Great products at great prices were, of course, the key to their success. However, their site had a low-budget feel that didn’t do justice to the quality of Rinkit’s all-round product and service offering — and once we chatted with them about refining their brand we saw Rinkit as a business driven by a powerful desire to make it easy for their customers to buy really nice things for their homes and gardens, which we boiled down to putting the fun into functional.

A positive positioning, with limitless potential

So that’s what led us to developing our “delivering everyday happiness” positioning for the brand.

We knew it was right. But would the highly successful hard-nosed retail guys behind Rinkit feel the same way?

To our joy, and their credit, they immediately saw the potential to make the Rinkit brand a positive and enabling presence in their customers’ lives. And beyond that, they recognised that the positioning could be invaluable internally, rallying their hard-working team around a higher purpose — not just selling products, but making people happy.
 
Rinkit – changeit or keepit?

What about the name? Rinkit was, it seems, originally a bit of an in-joke. So whilst liked internally there had been discussions around a name change, Rinkit were keen to get our view form a branding perspective. And? We loved it. We thought it was snappy, distinctive, memorable. And when we started to explore its possibilities, we realised there was an entire “it” brand vocabulary just waiting to fall into place, throughout the brand’s communications, from website to packaging. Plus there was also the practical aspect of all of the SEO and data heritage behind it — therefore our advice was to retain the name as an essential brand asset underpinned by strong commercial benefits.

A fresher, more seductive site

As for the visual look and feel of the Rinkit website, our job was relatively straightforward: to take something a bit drab and unloved-looking, and make it brighter, fresher, more vibrant and seductive.

As well as introducing the Rinkit ‘it’ language to their website we also guided them on how to put little ideas within product titling and copy to link to be a more engaging and happy experience for the customer.

We also recommended having fun with product photography and simple propping using bright coloured papers — putting the fun functional and creating a brighter and fresher online experience. This also translated over into product videos again keeping it simple and fun with a bit of stop go magic. Then with Rinkit we went to work on spreading the happiness around, through ads, internal signage and a rather jolly little promotional video.

Building brand value — and sub-brand value

A key part of Rinkit’s strategy for success has been the development of their own exclusive brands — enabling them to offer their customers something a bit more special, particularly well suited to their needs and tastes. These range from the minimalist sophistication of Harbour housewares to the bobbyq selection of authentic Australian barbecue equipment.

As part of our overall branding, we focused on each of these sub-brands in turn, aiming to bring out their distinctive personality, while ensuring a complementary high quality feel to the main Rinkit brand, enabling them to target their customers and niche markets even more effectively.

From a great business to a great brand

All in all, it’s been a lovely project for us. Long before Neon came along, Rinkit had built a fantastic business. But they really hadn’t built a brand, in the sense of something that connects with people, and has meaning for them, beyond the basic function the business performs. Now, for more and more customers, around the UK and internationally, Rinkit is rapidly becoming synonymous with the prompt and reliable delivery of little bits of everyday happiness — and adding brand value to Rinkit as a tangible business asset.

Neon’s other branding projects in West Sussex include brand identities for Bignor Park estate, plus for community based initiatives Love Arundel and the Arundel Bee Project, as well as for Akin Arundel’s creative collective, The Castle Cinema and Lidgett Search genealogy.
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