Powerful Branding: Joules
I LOVE Joules. I love their sense of fun, their style and their quirky touches that bring everything to life.
I blogged last summer about how inspiring I find the Joules brand and whilst they’re not everyone’s cup of tea, I think they’re fabulous! This seems to be a common theme in branding doesn’t it? The concept that you can’t be all things to all people. It’s one that small businesses would do well to take on board I think. The bolder you can be, the more passionate your fans.
I know that it’s easy to think that they’re hanging on to the Boden coat tails, and they’re certainly in a similar marketplace, but to me they are incredibly different. For me, Joules is Boden’s younger, funkier sister! What do you think?
A strong brand identity, a clear style and plenty of direct mail has enabled Joules to catapult themselves to success over the past few years. And it’s their strong sense of design that has helped them to get noticed. At a much smaller level there are plenty of smaller businesses that embrace great design that have also got noticed: I’m thinking Poppy Treffry (more on her later!) amongst others. There are plenty of others that sprang to mind, but their websites were too disappointing to share on this blog ;-( (quick aside – reputation is crucial in branding and shouldn’t be overlooked, but don’t make life difficult for yourselves by having a design that lets you down – you’ll make it much harder to win business).
What can small businesses learn from Joules?
Attention to detail. Joules put enormous attention to detail into their brand – it’s one of the reasons I love it. How can you inject the same attention to detail into what you communicate?
Creativity matters. I posted last year about the impact powerful design had on the Joules brand. Do you think we’d notice them quite as much if they didn’t have the confidence to stand out? Those quirky, creative touches are what get people in the gut and the heart. They matter. And if you want your business to stand out then you need to start thinking big and thinking about creativity.
Don’t be afraid to change your proposition for the sake of commercial success. It wasn’t so long ago that Joules was a niche equestrian retailer, but they’ve completely revolutionised their proposition (and last time I checked, there were very few riding clothes available to buy) and in doing so, opened themselves up for growth. I’m not saying it’s right for everyone, but it seems to have worked for them.
What else is there in the Joules magic that you could inject into your own brand?
