Merchandising
and
Brand Development
Along with merchandising, one of my main goals as Brand Developer of ‘The Maker Bean Cafe’ was to grow and enhance company product base, retail space and traffic.
To achieve this I analyzed the 3 main departments of the company: Education, Coffee Shop, and Makerspace to see how I could edit and improve on existing infrastructure and image.
BRAND IDENTITY AND PRODUCT
2021
One of the first challenges in growing a brand that can yield an almost infinite amount of product is narrowing down what a base collection looks like. One of the stages of growth is to catalogue and estimate product relevant to the niche the company is branching out into.
The difficulty lies in keeping true to the brand values and themes while expanding divisions.
MONTHLY WINDOW DISPLAY
Customized windows for seasons, holidays and special occasions. Each window flip too into account items that had already or previously been manufactured on site, either as a sample or stock, to ensure low cost and ample exposure for all items. As there was little to no budget for these displays, items were crafted with a laser cutter or 3D printer when needed but typically utilized items that had been created for retail.
POKÉMON GO CAMPAIGN
August 2022 (ongoing)
As a hybrid concept of cafe and Makerspace with a key brand persona being ‘kid friendly,’ engaging with other characters can be a struggle. Thus the launch of a campaign to elect the storefront as a Pokémon GO stop as a means of bridging the gap between identity of a child dominant space and adult craft/tech interests.
The goal of this strategy is to solidify the storefront as a staple part of the Bloorcourt community in Toronto through a verified Pokéstop, in conjuncture with increasing our patronage and interest in other corners of the business.
Success thus far has been through the increase of both socials engagement, and physical increase of customers and subsequent recommendations.