized that outdoor fabrics had a traditional reputation that our modernist client would turn on its ear. We produced a visually arresting press kit with eye-catching photography, and put fabric swatches in the hands of the editors.

We generated 30 placements in the first year, among them Metropolitan Home, Western Interiors, Southern Accents, Sunset, House and Garden, Garden Design, Elements of Living, Country Home, and Home Magazine, and such metro lifestyle magazines as New York Home, California Home & Design, San Diego Home, Minneapolis St. Paul, Atlanta Homes & Lifestyles, Colorado Homes, Boston Home, Philadelphia Home, New York Home, Florida Inside Out, and Palm Beach Cottages and Gardens.