The Project: Expand beyond the single product done for one specific promotion, and create a full line of affinity products as a long-term fundraising tool for Make A Wish. The line must be far reaching enough to cover a wide range of consumer ages and behaviors. This allows the line to be relevant for a variety of retail outlets. The initial sell-in strategy targets locally-owned gift stores in small communities throughout the country.
The Process: Authored and developed the product concept, in this case a series of gift books. Partnered with well-known textile artist, Elaine O'Neil, and art-directed her illustrations to complete the design. Found a local publishing partner and worked with them to test and position the product for retail sell-in.
The Results: The Wish Book product line was tested at a national wholesale gift market in July 2010 and was enthusiastically received. These books are based on the idea of "everyday wishes from unique sources," so they are very topical, e.g., Three Dog Wishes are wishes from dogs; Three Country Wishes are wishes inspired by life in the country, etc. Unsurprisingly, specialty retailers preferred to place the books by subject (pet retailers only wanted the dog and cat titles), but general retailers looked at the concept as a line program where consumers choose their topic from a display of different titles at point of sale.
The For-Profit Tie-In: Each retailer carrying the product becomes an affinity partner for the initiative by featuring the product in their stores.
