Overview

Having worked together in the past, established luxury bed company, Harrison Spinks, approached Cool Blue. On this occasion, the company was set to venture into the bed-in-a-box market with a new brand, herdysleep.

A collaboration with the much-loved Lake District brand, herdy, the new mattress combined traditional bed-making techniques with clever technology and a core ingredient: Herdwick wool. Sourced from Cumbrian farmers who were paid above market rate, every herdysleep mattress contained at least one fleece.

The brief

To develop a stand-out brand that established herdysleep as the most luxurious bed-in-a-box on the market.

The strategy

The bed-in-the-box market was flourishing and there was stiff competition from brands who targeted a young, price conscious, consumer.

Herdysleep offered something slightly different; a mattress crafted with care using high-quality materials and techniques that couldn’t be automated by machines. It was the most expensive bed-in-a-box, so we needed to target customers at the higher end of the market for whom price was not the main consideration.

Our strategy was clear: everything about the brand needed to communicate its position as the luxury choice. From the words we used and the images that we created, to details such as the hotel that we chose for the launch and the paper that we selected for printed materials. It was all part of the story we needed to tell.

Photography

Strong lifestyle photography was a key part of the visual identity that we wanted to create for the brand. Working with a talented editorial stylist and photographer, we created a series of images that captured herdysleep as we wanted consumers to see it.

The styling and natural lighting offered a subtle nod to the brand’s rural roots, whilst ensuring that the spaces felt high-end and welcoming.

The images were suitable for a variety of uses including web, social, print and PR.

Copywriting

The tone and personality of the brand, whilst being high quality and beautifully crafted, needed to be friendly and engaging. There were many stories to tell, and we needed to take our readers with us on the journey.

The team at Cool Blue were responsible for much of the copy throughout the campaign.

Press launch

It was important that the press’ first encounter with the brand communicated its luxury credentials on more than one level. Thinking outside the box, we hosted a one-week hotel takeover of two suites at the coveted 5* London Edition Hotel in Soho. We dressed the rooms with herdysleep mattresses and other Lake District delights, handpicked to reinforce the provenance of the brand.

We targeted key press covering national, home interest, women’s and lifestyle titles and invited them to spend a night in a herdysleep suite. Our PR team booked dinners, drinks and breakfasts with all attendees and met them personally to discuss the brand and its unique story to gain coverage in target titles.

Brand book

The brand book was designed with a number of audiences in mind: customers, retailers and press.

Incorporating much of the brand photography, details on the mattress and its construction as well as an interview with the co-founders, the 24-page book was designed to tell even more of the herdysleep story.

Printed on beautiful matt paper stock, it was luxurious and tactile, bridging the gap between product brochure and editorial magazine.