ADC (ARTESANIAS DE COLOMBIA)
How to raise the perceived value of our handcrafts?
The government bureau in charge of managing Colombian handcrafts commissioned us to develop a new concept that would raise its brand profile and point of purchase, creating an experience to improve its brand awareness while increasing its traditional handicraft sales.
CD&I Associates team, with this mandate in mind, ethnographically analyzed the market to understand users’ behaviour and what attracts them to buy this kind of product.
A preliminary concept was developed from these studies and evaluated in subsequent focus group sessions with “targeted” end-users and customers.
We concluded that a significant percentage of customers were composed of foreigners looking for a memorable and meaningful gift that reflected the country’s culture and history and not just a beautiful object.
We proposed the concept of “branding our identity,” in which we needed to place the artisan rather than their products at the core of our ADC’s strategy because people’s values and stories were more meaningful and important than their objects.
Finally, we developed a point of sale and an experience inspired by both the “maloca” (traditional indigenous dwellings from the Amazon region) and the Hispanic colonial architecture found in many of Colombia’s traditional neighbourhoods.
One of the essential values in the project’s development I recommended was to guarantee that the objects (shelves, countertops, tiles, lighting) created for the new ADC stores were 100% made by our artisans, reflecting authentic materials and ancestral techniques while the value of the ADC brand highlighted the social function and showcases the work of our people.
Another essential concept that stood out in creating the space experience and the brand architecture was to always place and communicate the importance and value of our Indigenous artisans at the core of our communications and spaces, not just their products.
With this in mind, we managed to tell the artisan’s story, the legends, and the myths of their culture, creating a meaningful connection with the shoppers.
We featured the commercial spaces with specially designed sounds to attract and create an immersive experience, all harmonized through technology.
Today, our concept continues to lead and inspire the company’s communication strategies by inviting the tourist to approach, understand, and take part in Colombia’s history, knowing that for us, the important thing is not the product but the people behind it!.