How a butcher designed a different quality of business with help from Designing Demand.
The issue
Even the most traditional industries can benefit from considering the way they communicate. Sheffield-based John Crawshaw Ltd is a second generation butcher with a fine reputation in South Yorkshire. But the business – three retail shops and a strong base in the catering and restaurant trade – was at a crossroads.
Turnover was a healthy £2.5 million, but annual growth was pretty modest. “The product was good, and we were doing many positive things, such as local sourcing,” says owner John Crawshaw. “But we weren’t communicating this effectively.”
Crawshaw turned to the Design Council’s Designing Demand programme. “I hadn’t considered working with a designer before,” admits Crawshaw, who joined the Generate service that helps businesses make strategic design decisions, set up and manage design processes and run successful design projects. Product designer Ellis Pitt was the design associate assigned to the company.
“One of the first steps was to clarify what made John Crawshaw Ltd stand apart from other family butchers,” Pitt says. “It quickly became apparent there was a mismatch between the presentation and the product quality.”
Crawshaw agrees: “We had little more than a colour scheme to differentiate cuts of meat: not a brand, more a presentational style that had evolved by instinct.”
The solution
Pitt collaborated with Crawshaw on a brief and to select a design agency. “I took a different approach,” he says. “John is a down-to-earth man, and he doesn’t respond to jargon. I asked him to go shopping and buy examples of food and drink that he felt were well-branded, that he liked and felt generally represented the direction he wanted his business to go in. He brought in a great spread of goods that acted as the perfect catalyst for our conversation and generated a clear brief.
Pitt also made sure Crawshaw understood the commitment required: “It’s essential for the business owner to enter this with eyes open. I estimated the likely investment required would be around £30,000, and that John would need to invest at least half a day of his time each week.”
Three potential designs were tested on regular customers, which revealed some unanticipated results. “We expected younger customers to be open to extreme ideas, but it turned out that they – like older, more traditional customers – preferred a more conservative design,” says Pitt.
The new corporate identity depicts a butcher carrying a carcass, to emphasise the provenance of the company’s meat.
The strapline – “Expert butchers for food lovers” – highlights the company’s strengths immediately. A new colour scheme has been extended to shop awnings and décor, while inside each shop, a floorto- ceiling photograph of a Yorkshire landscape (pictured) asks: “What do you think of my warehouse?”
The outcome
How successful has the branding exercise been? The proof is in the pies. “Both Sheffield’s football clubs have become customers,” says Crawshaw. “They saw from the branding that we had a professional image. We’ve also won some important contracts with hotels.”
Most importantly, Crawshaw says, the new brand “made me look at the business differently. There were surprises along the way. It was very time-consuming. But it was something I’m pleased we went through. It’s an approach I’d recommend to other traditional industries.”
Article first published in Design Council Magazine, Issue 7, Winter 2009
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