Challenge:

Century Furniture was facing new challenges in the high-end furniture market. Major competitors like Baker, Henredon and Bernhardt were sourcing larger quantities of product overseas; changing their cost structure and their retail price model. Concurrently, the retail marketplace was evolving as traditional furniture stores closed and the design community emerged as the dominant force in the sale of high-end goods.

Amidst this turmoil, Century sought to reinvent itself. That undertaking required a comprehensive evaluation and understanding of the brand, the target and the environment.

Knowledge gathering and insights:

Century initiated a complete internal evaluation of their brand assets and contracted Trone to identify marketplace conditions. We began by establishing and defining the dimensions of luxury as they related to the furniture market. The result: superiority, exclusivity and service. With this foundation, we were able to use the opinions@trone panel to do a consumer segmentation study.

The research identified critical insights into the attitudes and behaviors of the upscale (>$200,000 HHI) female shopper. Of the seven segments identified, only three were deemed appropriate targets for Century. As expected, these groups displayed common traits relating to the importance of how they were perceived by others and their view of home as a showplace. Less obvious were their need for fashion leadership, desire for uniqueness and dependence on designers. A final critical lesson was that the target, while focused on the end decorating goal, also had significant expectations of the redesign/remodel experience.

The other key component of the Century go-to-market strategy was the design community. To understand the needs of this target the opinions@trone platform was used to establish a designer panel.

The information from the design community led to insights which highlighted the demanding nature of their clientele and further emphasized the importance of the decorating experience. It clarified that product quality and superior construction were the price of entry in the category, but that customization and service provided an opportunity for relevant differentiation. In the end, consumers don’t just buy furniture. And their dependence on the decorator doesn’t end with fashion advice. They require something special and engagement from project inception to final installation. In a process that can take months to complete.

This knowledge allowed the personification of the targets and the positioning of the brand, establishing a clear understanding of who Century was and who they existed to serve. It also created a framework for the formulation of communication strategies and delivered a tagline from which to start. ”As you wish.”

Communication solution:

The communication solution posed numerous challenges. On a limited budget, Century had to break through the clutter of hundreds of companies showing rooms full of furniture and begin to deliver on the brand promise of an extraordinary experience. They also had to build brand engagement, a critical component with the infrequent and extended purchase cycle for furniture. The solution was a change in focus. The ensuing campaign and web build-out focused on the customer, not the product.

Results:

The new Century campaign delivered results. And the focus on the web component not only conveyed the message, but established the expanded engagement level the brand required.
Period over period web traffic sustained 15–33% growth.
Visitor page views increased 25% and length of visit grew correspondingly.
Bounce rates were reduced to <14%.
12% of visitors utilized the new “designer locator” function.