Background

Barker & Stonehouse is the UK’s second largest privately owned furniture retailer. Apart from being well known throughout the UK as a design-orientated interiors trendsetter it also has excellent ethical and environmental credentials.

The company is passionate about ensuring an ethical provenance for its products and in encouraging other furniture retailers to take the same approach. This strong held belief that ethical sourcing was the best way forward for the furniture industry lead Barker & Stonehouse to set up its pioneering Trees 4 Trees planting project in Indonesia with the aim of getting many other UK retailers involved.

Strategy

We realised that no-matter how principled the Trees 4 Trees project it was going to be the consumers’ attitude to the furniture being made under its brand name that made the project a success or failure.

Cool Blue developed an integrated campaign which spanned point of sale, web-based and media information distribution in order to quickly spread the word about the Trees 4 Trees campaign and the products made in its name.

We took a two pronged approach by targeting some of the UK’s leading environmental journalists with articles appearing in The Times and The Ecologist as well as the leading lifestyle and interiors journalists to ensure that the Trees 4 Trees products received plenty of positive media exposure.

Result

The Trees 4 Trees product range has become one of Barker & Stonehouse’s best selling ranges with customers impressed by its looks and price point as well as its credentials.

The products regularly appear in the national media as part of Cool Blue’s ongoing media relations campaign and 50 UK retailers have signed up to participate in the scheme.

The Trees 4 Trees project recently notched up its millionth tree planted.