MOO Product Direction
The Challenge
MOO is a designer print business, serving the needs of brand conscious companies in Europe and the USA.
The challenge was to build a new product division that would diversify the mix and grow sales within the target base of brand conscious companies.
The vision is of great design for everyone, with a product range that delivers on our published manifesto promise of Sustainable Impressions.
The opportunity was to leverage the strengths of a well loved brand amongst a core base, using the heritage of great design and product quality as a basis for a new ecosystem of brandable products, that would re-address the typical low quality and throwaway nature of the existing branded merchandise space.
The Solution
The product solution lay within a strong base of customer and market insight, to develop a three part creative product direction alongside a solid strategy and roadmap…
…developed collaboratively using design-thinking methodologies to engage a X-functional team and the wider business along the way.
Collaboration and Design Thinking
The product direction included a set of design principles that recognise the brand’s design and quality heritage.
With a product ID reflecting the needs of a business customer to put their own brand stamp on products that remain culturally relevant and well designed. And a creative direction segmented around different styles to reflect the needs of different customer verticals.
Including a proprietary palette that can be used flexibly across products to connect a diverse range within a single product ecosystem.
Introducing the capabilities and systems required, building out the NPD team and introducing a cyclical cross-functional NPD process was the starting point for activating the strategy.
I went on to develop a solid customer focussed product strategy, architecture and a roadmap for the core must-have products in the space, embedding moments for innovation within the strategy cycle.
With a sourcing approach that would enable the products to meet our aspirations for sustainability using the outcomes from a series of Life Cycle Analyses to create a sustainable design matrix against which we can assess new products.
The Outcome
With a small range of stationery and drinkware already launched, branded merch now delivers significantly for the business.
The MOO Twist pen has been awarded a Red Dot design award.
The products will draw together existing print with the newly developed pieces, to build a consolidated range of brandable designs across all categories.
Drawing on our paper heritage, we included space for hero pieces across categories that use paper as a base, demonstrating the brand’s material heritage and genuine commitment to sustainability within a design-led innovation space.
