B&Q moves to boost feminine appeal

B&Q is undergoing an important repositioning to try and make its brand appeal more to women, Design Week can reveal.

The DIY retailer reviewed its packaging design roster about three months ago, when it named Lewis Moberly as its lead consultancy. Lewis Moberly beat Coley Porter Bell in a two-way paid strategic pitch for the opportunity to modernise B&Q’s brand image.

‘Traditionally, it has had a very masculine image, but B&Q is look ing to position itself as more of a lifestyle retailer, recognising the importance of female con sumers,’ says Lewis Moberly creative director Mary Lewis.

Other consultancies on its roster report that B&Q is attempting to align itself more with furniture retailers such as Homebase and John Lewis Partnership.

Besides Lewis Moberly, also new to the design roster are FLB, Carrow and Manchesterbased group Touchpoint. Bathbased group Ignition Strategic Design was formally rostered, having worked with B&Q for over a year before the review.

Stratford-upon-Avon group Ztwo is reported to be on the roster, but claims not to have worked on a B&Q project since it was drawn up in the spring.

Elmwood has worked with the retailer for about ten years, but the consultancy has not made it on to the new roster.

‘We have not received any official communication from B&Q on the status of the roster, but we have not worked with them for a while now,’ admits Elmwood’s London managing director Nicolas Mamier.

Carrow creative partner Peter Carrow reports that his consultancy was brought on board on the strength of its work with B&Q packaging manager Jonathan Couper in his previous role at John Lewis.

B&Q is understood to have charged its consultancies with redesigning the packaging for its three ranges of value, basic and premium products.

‘B&Q is trying to trade up at the moment,’ says one insider. ‘From a product perspective, its flagship store in Farnborough is comparable with Homebase or John Lewis, but B&Q must be careful not to alienate its traditional customer-base.’

Other consultancies also believed to be on the roster are Ego and Taylor Grunfeld.

Although it is not on the roster, 20/20 is working on packaging designs for one of B&Q’s product categories.

The retailer recorded its first underlying sales growth for 18 months in July.

B&Q PACKAGING DESIGN ROSTER

• Lewis Moberly (lead consultancy) (new)

• FLB (new)

• Ignition Strategic Design (old)

• Carrow Design (new)

• Touchpoint (new) Unconfirmed rostered design groupsv • Ego

• Taylor Grunfeld

• Ztwo