The Silk Route
The Silk Route are a well established business and sell an unique collection of luxurious silk fabrics, threads and ribbons.
They have been trading for well over 20 years – a long time in today’s small business world and certainly something worth celebrating. Caboodle Design were approached to help them commemorate this event, they also decided that it was time to refresh their brand and marketing materials and commissioned us to undertake the task.
THE PROBLEM
After more than 20 years in business, with the same logo, The Silk Route was in drastic need of a refresh. All of their marketing elements needed addressing – from their brand and print work to their website.
Their old logo looked ‘hand drawn’ and didn’t reflect their business and their website, whilst showing some products, didn’t allow for online shopping.
OUR SOLUTION
REFRESHED & REVITALISED THEIR BRAND, SHOWCASED THEIR STUNNING RANGE OF PRODUCTS ONLINE ENTICING PEOPLE TO BUY.
✓ Branding ✓ Corporate Identity ✓ Business Stationery ✓ Adverts ✓ Banners ✓ Signage ✓ Website Design ✓ Bespoke CMS ✓ Ecommerce Responsive Website ✓ Art Direction ✓ Photography ✓ Email Marketing ✓ Social Media
Our work for The Silk Route
Branding & Corporate Identity
As the Silk Route were an established business and had an existing brand, it was important to retain some form of continuity between the old and the new.
The old logo was created more than 20 years ago so was definitely in need of a redesign. The curve shape made out of text, indicated the direction the silk route or silk road took, starting in China and finishing in Venice, the client wanted to retain this shape to keep some continuity between the old and new logo.
The new logo retained the curve but it was used as a graphical shape rather than being made up of text. This graphic was set between stylised, modern looking type holding the logo together.
The Silk Route now has a much fresher, more contemporary identity, fitting in far better with the company’s values and today’s lifestyle.
Graphic Design
This logo was then applied to their stationery where images of their beautiful silk products were used, accenting the back of business cards, top of letterheads and compliment slips, emphasising the huge range of gorgeous silks they sell and helping their unique, striking brand to evolve and grow.
The rebranding was also applied to banners and signage for shows, all printed materials, packaging and promotional items.
The Silk Route now have a cohesive collection of marketing materials, that showcase their extensive range of silk products, helping customers 'see before they buy'.
Website Design & Development
The Silk Route website also needed to be updated to showcase their delicious range of silk products and to enable customers to buy online.
The brand styling developed earlier was applied across the website design with stunning photographs used throughout, giving a strong visual impact to the site and demonstrating their vast range of products.
A bespoke management system and ecommerce solution was developed so the Silk Route could manage all of its content, products, sales and promotions at the touch of a button, along with their stock control, shipping and delivery details.
The website development focused on building a far more intuitive users experience, with strong calls to actions, prominent unique selling points and of course highlighting and promoting their diverse range of products – all helping to build greater sales.
A social media strategy was also developed bringing together Facebook and an email campaign, all pushing people towards the website. The email campaign used the same brand style as the website and promoted flash sales and offers to their customers. Email open rates far exceeded industry standards (53% as opposed to 10.4%) and online sales drastically increased immediately after the email campaigns were delivered.
This work enabled The Silk Route to become far more visible through a variety of different means – website, Facebook and email, had a dramatic impact on the website traffic, but more importantly on their online sales.
The new Silk Route website gives them a 24/7 online shop and has helped to increase sales by over a third!
Art Direction & Photography
We worked with The Silk Route to determine a brand style for their product photography that would emphasise their vast range of luxurious silk products and be used across all of their marketing materials.
We developed a style that visually demonstrated the quality, texture and colours inherent within each piece of silk, enabling each and every customer to see the products in their best light.
The Silk Route now have a full image library to show their customers that showcases their unique range of stunning products.
Some kind words...
