Cabbages & Roses
Case Study
Cabbages & Roses is a quintessential English country brand known for their beautifully eclectic fashion collections, and inspired vintage home ranges that exude comfort and style. branding, inc was hired to raise awareness for the Cabbages & Roses brand within North America. As product was not readily available in the US Market, mainstream press, although very responsive to the brand, proved to be reluctant to print stories. As an e-commerce portal was in development, Branding, inc. made the strategic decision to build grassroots US awareness through a social media campaign, with the objective of building buzz for the brand.
BLOG
In March 2010 we designed, developed and launched a blog for C&R. We grew organic traffic by collaborating with established bloggers, magazine blogs, home décor mega blogs, and e-zines. We also collaborated with Cabbages & Roses to create a schedule of content that shared more about the company, the development process, the faces behind the brand and rewarded the audience with sneak peaks as much as possible.
The blog has proven to be an effective tool for building brand affinity with the US audience, and raising brand awareness on a global level within the blogosphere. One high point over the last year was a blog mash-up that we orchestrated between three well-established blogs to launch a new fabric collection for C&R. The mash-up was launched simultaneously between the three blogs, and consumers were directed to click through to all three blogs to see the new fabric collections and choose a favorite pattern. Not only was the blog mash-up successful for each blogger (and the C&R blog) but it drove thousands of new potential customers to the C&R main site over the course of the week-long online event.
At the beginning of 2011 we started to manage the C&R Facebook page, constantly monitoring and responding to fans asking questions and commenting on our content. We developed unique promotions to drive traffic and promote C&R product, including Show Us Your Cabbage Outfit, where we asked consumers to post themselves in their C&R outfits on the C&R Facebook wall. In under 6 months, we have grown the FB audience exponentially, with more “likes” and “fans” every day.
Once the blog was up and running, we also started to manage Twitter for C&R so we could cross-pollinate blog and FB activity. Twitter has become an important tool to share more about Christina Strutt, C&R owner and lead creative, in a unique platform of bite sized information. This coupled with company, blog and Facebook updates creates a rich stream of information about the brand, and company. Since launching, Twitter has grown to 830 followers, and also growing daily.
PRESS & PR
As the blog began to create a buzz about the C&R brand, we explored opportunities with the new e-zines that are becoming increasingly relevant to the contemporary homeowner, and woman seeking style and inspiration. Our efforts led to a feature article in the March 2011 issue of Rue magazine, wth an article about Cabbages & Roses and an interview with Christina Strutt. Once again we saw a big uptick on all social media platforms with this additional exposure for the brand.
(click here for the full article pg 126)
Cabbages & Roses Store
Our efforts on behalf of Cabbages & Roses have raised awareness for the company and their product lines, in addition to developing a strong following of brand advocates in North America and beyond. Our media efforts have also created business opportunities for Cabbages & Roses that we are also pursuing in both retail and licensing.