Linen Club, India’s linen pioneers have been around for more than 60 years. With a rise in competition & an influx of look-alike blended linen brands in recent times, they needed to differentiate themselves through a renewed brand expression and reclaim their leadership position.
Being brought on board as their Brand Strategy and Design Agency, we needed to extend their new positioning, ‘Passionate about Linen’ across the brand’s visual expressions. Our tasks included the Identity design for the entire brand portfolio, their brand architecture, retail extensions, and packaging which also covered respective product architectures.
DIVING IN
We started by understanding the consumer groups and their relation with Linen. At the top of the pyramid were absolute Linen lovers, these were successful and passionate individuals who valued authenticity and appreciated pure linen. Next were the Linen aspirers, who as the name explains, used linen occasionally to stand out make an impression. The last consumer group covered the non-believers, who were driven away due to the perception and functional barriers of the fabric.
We also met with key stakeholders and learnt about the rich origins of Linen and their vision for the brand. Our in-depth research helped identify perception markers for the category and the brand, as well as highlighting that Linen Club, with its expert credentials, history, and wide product offering had the perfect mix to reclaim its leadership position.
WEAVING OUR WAY THROUGH THE STRATEGY
The objective of the exercise apart from building brand preference within the category was also to broaden the base to recruit new users into the brand. Hence, the brand strategy aimed to help the brand make a switch from owning linen as a product to owning linen as a mindset, broadening its spectrum of offerings. Our recommendations also included consolidating these offerings under a Hybrid brand architecture, allowing efforts to be focused on growing the parent brand - Linen Club.
INSPIRED BY ORIGIN & LEGACY
The need of the hour was to gear the visual and experiential expression of the brand to a larger and younger audience, whilst retaining the heritage of this legacy brand. For the new mark, we took inspiration from the pioneering legacy of Linen Club, the fabrics’ European lineage, natural origins, and limitless style statements. The codes of authority and heritage take form though the shield, while the flax stalk and flower represent the flax fields of Europe, embodying the story of its origin.
The logo is visualised in a colour and form that is elegant and contemporary, with the promise of an enduring classic. Much like the brand and Linen itself.
PACKAGING FOR THE ENTIRE PORTFOLIO
Developing the packaging was a crucial aspect of this landmark project. A deeper look at the brand’s offering revealed its scale and width. The brand architecture exercise laid the foundation for the packaging as the portfolio had now been simplified. The initial ask included identity extensions on the packaging across the fabric and apparel business; we used this as an opportunity to upfront the breadth of the portfolio while also breaking away from category associations like limited colour palettes.
GEARING UP THE BRAND FOR ITS READY-TO-WEAR OFFERING
With ready-to-wear becoming a strong part of fashion and retail, it was crucial for Linen Club to create a meaningful extension into the apparel segment. VGC made recommendations to simplify their apparel range offerings and also designed an impactful identity for Linen Club Studio and Cavallo Studio.
AGILITY HELPED US PIVOT THROUGH COVID-19 AND THE LOCKDOWN
For VGC, this project was truly a memorable one; not just because we love the brand and the fabric but also because the project was executed through the peak of the lockdown. The lock-down and remote working threw up a variety of new hurdles around sourcing, production, packaging, design and digital approvals, however, we have still been able to push forward and successfully launch the project.
“As we prepare ourselves for the future, we want the Linen Club brand identity to manifest our passion for linen combined with our heritage, our expertise, and our authenticity. The new identity while staying true to the core values of Linen Club, gives it credible and inspiring imagery,"
Satyaki Ghosh, CEO, Domestic Textiles (Grasim Industries) Aditya Birla Group.
"As I am personally passionate about Linen, it was an absolute delight when VGC was invited to rebrand Linen Club. Through the new logo, we have brought alive the story of Linen's European heritage, the legacy of the brand in India, and the fabric's authenticity in terms of its sustainable qualities. We then also translated it to a stylish visual narrative across a range of packaging and varied retail touchpoints,"
Preeti Vyas, Chairwoman and CCO, VGC
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