Case Study: Bringing the Ruk-bug buggy to launch

The Ruk-bug is an innovative new, go anywhere, baby transporter, designed by father and entrepreneur Russell Clifton as a result of his first hand frustrations as a parent. The Ruk-bug is the outcome of years of dedication and believing in the revolutionary pushchair's design. Ruk-bug’s vision is to be recognised globally as the baby care brand that makes parents lives easier, allowing the lives of little ones to be more enjoyable while making the planet happier. Ruk-bug is setting new standards in safety, user-experience and style in the babycare sector and aims to meet and exceed parents' needs by producing innovative, practical and sustainably-functional babycare products, inspired by life.

The Ruk-bug SOLIS delivers the strength and size of a pushchair with the convenience of a stroller. It's a pushchair built for users by a user. It features a first in market telescopic, curved design for improved safety and a more stable centre of gravity. The pushchair boasts a functional three-way carry system and unrivalled safety, comprising of a unique magnetised buckle locking device. The Ruk-bug SOLIS is the first true crossover pushchair that can be moved confidently and easily, anywhere.

Bonfire has been working with Ruk-bug since its inception to help build the brand’s identity, attract retailer interest and get the buggy into full production. In preparation for announcing pre-order availability at the Best of British event in Shanghai, Bonfire devised a launch strategy and campaign to drive trade and consumer enquiries and stimulate pre-orders.

Strategy

Bonfire conducted in-depth research into the buggy sector, assessing its competitors and comparing the product against the Chinese market to recommend a brand refresh and campaign launch, that included a shop front on the Indiegogo website marketplace.

The brand identity was adapted to focus more firmly on the product’s key features. The new brand look drew inspiration from the buggy's unique design, to represent the brand's personality and premium nature. The new brand combines fun with quintessentially British by juxtaposing children’s drawings with simple illustrated instructions that reflect the inventor’s British roots and highlight how easy the buggy is to use.

A fresh new Ruk-bug website was built, incorporating video and CGI graphics of the buggy, with a bespoke exhibition stand designed for its debut Shanghai event. The pre-launch campaign included digital ads for outlets such as Best Buggy, plus search and social ads and an electronic mail campaign to generate interest and drive traffic to the website and its pre-order page. All assets were produced in both English and Chinese.

As part of the brand and campaign development, Bonfire also produced brand guidelines, brand messaging and a social media strategy. We built the website from scratch, from wireframe infrastructure through to design and optimisation. We designed all the digital and print ads and customer communications and translated all materials into Chinese. All imagery, CGI work and video was also created by the Bonfire team.

Results

The brand identity and campaign was critical to engaging with potential stockists at the Shanghai exhibition and stimulated interest from a number of potential retail partners. The campaign also drove significant interest online from consumers. In the first week of launch, the campaign drove a 113% increase in traffic to the new Ruk-bug website and increased retention rates on the website up by 71%. At the exhibition, new retailer relationships were also ignited.

Russell Clifton, founder of Ruk-bug, said: “I have to say thank you and everybody else for the work you all did on getting everything together for the show. I appreciate how much work was involved, and it has allowed us to prove the market in China and develop the interest we needed. We have made many new contacts and the new website and material produced has given Ruk-bug a new lease of life and excellent brand presence”.

This case study was brought to you by Bonfire Creative Intelligence.