Client: Tuscan Foundry Products (Lumen Rooflights)
Agency: Red Rocket

Background

Tuscan Foundry Products sells and manufactures products for conservation and renovation of period buildings – items such as cast iron roof guttering, radiators, and roof lights. The business, based in Holsworth, Devon, was set up by company founder Paul Stenning in 1990 and currently has a full-time staff of six.

Over the years, Tuscan has designed and branded a number of its own products including Lumen Rooflight – a range of roof windows and skylights designed to replicate a traditional Victorian design and incorporate Pilkington Activ, the world’s first self-cleaning glass. Beautifully designed and durable, Lumen products have been used successfully in a number of projects overseen by English Heritage and the National Trust.

Problem

Tuscan sells a diverse array of products across a number of different product categories some of which were doing well, others less so. The management team needed advice on how better to structure its overall business. It hoped to identify the parts of its business with greatest potential and develop a strategy to capitalise on this.

“We were intrigued to know what an external perspective on what we were doing could help us achieve,” Tuscan Managing Director Paul Trace explains. “We assumed the focus would be on the entire business. But it soon became clear we’d get most benefit from focusing on just one part to begin with. We chose Lumen because we felt it offered the greatest untapped potential.”

Though Lumen had a good reputation in its marketplace with superior products, its closest competition had growing sales and a bigger market share. Lumen products were sold not by Tuscan direct to the end user but via retailers to builders and architects. Tuscan needed to raise awareness of the Lumen brand and better convey its strengths to both the trade and homeowners to unlock its true potential.

“At the time, Lumen was just another product,” Trace adds. “There wasn’t any particular brand strategy – it simply came out of the factory with the Lumen name on it. How we approached selling a roof light was just the same was how we would sell a cast iron pipe.”

Response

Under the Designing Demand programme, Tuscan was allocated a design associate, Kathryn Hughes, to advise on identifying the parameters of the project the company needed; preparing a design brief; appointing a design agency; and managing the design development process.

Her first step was to take the company’s management team through a structured brainstorming session to explore and identify Tuscan’s position in the marketplace; its strengths, weaknesses and aspirations.

“We explored how the brand was perceived; who bought it, how and why; and how the business could better build relationships with its customers and also cater for problems that can arise when its products are incorrectly installed,” she says. “They knew there was strong demand and a greater market share to be had, but though Lumen products out-performed the competition the brand was poorly positioned against the rest of the market.”

The decision was taken to focus on developing a new brand and sharper visual identity for Lumen that would help strengthen its position in the marketplace. This would revolve around the redesign of its web site but also extend across a range of marketing collateral also including letterhead and advertisement templates, and a new brochure.

Hughes helped Tuscan’s management team write a design brief then shortlisted three design agencies for them to invite to pitch for the business. Exeter-based Red Rocket http://www.redrocket.co.uk/ was appointed to develop a design strategy and creative guidelines that Tuscan could then use moving forward working with a variety of smaller, local designers to maximise the return on its design investment.

Selecting a design agency was an eye-opening experience for Tuscan’s management team.

“Any of the shortlisted agencies could have done it, which forced us to focus on which would work best with us,” says Trace. “In the end we didn’t go with the cheapest but the design team we believed offered something extra. They were a little bit quirky. We liked them. And their proposal and understanding of our business was the most in-depth.”

Red Rocket began by exploring the core values of the Lumen brand. The designers then analysed the business’s competitors to map the best positioning for Lumen in its marketplace. A new brand marque was developed which informed the development of other materials including the new web site.

“The previous brand marque and online presence did not adequately convey the quality and high value of Lumen’s products,” says Hughes. “The old web site, meanwhile, was all about the whats and whys of Tuscan as a company rather than the human needs choosing Lumen products would satisfy.”

A number of associated developments came out of the design development process.

“Though the focus was on the visual brand identity, from this came a fresh approach to every way we talked about ourselves including how we dealt with telephone enquiries and even after care,” Trace explains. “Design provided the focus to develop a deeper and sustained communication with our end users.”

A decision was taken to make greater use of the packaging to convey brand values, for example. “Previously, we’d said our product was the best in the marketplace but failed to convey this on pack,” says Trace.

A customer care pack was also developed that could be sent to the homeowner at the address where the product was to be installed with information about caring for the product and also the accessories available – additional products such as extended winders and window blinds. “The design team helped us understand which information about the products should be received by who and at what time – things we’d simply never considered before,” he adds.

Lumen’s new brand identity was first introduced on the company’s letterhead and in print advertising in early 2009. This was followed a few months later by the launch of a new web site with improved functionality, more user-friendly navigation, and more prominent product details.

Impact

Lumen Rooflights’ re-branding has “significantly” boosted Tuscan’s sales. The first new-look ad alone generated 300 new sales leads. Before the design project, Lumen products accounted for between 30% and 40% of its business. Following the re-branding project, Lumen products today generate 75% of Tuscan’s sales.

“It’s been a business-changing experience and we have already started to see a return on our investment,” Trace says.

“People take us a lot more seriously now. And without doubt Lumen now has a quality image that underlines the quality designs and durability of our products.” Which is why Tuscan is now considering using the same process to analyse and evolve other parts of its business moving forward.

“Previously, I thought design meant a logo or new brochure. Though we got both as a result of this process we also ended up with much more,” he adds.

“The Designing Demand process made us look at our business in a way we’d never done before. It forced us to make some key decisions about the way we should move forward. And as a result of all this it’s become clear how design encompasses every aspect of how a business presents itself to its customers.”