Italmond Case Study

Circumstance / Background

Italmond Furniture recently gave MVC Agency the privilege of working with them on a re-branding campaign to establish the company as a recognized leader in the high-end furniture market. The renowned manufacturer’s value proposition has always centered on creating exquisite and custom-built furniture to provide customers with a luxurious experience at every step. With 27-years of industry experience, the company has a deserved reputation for its craftsmanship and manufacturing of fine traditional and transitional pieces featuring quality wood, fine finishes and fabrics, and flawless custom work. However, the biggest challenge they were facing was the fact that their furniture had exceptional quality, which the perception of the brand and image did not coincide with.

Solutions

This is where Italmond Furniture sought MVC Agency to resolve the company’s brand identity crises. By understanding and acknowledging the high expectations of Italmond’s designer clientele and the fact that their strategy also reflects the lifestyle of the company’s end consumers, MVC was able to accurately create a value and design oriented marketing campaign. The Agency started with a re-creation and adaptation of Italmond’s logo and development of new key taglines. The logo initially looked quite dated and did not represent the charisma and culture that the furniture manufacturer promised; the font used was also very generic and uninteresting. MVC transformed the logo completely, intricately customizing the lettering to bring a new level of class to Italmond’s image. The new design now uses a more symbolic, high-end typeface. The slogan, “Dare to dream… we’ll make it a reality” immediately expresses the extravagance of the furniture. To covey this dreamy message, MVC created a sophisticated flash introduction on Italmond’s new website which paints the picture and positions the furniture for their clientele.

Once the logo re-design was complete, it was followed by a complete redevelopment of Italmond’s basic website, which, again, was not a fair representation of their position in the high-end market. The redevelopment of the website involved changing its entire look, feel, and content. Italmond has consumers in three distinct demographics: the interior designer, the end consumer and contractors who purchase for hotels, lobbies, restaurants and other substantial scaled projects. Due to the large demographic the company caters to coupled with MVC’s vision and high standards, this task was particularly challenging. The website now adds a completely new level of value for Italmond’s clientele, allowing them to custom-build orders and submit them online, augmenting the user experience. It provides the option to select the starting designs, materials, colors and fabrics. If necessary the client may also choose to submit their own reference images to illustrate their design concept, including fabrics, wood finishes and detail samples. This new repositioning has allowed Italmond to create increased levels of interaction with their consumers.

Results

The new website has shown phenomenal results with over 60% of hits coming from direct traffic and over 30% from referrals, as opposed to very little traffic and a huge bounce rate before the redevelopment. The number of inquiries submissions has also increased.

The campaign focused on redefining Italmond’s position at the high end of its market segment in terms of brand, values, and messages that it conveys about its customized products and services. MVC has strategically used online and new media techniques to bring a modern, relevant and sophisticated look to Italmond’s furniture, building a comprehensive brand positioning and an integrated brand expression.

Now that the campaign is successfully underway, Barbara Jiron, Italmond’s Director of Operations stated, “Our new image, logo, and core messages have definitely furthered our scope of design in upscale markets, we are extremely happy with the results so far”. Thus, Italmond Furniture’s new image, web site, brand personalization and modernization have increased customer retention.