An NZ slant on Luxaflex's US brands

Along with regular blinds, Luxaflex market a suite of four state-of-the-art “shades” whose attributes and appearance are a step ahead of other window coverings. Each product though, has a name that is difficult to grasp and means nothing in New Zealand having been developed as a stand-alone sub-brand in the US. Available here for several years their sales had been disappointing.

To relaunch the products our strategy was to group them together, creating and naming a new category – “Softshades” – easier for consultants to explain in-store and for consumers to remember. Neither blinds nor curtains, Softshades could be positioned as a new group entirely.

The campaign includes magazine ads, POS, internet search and display advertising and tools for retailers. Creating the Softshades brand also involved extensive graphic design work.

The most demanding part was the rationalisation of swatch books (mighty tomes displaying fabrics) by condensing the details of the four disparate sub-brands into one cohesive unit; rebranding it Softshades, in a style designed to appeal to New Zealanders rather than Americans.

The campaign has only just begun (September) but early signs are encouraging. Most significantly, the work has received glowing praise from Luxaflex’s retailers.