Research and a Designer: Secret to Casa Milano’s successful launch
Casa Milano, a luxury tiles and sanitary brand, wanted to launch its first showroom in the competitive luxury market during October 2019.
The biggest challenge was to stand out and attract the attention of the target audience and media from the UAE in a thriving but overcrowded industry.
Another challenge was that the interior or home décor industry is quite niche and hence the target media is limited as compared to fashion or beauty media in the region.
Objectives were based on clients idea of success and our suggestions based on research
Craft a distinct identity for Casa Milano
Get relevant media to attend the launch in an event laden October
Organize interviews with spokespersons
Raise awareness for the brand through securing media coverage of the event
UAE was an overcrowded market for luxury products.
Casa Milano would have to create a unique identity that no one else owned in the minds of media and consumers.
A study showed that the target market and media loved ultra-luxury and trendy products.
Dubai alone accounts for 30% of the Middle East’s luxury market.
Our research showed that no brand owned the experiential luxury sanitaryware tag.
While Casa Milano had the top designer brands including Versace, Tonino Lamborghini and Roberto Cavalli, the ones that the media were likely to find most interesting would be the 24-carat gold tiles and the diamond bathtub.
The brand selected well-renowned interior designer Karim Rashid to launch the store. Karim was a much sought after industrial designer with the local media and had a social media following of over 200,000 fans. What made it personal was that his own collection was also featured in the showroom.
The positioning for Casa Milano would be as the premium experiential luxury sanitaryware brand.
The event was designed to ensure that the media would experience the brand and the ultra-luxury besides interacting with Karim Rashid.
Celebrity Hook
Experiential Luxury Positioning
Experiential Event
The invite was in the form of a bathroom tile personalized for each publication
The pitch to the media included the 24 carat gold plated tiles and diamond bathroom with the promise of a personalized ultra-luxury experience
The media were given individual private tours with experiential touchpoints including a selection of their own showerhead via testing, adjusting Jacuzzi pressure as per their preference.
The event was a huge success not just in terms of the number of media who attended the event but also in terms of positioning Casa Milano as an experiential luxury brand and the media confirming high brand recall.
100% of the confirmed media attended the event and engaged with the spokespersons
40 relevant media featured the brand and the event with most getting the positioning right
3 TV stations covered the event with interviews of Azhar and Karim
The unique experience at the launch ensure Casa Milano got the ‘experiential luxury’ tag
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