Case Studies
Here's how I ensured our Dove Spa Gift Cards reflect our brand ethos
Spa service and professional beauty product provider, Dove Spa, has a strong brand image of an honest approach to beauty and a product philosophy delivering effective results in superior products which care for future generations. So, when the Dove Spa team were looking to produce plastic cards to reduce admin for their gift card programme, they knew they needed to work with a supplier that could demonstrate a thorough understanding of brand management and could supply environmentally friendly plastic cards that would also care for future generations.
Dove Spa Operations Coordinator, Sally Murphy, explains the steps she took to ensure that they chose the right partner to achieve the very specific aims for this project.
What I did
Here's how I evaluated plastic card suppliers
"In the first place, I asked colleagues and turned to the Internet to find suppliers. I contacted several, but found that, with their agency mentality, the team at ecocard™ (a specialist division of The Plastic Card Shop®) completely understood the importance of brand integrity. They clearly demonstrated a comprehensive knowledge of plastics and developments in the plastic card market. The Managing Director, Matt Payne, dealt with my enquiry personally and made me feel confident in the company's ability. He also had several types of environmentally friendlier plastic cards to offer, which is quite unique."
Get a feel
"As a customer myself I know what good service is about and working for Dove Spa, it's very important that we offer our guests the best service from our skin care experts, professional treatments using the latest technology and superior products in salon and for recommended homecare. I felt that the team at ecocard™ reflected our own Guest Service Policy: every customer is special and deserves the very best. They even gave us advice and guidance before we had committed to use them."
Do your homework
"I was being offered all sorts of plastics from various suppliers and I needed to feel assured that I wasn't being misled in what is still an embryonic market in the eco-friendly plastic card sector. The team at ecocard™ certainly knew their plastics as well as the various methods of print and the importance of the presentation of the card itself."
Look at the other brands they help
"It's always good to see examples of other jobs and the customers that a company has previously worked with. For example I could see that ecocard™ had made cards for Somerfield and Hackett both of them high profile retail brands."
What I'd do differently
"Well, for any future plastic card project, I'd go straight to ecocard™. I'd then benchmark other suppliers against them, as I believe ecocard™ is the marque to aspire to. In the unlikely event that other companies have caught up with ecocard's three-year development process, I'd consider them, but I think it's unlikely."
"I'm also confident that with MD Matt Payne's commitment to developing his product offering, he'll have something new and exciting to show me when I next need to replace or update the Dove Spa Card.
Select a case study
- Get a sample pack and look at the quality of the suppliers' own presentation; if they can't sell themselves what hope have they got of promoting your brand?
- Look for anything that sets them apart; the way they talk to you, the speed they deal with your enquiry and more importantly whether they quickly grasp what you are doing and can recommend alternatives you may not have considered.
- Go with your gut feel and ask yourself, 'Can I work with these people? Can I trust them with my brand?' Some companies I spoke to were much cheaper, and for a reason - their products and service were not as good. One company took a week to follow up my enquiry after I asked for a sample pack. This 'can't be bothered approach' does not get my business.
As a pioneering brand in the beauty industry, you have to be one step ahead of the competition. All major brands use gift cards, and we knew we had to be part of this, but with our new ecocard™ we are not just part of it, we are at the forefront.
