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The importance of aesthetics

Most people think only of what a product looks like when they consider aesthetics. This was important with the Remarkable pencil but just as important was the feel of it. It needed either to have a colour similar to a traditional pencil, or to make the colour a feature (eg black, blue or yellow right through, which is harder to do with a traditional wood one). The stiffness of the pencil was important aesthetically - too bendy and it would feel most peculiar and users might not trust it or treat it as a real pencil.

Marketing matters learnt

Remarkable have learnt a lot about buyers' reactions to their product and have refined their marketing approach accordingly:

• They know that they are selling to buyers not users - many of their pencils are bought by companies as free gifts to promote the company

• They give out messages about the buying company through the pencil's design, eg an innovative pencil suggests an innovative company

• An environmentally aware pencil suggests an environmentally aware company or charity

• The buyer has to be able to associate the values of their company with the product

• To penetrate the high street (retail sales (G)) they need the pencil to be part of a range of associated products

• The high street appeal will be to do with low-key branding, no packaging or bar codes to reflect the minimalism of a vending cup pencil

• High street buyers will be buying them as gifts, similar to the corporate buyer, because of their USP (G)

• The main source of interest is that the pencils are made from recycled materials.

Essentially, they find, the pattern of people's reactions to the Remarkable pencil is first, interest, then fascination, followed by disbelief. It is difficult to believe that a cup from a coffee machine can be turned into a real, working pencil. They realised this early on in the product's development so it has become their key marketing feature. At first they used a figure '1' but then changed to the word 'one - vending cup' to stress the exact transformation that they had achieved.

Remarkable's early customers were local councils with a strong environmental policy, or charities that wanted to associate themselves with worthwhile products.

British retailers were resistant at first because environmentally sound stationery was seen as 'old hat'. So their new products are designed to look very contemporary with a strong brand identity (G). To expand their range for retail sales, Remarkable have developed a 30cm rule (made from 7 vending cups), note pads of recycled paper in A4 down to A6 sizes, two colours of pencil and full geometry sets with an emphasis on recycled materials. They have pens made from milk bottles and a number of products made from recycled car tyres (one of the world's greatest waste problems) including mouse mats, pad covers and a pencil case, all in the same strong, simple colours and labelling.

You could see if you can find these products in your local shops. If you can, try this task.

  Task 5 - Targeting

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