Treating furniture differently

From infancy, into adolescence

The sofa and furniture category is a highly promotional one, where seasonal sales rule, price competition is everywhere, and purchases are infrequent.

It’s also always been a looks-based style led category, with brands demonstrating how they can make your home look great.

Loaf do things differently.

Founded in 2008 by entrepreneur Charlie Marshall, Loaf grew by focusing on comfort, becoming popular with a mostly affluent consumer base, around London, in country-house dwellings.

Through in-house, homemade marketing, Loaf had been good at telling their story – a squishy, squashy sofa brand to partner with tea and crumpets.

Our task was to explode Loaf outwards. To take them from this first chapter of growth and infancy, into adolescence, appealing to a far wider and more diverse audience. But we needed to retain their unique character, premium brand allure and premium pricing. Competing on price and sale would not be an option.

Taking time to rediscover

To move on from an established yet niche position, we needed the strength and bravery of a thorough re-think. More of the same would be dangerous.

We identified four key mosaic groups that would provide more than enough volume for future growth - City Prosperity, Prestige Positions, Country Living and Domestic Success.

These groups shared common indicators of status – less loud consumption, more laid-back, relaxed behaviour, and homes that ‘celebrated the slow’. Modern living comes with everyday stresses and strains. Loafing is the antidote. A brand that provided ‘the antidote to modern living’ would fit well in their lives.

This was the insight that fuelled our Brand Idea that would go right through the Loaf business – The pursuit and art of Loafing should be celebrated.

Creating a movement

Our first comms for Loaf took Loafing to a whole new level.

LOAF LIKE YOU MEAN IT was the call to arms, which we unleashed through TV, OOH, social, DM and in-store. We took loafing to Olympic levels, using sports commentary in our AV work, truly embracing the slower side of life.

And we upped the ante further in our subsequent work, all from the same strategic thinking and brand idea.

Our campaign for slow living became a protest movement, and like all good protests we wrote a manifesto, which became a song (which we wrote), which was sung by a band (which we formed), that became a film (that we shot in house).

Loaf were taking a stand, by lying down.

Our protest statements like MAKE LOAF NOT WAR, GO WITH THE SLOW and RELEASE THE PEACE became placards, in OOH, in social and across Loaf’s showrooms (or ‘shacks’).

Going all in, paid back

Our task or challenge from Loaf was to grow Prompted Awareness amongst the key audiences from 39% to 44%. We reached 50% at the end of the first campaign period, and also grew Brand Love from 49% to 64% and first-choice Brand Preference from 4% to 15%.

Commercially, the campaign was hugely successful; sales over this period were ‘strong’, in the words of the client, and a whole new wave of consumers understood Loaf.

We created a genuine desire to own a Loaf sofa, not just to buy a sofa from Loaf.