18
The Creation & Application of a Luxury Brand
The Client
This sustainable, forward-thinking fashion company creates luxury apparel using premium, Rambouillet Merino Wool. Originally called Ramblers Way Farm, the brand was conceived by Tom Chappell and his family, the creators of Tom’s of Maine. They worked tirelessly to create a line of apparel that was not only environmentally mindful, but supportive of local economies, including the economy in their own town of Portland, Maine. Every product is made in America with a fully transparent supply chain, from farm, to fabric, to fashion. Taking this ideology a step further, they ensure all of their superfine, worsted wool yarns meet the Global Organic Textile Standards for environmental, social, and animal welfare.
The Project
Rambler’s Way tasked us with an exciting creative challenge: To reach their modern, fashion-leaning audience—who shared similar values around the environment, sustainability, and transparent supply chains—with even more effective retail branding and advertising. They wanted to do this while staying true to their passionate, New England, all-American roots.
When our team was presented with the project, we discussed the creative possibilities: 1) revamping the website with an eye-catching design, a better user experience for their target audience, and improved SEO to support their growing needs; 2) creating a brand identity and personality that would resonate with their high-end, luxury client base, including inspiring copy across all channels, a new logo design, and a new tagline; 3) rolling out a full suite of marketing collateral, including, but not limited to, storefront graphics, signage, window clings, local print ads, packaging, and hangtags; and 4) providing thought leadership throughout the entire collaboration in terms of both brand strategy and business fundraising.
The challenge lay in identifying the key stories of Ramblers Way and revealing them in a way that would attract and inspire the target market while remaining faithful to the founding family’s original vision and heritage: to make responsibly sourced, skillfully crafted, American-made clothing. The result had to appear both large and small in scope, nationwide and hometown in feel.
Considering the idea for Ramblers Way was born on a two-week father-son trek through the hills of Wales and then built from the ground up, a family story of persistence, grit, and industry knowledge had to shine through. Our team covered all the bases, including working with the historic districts that housed Ramblers Way storefronts to ensure each one bore a relevant cultural presence.
THE APPROACH
A core tenet of any High Seas project lies in teamwork: we value all hands on a project, and the talented stakeholders at Ramblers Way were enthusiastic about partnering with our crew. This collaboration on both sides led to many creative ideas and explorations of look, feel, and tone in search of the perfect balance. We worked closely with the client to develop a communications strategy and to set the foundation for developing a photo art direction, from enhanced storytelling to scouting locations. Through our leadership insight and expertise, we were able to guide the project to its final, successful result.
We landed on a muted palette of earthy tones—an homage to pasturelands—and a new, streamlined logo that felt refined and sophisticated at the same time. The new color scheme pulled double duty as both a measure of brand consistency and a method of efficiency. By changing the logo to a single color scheme, we no longer had to rely on a full color process for printing. On the front-end, we delivered a modern, responsive and seo-ready site for user-friendly navigation across all devices—a much-anticipated improvement over their previous site, which wasn’t mobile-friendly.
In terms of copywriting, all content was crafted with SEO in mind, never straying from the heritage vibe of the company. Our design team developed clever icons to add another layer of depth to the visuals while enhancing the customer experience. Guided by the client’s commitment to environmental responsibility and local stewardship, we implemented sustainable measures wherever possible throughout our process.
From printing advertising designs on compostable materials, to using soy-based inks, it was our goal to ensure that every piece of store signage would be easily transportable and reusable. We were able to dive deep into our goals from both an aesthetic and revenue standpoint, and to back up every recommendation with both ROI statistics and a strategic rollout of assets.
THE RESULT
We debuted the brand-new Ramblers Way website in October of 2016, a date that coincided with the release of updated elements in their three new stores, a brand-new logo design that was being showcased across all channels, and a redesigned content management system (see our Digital & Development Case Study here).
The overall effect was a cohesive brand story that hit every note: modern yet timeless, luxurious yet steeped in tradition. Since that launch, we continue to see growth for the brand in the form of increased organic traffic, greater profits, and a boost in revenue driven by new and repeating customers.
