Background
Established in 1770, Yardley of London is a British personal care brand and one of the oldest firms in the world to specialise in cosmetics, fragrances and related toiletry products.
The Challenge
The Yardley brand is over 250 years old and has a strong brand heritage. However it’s user base is ageing and there was a clear need to refresh and re-position to appeal to a younger audience and recruit new users into the brand for the future.
Our Approach
A quantitative ‘sizing’ study to understand levels of awareness and consideration of the Yardley brand among different life stage cohorts followed by a deeper quantitative dive among key opportune target audiences. A phase of qualitative focus groups allowed further understanding of attitudes and brand perceptions.
The Outcome
The research uncovered that among the younger cohorts, the Yardley brand was seen as ‘dusty’ and ‘old fashioned’ but was also strongly admired. Furthermore the fragrances offered did hold strong appeal (especially in the context of Jo Malone and White Company championing natural floral notes). The packaging was broadly unappealing however – reinforcing the old fashioned perceptions.
The research enabled Yardley to move forward with packaging redesign with confidence, the new look and feel was rolled out across other touchpoints and the brand is developing a new range of more contemporary products to help drive modernity and appeal beyond the core range.
