Here’s a quick post for a bit of brand Inspiration! Let’s take a look at a few awesome ecommerce and digital brands, and see what they get right.
Bondi Wash
Home and Body
Bondi Wash are an all-Australian business, with a real passion for creating powerful, but gentle cleaning products from native botanicals and ingredients. Their range spans from home cleaning supplies, to body washes, shampoos, baby products, and even a specially designed range for dogs!
What do they get right? Consistency.
Bondi Wash have a knack for great photography and design. And everything is kept in their trademark vogue. Their photography maintains a real focus on their ingredients, and their clear, sophisticated style.
Bondi Wash know exactly how everything should look – whether it be on their website, social pages, or the face of their products. This keeps their brand consistent. And consistency keeps their brand memorable.
Bondi Wash show off their all natural, unique ingredients and products together to create a strong affiliation between the two. Let us tell you, it works. Just check out their website and social pages!
Dollar Shave Club
Male Grooming
Another bathroom product we love is Dollar Shave Club. Improving on the outdated ‘Razor and blade’ business schemes of the past, Dollar Shave Club deliver fantastic, and affordable, grooming supplies directly to you.
Their ‘Grooming supplies as a service’ model has proven incredibly convenient and effective – and their marketing has been, historically and presently, pretty amazing.
What do they get right? They know their audience.
With a comedic, but sauve, style, they’ve hit an arterial niche in the male grooming market. We love Dollar Shave Club because they seem to truly get their audience. Men who want to spend a fortune on their shaving products aren’t their market – so they leave them to the established players like Gillette. Instead, they’ve created a perfect, disruptive brand that has slowly but surely crept up the ladder – quality, affordable razors for the masses of common, jocular men.
Just take a look at this ad (currently with over 25,000,000 views on YouTube):
This is is a prime example of a brand that takes seriously not taking itself too seriously – and the results have definitely paid off. If you’re an ecommerce brand that’s looking for a polished (but ultimately humorous) for inspiration, you’ve met your match.
Sage and Clare
Homewares
Sage and Clare are another local Australian brand that we can’t get enough of. Their Bohemian, handmade homewares are featured regularly across the web, on print, and in the homes of thousands of satisfied customers.
What do they get right? Lifestyle marketing.
Sage and Clare have absolutely nailed their representation of the lifestyle they envisage surrounding their products. They hold regular photoshoots, using their incredible knowledge of photography and interior design, to create stunning images that perfectly encapsulate their eclectic brand.
Just look at those colour palettes.
Great photography makes or breaks ecommerce, and Sage and Clare have staked their name on it to great effect! If you’re looking for some inspiration on marketing your homewares (or ways to decorate your home) check out their Instagram!
Cards Against Humanity
Games
The always irreverent and cynical party game Cards Against Humanity might have made a name for themselves as a simple, offensive card game for your next get-together- but since their inception, their marketing and brand have come a long, long way.
What do they get right? Originality.
Cards Against Humanity are a fantastic brand to keep your eye on for original marketing ideas. While most of us are content with the engagement we get on our social accounts, Cards Against Humanity seem hellbent on pushing the envelope as far as it will go. Here’s just a few of their stunts:
- In a strange critique of consumerism, they decided to sell their card game for $5 more than usual as a Black Friday ‘promotion’. Funnily enough, sales went up.
- They sold boxes of actual poop for $6. Unbelievably, 30,000 people purchased them, and the product sold out in less than two hours.
- After the success of selling feces, they decided to sell absolutely nothing. For $5. This sale (fundraiser?) made $71,000, which they shared amongst the team to purchase outlandish gifts for themselves and show off online.
- They somehow raised $100,000 to dig a giant hole in the ground, then immediately fill it back up.
- They made a fake Superbowl ad, then wrote a postmortem article detailing why their fake ad was unsuccessful.
- Bought a plot of land on the American/Mexican border in a bid to stop the Government from completing its proposed border wall.
- Bought an original Picasso and threatened to laser cut it into 150,000 pieces.
Cards Against Humanity are not your normal brand. Obviously not many of us are able to get away with such outlandish and ridiculous PR stunts, but somehow, they do. And they truly stand out thanks to it. If you’re looking for inspiration as to how to you can evolve your marketing with original, crazy ideas – or maybe you just want a laugh – follow Cards Against Humanity as their brand continues to get weirder.
(Note: some of their materials can be quite offensive – proceed with caution).
Youfoodz
Food delivery
Youfoodz is an Australian meal delivery service. They offer healthy, affordable meals around most of the country. Like most food brands, Youfoodz have a strong focus on their meals – with tantalizing photos of their latest dishes, and a lot of clever, descriptive copy. However, they mix this in with clever lifestyle and cultural posts, making them a brand that their customers can really get to love for more than just their product.
What do they get right? The right mix of product and lifestyle content.
It can be hard to get your content mix just right. But YouFoodz seem to have hit the Goldilocks ratio.
As a brand, you want to show off your offerings. Ecommerce brands especially need to get their products in front of people! But bombarding your followers with a constant onslaught of thinly-veiled advertising can be damaging. To keep your customers engaged, you need to offer them something more.
Check out the content types on their Instagram page:
You can see that there’s a great mix of product shots, aspirational lifestyle photos, and the occasional bit of comedy catering to (pardon the pun) their millennial customers.
If you’re wondering what sort of stuff your ecommerce store should be posting on socials, draw some inspiration from Youfoodz!