Renovating Harris’s Range Architecture
HARRIS PAINTING TOOLS
The Challenge
Since 1928, Harris® have established themselves as the UK’s premium DIY painting tools brand - earning strong consumer trust and a Royal Warrant in 1961 that they still hold to this very day.
In the 2000’s, the category started to slip towards commoditisation due to a lack of consumer centricity, communication and innovation.
To counter this, Harris opted for a strategy of exclusivity and began to create different sub-brands for each major retailer to give them a distinct offering from their own competitors.
A small selection of the 60 sub-brands that had developed as part of the exclusivity strategy - each with it’s own distinct look and positioning
In 2018, it became clear that this strategy was not working for anyone.
This fragmented approach had backfired: more than 60 sub-brands weakened the Harris master brand, complicated marketing, confused consumers, slowed sales, and created major operational challenges.
It was time for a total renovation. My challenge was to develop and launch a universal Harris range to enable renewed growth.
The Strategy
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Our consumer research indicated that DIY decorators go to store with a clear task in mind, such as painting a wall or a door. They want to see this task reflected back at them when starting to navigate the painting tools category.
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What consumers were willing to pay for painting tools differed hugely, and depended strongly on experience. It was crucial to have a number of tiers to allow for different budgets.
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Consumers could not understand why they should pay more. To drive growth for ourselves and our retailers, it was crucial that we made it crystal clear why it was worth investing a few £ more.
Start with the job to be done.
Working with consumers, we mapped the decorating world and identified the typical tasks they were taking on.
Our insights suggested that users wanted to see the task they were tackling reflected in the products they were choosing from to aid decision making.
We used this as the starting point for our range architecture.
Start with the job to be done.
Working with consumers, we mapped the decorating world and identified the typical tasks they were taking on.
Our insights suggested that users wanted to see the task they were tackling reflected in the products they were choosing from to aid decision making.
We used this as the starting point for our range architecture.
The Execution
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COMING SOON
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COMING SOON
