Project Overview
It’s the store everyone has been talking about (yes, even Liam Gallagher). M&S Stevenage. A 10,000 square metre showstopper with a brand new Clothing & Home department that has gone from tired to inspired. Whippet were the creators of this much-needed makeover, which since opening in April has changed perceptions and drawn customers through the doors in their thousands.
From our sound strategic foundation to the bold and beautiful signage, the mini identities created for individual categories to the new, cleaner, clearer POS system… we purposefully designed everything with one vision in mind: to make customers fall back in love with this British treasure by becoming the destination for fashion, homeware and beauty once again.
Project Commissioner
Project Creator
Team
Creative Director - Sean Dwyer
Design Director - Jo Randall
Head of Strategy & Copy - Tamsin Thom
Business Director - Nicola Guest
Senior Designer - Rob Jones
Junior Designer - Sarah Butler
Artworker - Jaime Yates
Project Brief
“Do what you did to M&S Food”. That was the opening brief from our client. That’s because Whippet is behind the sensational transformation of the M&S Foodhall, which began in 2019 and continues to roll out through the UK.
But it wasn’t as simple as that. It’s a publicly-known fact that the fashion and homeware departments at M&S had been floundering - tired, dull and uninspiring places to shop, which yes, were still drawing a core audience of aged 50+ customers, but were failing to appeal to a new generation of fashion-forward shoppers. How could we build on the brand’s style credentials to capture the attention of the modern mainstream? Younger families who seek a vibrant, more inspiring experience? And in doing so, turn M&S Clothing and Home into a destination that stands shoulder to shoulder with its food counterpart?
That was the top line ask of our brief. But in specifics, the scope included navigation, department signage, category brand identities, point of sale revamp, and all comms, with a particular focus on sustainability stories and service messaging. We were also briefed to sprinkle some magic across the environmental elements of the store with engaging solutions for bespoke ‘beacon’ categories such as denim and lingerie. Get ready to have your head turned…
Project Innovation/Need
Every single thing we did was a first for M&S. Using high, eye, buy principles, we created a communication hierarchy that makes it easy to shop. Each department has its signage moment, with every piece helping customers get where they need to be.
We created landmark destinations for departments like Denim, a ‘shop in shop’ designed with inspirational light boxes to display simple education comms, while The Lingerie Studio has been given its own ‘boutique’ look and feel, with a bespoke typeface adding elegance and luxury.
In fashion, we created a new identity for the collection The Edit, making it more modern and editorial with a bespoke typeface and tagline, as well as creating a unified approach for all fit guides and product selectors across the store.
Across homeware, we made strategic recommendations on the placement of Basic, Good, Better, Best tiering - bringing the ‘basic’ range, ‘Remarksable Value’ through from M&S Food, and placing signifiers for the ‘Best of M&S’ range at high level for impact.
Throughout the whole store, a structured point of sale system makes things cleaner and more consistent with bold price points, simple copy and grids making information easier to process.
Sustainability shines throughout with the ‘Look behind the label’ proposition heroed across POS, and a new suite of iconography bringing key messages to life.
And when it comes to service messaging, we’ve made it service with a smile. Bespoke illustrations and a conversational tone of voice really put the fun in functional.
Design Challenge
The main design challenge we faced was striking the balance between not alienating current customers, while still attracting the new. We achieved this by retaining key masterbrand elements like the fonts and monochromatic palette, but modernising it with pops of colour, a new photography direction and a refreshed tone of voice that talks to the modern mainstream customer in a more engaging way.
In addition, the sheer scale, size and number of departments we were dealing with meant a stakeholder collective of over 50 which presented logistical challenges at times, as well as making sure our inter-agency relationship with Dalziel & Pow (responsible for the environmental design) was as collaborative as possible to achieve the shared vision. Sharp planning and timelines from our client services team, and channelling all feedback through one point of contact ensured we were kept on track.
Finally, we’d set the bar very high with our previous transformation of M&S Food - a bit of a self-fulfilling prophecy, but a nice problem to have.
Effectiveness
Results to date are staggeringly positive - Stevenage customers have a higher number of basket items and the store is now over-indexing on younger groups compared to other M&S stores on retail parks. It has a higher proportion of new customers (that is, who’ve not shopped clothing and home in the last 12 months) standing at 32.4% versus 18.5%, and it now has the highest proportion of customers shopping more than just one department than its retail park counterparts (35% versus 31%).
Feedback from customers has been fantastic, with customers heaping praise on the new store; “I’m quite amazed this is an M&S, when I look around it feels so much more premium” and “Please can we have one of these M&S stores in every city and town across the UK!” being just two of the comments.
While the client equally enthused: “The Whippet team has worked hand in hand with our in-house M&S team at speed, with precision, a can-do attitude and great flexibility. What was most incredible was their expertise and vision to drive the concept further than we anticipated, but all the time balanced perfectly with patience and collaboration”.
And there’s a final word from a certain famous Mancunian: “Oh and the new MnS in Stevenage is outrageously good” - that’s a tweet from Liam Gallagher. We didn’t know he shopped at M&S, but how very rock ’n’ roll.
Graphic Design - Environmental
This award celebrates creativity and innovation in the intersection of communication design and the built environment, and is concerned with the visual aspects of wayfinding, communication identity and brands, information design and shaping the idea of place. Consideration given to clarity of communication and the matching of information style to audience.
More Details