Brand launch strategy
Cricut
brand launch strategy
When an American love brand with millions of fans asks you for strategic and implementation support for their launch in the Benelux, of course you can’t say no. Cricut is a creative technology company that makes smart ‘cutting plotters', or cutting machines, among other things. We really started from scratch in our region: the brand and the machines are not known to the general public and are not yet available in the shops. What’s more, the majority of people don't know what ‘plotting’ (DIY work with a cutting machine) is. We put everything into play in order to trigger interest and sales in one target group after the other. We started with the local DIY community and little by little expanded to the general public.
Website development
The brand has an international website but this is not yet available in every language, does not recognize/remember the user’s location and is not very easy for local marketers to adapt. That is why we built start2cricut.com. We use the site to inform, educate and inspire. Via the website, people can register for local workshops, they can draw up a wish list of products and we communicate about local promotions. We decided to build the website on a platform that ensures that we can link everything to the growth and needs of the client - truly customized work. The website is supported by a CMS that was developed specifically to support the international (and therefore multilingual) character of the site, and where the client can add resellers, write blog posts and follow up on the registrations for workshops. And lastly, we devote a great deal of attention to tracking: the client wants to be able to analyse every single click.
PR and influencers
We contacted Belgian and Dutch journalists with a card of our own design, fitting right in with the DIY theme. Because of COVID-19, we cannot go to the editorial offices in person, but we nevertheless succeeded, in a few months, to net 59 clippings and reviews. We launched the first partnerships with illustrators, DIYers and real creators. After a few months, we had 26 valuable partnerships (total reach of 1.5 million on social media), with whom we are making long-term plans.
Digital marketing
In parallel with the PR campaign, we are also launching digital marketing with clear storytelling and sequencing. We target a cold audience, people who have never heard of Cricut but are interested in creativity, and we take them along a logical flow focusing on what plotters can do, and then about the plotters themselves, leading them ultimately to a reseller. The results are unprecedented in every area, from CPC, CTR and bounce rate to conversions with resellers. Our social media channels are running as smoothly as a train: in a few months’ time, we had almost 10,000 followers on Instagram.
What’s next?
The success and scalability of our campaign ensure that various regions are coming to us for support. At the time of writing this case, the start2cricut website is available in 14 countries (including in Quebecois!), we have expanded the digital marketing to Germany and France, are helping marketers with their sales on Amazon (both brand stores and AMS campaigns), we have set up POS that are present even in stores in Finland, and much more..
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the success of a story depends on what you do with it
Ultimately, it’s all about making the right choices. We are one of the few agencies in the Benelux to combine the strengths of PR, (digital) marketing, content and design inhouse. So we can translate the most complex issues into successful campaigns. That’s how we build a lasting brand reputation for your company.