Bo Concept to lay Landor study results on the table

Furniture retailer Bo Concept unveils the culmination of a year-long strategic research project by Landor Associates next month, which aims to radically reposition the brand for the UK market ahead of a planned expansion.

The company aims to compete with Habitat and Marks & Spencer’s Lifestore offering, says a Bo Concept spokeswoman.

Landor’s work is likely to feed into store design at a later stage, adds the spokeswoman.

‘We do want to look at our store design, and may be making design appointments [down the line],’ she explains.

Bo Concept’s heritage is European design, which ‘doesn’t necessarily appeal to UK consumers’, says Landor planner Hugh Bateman, who led the project.

‘Its over-Scandinavian coolness needs warming up. [UK] consumers traditionally see Bo as functional and simple; their relationship with the brand must be more emotional,’ he says.

‘Bo needs to relate more closely to consumers’ lives and way they live with furniture. It is too one-dimensional and needs to add more expression, colour and flavour to its brand,’ Bateman adds. ‘It should try to shed its self-assured image, and inject an element of surprise.’

The first physical manifestation of Landor’s work will be seen initially across in-store marketing material designed by Young & Rubicam Gitam, inspired by its advertising campaign which breaks next month. The work is centred around the strapline ‘It’s so Bo.’

Landor was appointed without a pitch last spring on the strength of relationships with the Young & Rubicam network.

The work is evidence of the impact of Marks & Spencer’s entry into the home interiors market.

The retailer this week announced that it is expanding its Lifestore concept to two further pilots, at Lakeside and Kingston-upon-Thames, and rivals across the sector are addressing branding strategies in light of the increased competition.