Project Overview

As part of our review of the Thomas Jewellers brand and setting the agenda for its future, we identified a significant gap in the retail landscape that Thomas Jewellers were uniquely qualified to fill - that is, a specifically curated store that stocks a diverse range of watches from the world's leading watch brands. Hence the creation of The Watch Shop, a physical and digital destination for only the best in watches.

Project Commissioner

The Thomas Group

Project Creator

Traffic Brand Agency

Project Brief

We were confronted with often what is most challenging brief for any design team - the totally open brief. Whilst there was a distinct strategic direction that needed to be adhered to, there was no heritage to leverage (or avoid), no need to link to the parent brand, no existing brand components or assets that we needed to factor in. Aside from the name, our starting point was the classic 'clean sheet of paper'.

Project Innovation/Need

The Watch Shop is an entirely new retail concept, directly targeting fashion-conscious millennials who see their watch as a fashion piece, not an heirloom. So the identity for the brand and the way it was represented needed to reflect the sense of innovation, dynamism and modernity that was inherent in this new concept.

Design Challenge

The challenge was multi-faceted. Overall, we of course needed to create a brand that had relevance and appeal to a broad, very design-savvy target market. Also, given the large variation of price points that were evidenced across the product range within the store, it needed to feel an appropriate 'home' for watches that were basic, functional and everyday, through to the more upmarket, expensive time pieces. In addition, the brand needed to be powerful and magnetic enough to 'host' the myriad of well established, recognised and aspirational brands that The Watch Shop housed.

Effectiveness

We have been the architects for the design and creation of every touchpoint that the customer has with The Watch Shop brand. From the creation of the logo & identity, through to revolutionary new store design and fit-out (in collaboration with the multi-award winning Greater Group), corporate materials, in-store POS, merchandise, uniforms, signage, website and more. The first The Watch Shop store launched in Warrnambool in March 2017, with plans for further roll-out in other locations across 2017 and beyond. The launch has been a resounding success with sales and traffic (store & website) far greater than initially anticipated.