Palliser Launches Re-Branding Effort

October 17, 2010  by in UnCategorized   

By Home Furnishings Business in Case Goods on October 18, 2010

Palliser Furniture is launching a major re-branding effort at this week's High Point Furniture Market.

Historically, the Winnepeg, Manitoba-based company has operated under a product-focused approach. Now, the brand moves to a more lifestyle-focused strategy titled, "My Home, My Style, My Way." A new showroom layout at Palliser's 220 Elm space is just one component in the rebranding effort for Palliser. 
 
"We want our customers to feel the inspiration behind the design of our products," said Cary Benson, president, sales and marketing. "We€™re still all about quality, value and service, and always will be, but we want our customers to be able to select product beyond color and leather grade. We want them to be able to choose the lifestyle that fits their existence."
 
The "My Home, My Style, My Way" campaign uses compelling, black and white photography to convey three different lifestyles: Metro, Suburban and Retreat, each appealing to a different target customer.

Metro is reminiscent of a bachelor, living in the city. Product focuses on clean lines and contemporary styles.

The Suburban lifestyle area offers a more simplistic, lived-in experience and evokes feelings of family life. These products are more transitional in design and organic in style.

Finally, the Retreat lifestyle is more relaxed and weathered, as if perfected over time coupled with an escape from reality. There's an easy-going, yet refined mood associated with the product. 
 
Ultimately, the rebranding effort in the High Point showroom will extend to the retail level. Retail galleries will be outfitted with branding panels and screens, communicating lifestyle stories with visual imagery. 
 
"This market is really important for us. We really want to show our customers that we've invested in the brand and have made a commitment to moving it forward," Benson said. "We're also committed to our showroom here in High Point. We're here to stay."
 
The re-branding effort also includes the launch of a new sales system for Palliser's retail partners. The new sales system, complete with a reconfigured layout design is complete with branding screens and panels to communicate Palliser's new "My Home, My Style, My Way" lifestyle strategy,  
 
"It's important that the Palliser brand message be consistent from corporate to retail to consumer," Benson said. "Our retail partners count on us to provide them with the tools to effectively extend the Palliser brand."
 
Each new Palliser gallery will be designed to communicate the Metro, Suburban and Retreat lifestyles. Creating lifestyle vignettes allows consumers to connect with the Palliser brand emotionally. Each lifestyle is conveyed via images on branding screens and panels. The photographic images are dramatic black and white, up close, tight crops of different components relative to each lifestyle. 
 
For example, the Metro screens include masculine images of a contemporary apartment, a close up of a man's suit cuff and an antique globe. Suburban screens portray family imagery such as a steaming cup of coffee on an outdoor table, a Labrador retriever playing with a ball, and a little girl on a backyard swing. Retreat screens conjure feelings of a more relaxed time and an escape from reality with rustic images like an antique compass, the weathered siding of a lakeside cabin and a collection of old family photos.

"All the images resonate with the consumer, making them feel as though they're actually living the lifestyle," Benson said. "They identify with it and then, with the Palliser brand."
 
The branding screens were designed to suspend from the ceiling or stand on the floor in the galleries, eliminating any need for heavy construction. The black and white photographs allow for the product to work with the branding screens, rather than compete for the consumer's attention. The retail sales system will launch first in the United States, followed by Canada with select retail partners. 
 
The overall rebranding campaign, along with the retail sales system design was created by Palliser in cooperation with Martin Roberts Design, who Benson acknowledges as key to the concept. Martin Roberts Design is an award-winning team of retail consultants, architects, interior designers, and graphic designers.