Monimalz : Coming up with a plan, doing things differently and delivering in time for Christmas.
Having written about Business Modelling and Coaching, Mentoring and making great mistakes, my next few articles will take a deeper dive into work in support of various clients with their strategies.
Years of managing complex cross-continent and multi-partner projects have given me experience enough to know that, whilst ‘tried and tested’ might be the recipe for past results it certainly isn’t always a formula for future success. I see so many consultants (even the big firms) falling back on standard practises instead of considering a client’s unique strengths and DNA when building and delivering a business strategy. Sometimes you have to go off the map and explore new concepts and approaches to create a strategy that truly works for your client and can be implemented on time and on budget, especially when both of these are scarce resources. To illustrate this I want to tell you about the Monimalz commercial strategy I worked on with Yellow Innovation, the startup studio of La Poste, the French national postal service.
Team ‘Yellow’ is arguably one of the most creative and disruptive groups I’ve worked with and their Monimalz product is a fun learning, gaming, savings, tasks and communication companion for the whole family in the form of a monkey, whale or panda. An IoT device that has neither a microphone, keyboard nor camera to ensure the family’s safety and security, Monimalz distinguishes itself via it’s cutting-edge design, display and tactile user interface; it’s a product that continues to look, feel and behave like nothing else on the market more than 12 months after its launch.
Whilst the product team were building, testing and manufacturing Monimalz my role was to create a commercial strategy with one simple objective: get Monimalz into the most exclusive luxury and design stores in Paris in time for Christmas. These animals needed to leapfrog all the favourite toy brands (Lego, Mattel, Nintendo, etc, …) to claim precious commercial shelf space at the most competitive time of the year! The usual retail and commercial strategy playbook needed to be bent, if not broken, to make this Christmas dream come true.
Rather than using a commercial agent and their tried and tested ‘How to introduce a new product’ approach (along with the required large budget, commission and long timeline) we sidestepped this method completely and built a strategy around ‘creating an unexpected experience’ — leveraging Yellow’s design DNA, stop-motion video skills and one of Monimalz unique selling points, user experience, to bring something totally new to the buyers at these luxury stores. It is safe to say our videos and highly animated graphical presentations were not the usual commercial pitch these buyers were accustomed to and this was instrumental in catching their attention and making them want to know more about Monimalz.
I also leveraged a different type of user experience to our advantage — that of my client network and their professional experience of working with me. Employing plenty of research and my international community I drew up a list of designers, UI and UX experts I knew could influence decision makers and buyers at our target stores, either through direct contacts or media influence and exposure. Having buyers learn of Monimalz through their internal networks meant in one case our target buyer came to us rather than us going to them. Another element of creating an unexpected experience was enabling buyers to unbox the product themselves. Just as much effort and attention to detail had been put into this user-experience as into the product itself and it created a considerable ‘wow effect’ and a lasting first impression.
As luxury store buyers are always looking for something special to offer their customers, the combination of both our non-standard commercial approach, the product and the experience we created caught the attention of the three stores we’d targeted in Paris, and requests from quite a few others that we decided to politely decline so Monimalz could remain exclusive in the market.
Having opened the doors to these stores with our unconventional approach we now needed to conform to the purchasing and procurement procedures of these enormous establishments in order to smooth the path for Monimalz onto the store’s shelves. It’s good to know when you can push and disrupt by doing something different and important to recognise when to align with the practises of your preferred partners in order to get things done, fast. As a result Monimalz claimed it’s stake on both the Champs Elysee and Paris’ Rive Gauche and was available for Christmas in prized positions at both The Publicis Drugstore and the world renowned Le Bon Marche department store.
A child plays with Monimalz at The Publicis Drugstore, Champs Elysée
Monimalz on display in The Publicis Drugstore, Champs Elysée
“Nothing about Monimalz was normal; from it’s conception, through design and testing, to how Monimalz looked or behaved, so we knew we needed a non-standard commercial approach to get us to the right market. Kristen’s ability to go ‘hors piste’ and build a strategy based on both our products strengths and her network and experiences got Monimalz on the shelves of Paris’ top stores and competing with some of the world’s best known brands and products for Christmas.” Philippe Mihelic, former Creative Director and Innovation Officer @ Yellow Innovation by Groupe La Poste
As I said, ‘tried and tested’ isn’t always a formula for future success, so if you’d like to do things differently and see how my past experience and future vision can differentiate your company’s strategy from your competition then let’s talk. There is a whole world of new strategic opportunities constantly being created for us to explore and exploit to your advantage. You can reach me via Linkedin, my website, or Twitter.
