Advertising
For this project, I prepared Bee & Bellflower for their initial online launch on November 3rd, 2020. Their product is unique because they sell mini candles with high concentrations of fragrance oil, which means these tiny packages fill the room with fresh scents faster than regular sized candles. They also are conscious of the environment, so they use natural ingredients and make each of their candles in reusable packaging. I did this by designing and setting up an official website for Bee & Bellflower.
The promotion of Bee & Bellflower included writing the copy and creating on-brand graphics for the website. I also took product photos and edited them. I then used these product photos to create holiday-themed social media advertisements.
This first wave of advertisements ran on Facebook and Instagram from November 3rd to November 9th, 2020. I then monitored the effectiveness of the ads through Facebook’s social media analytics. After reviewing the data from the first set of ads, I adjusted the copy and target audience of the ads. I used these adjustments to start a new ad campaign that ran from November 13th to November 18th, 2020. Below are the results of those campaigns and images of the website I designed.
When designing the website, I wanted to used holiday colors while still remaining true to the Bee & Bellflower style guide that I had created. To do this I used deeper tones of red and green than you normally see on holiday decorations and added a cream background from the Bee & Bellflower color pallet. I then chose pictures from Unsplash that matched those colors and the themes of each scent. I then edited the code on Shopify to allow for customer reviews. Once I was happy with the overall design of the website, I dove into writing the copy for the website. I wrote a frequently ask questions page and after some research I wrote an “About Us” page aimed at appealing to the target audience.
Here are the results from each of the main ads that was used in each of the advertising campaigns. As you can see, we were able to get a much larger reach from the second wave of ads. Furthermore, we were able to reach a younger audience, thus increasing the chances of them making a percase on the website.
While researching heavy candle users on Mediamark, I noticed some unexpected trends. For example, people over the age of 55 were less likely to buy candles regularly. Also, People of color are more likely to percase candles often. People who buy candles often are also more likely to have a lower income than we originally suspected. We this new data, I went on to Mintel to research trends in younger consumer behavior. I found that consumers are more warry of what ingredients are in their candles and want to support businesses that are ecofriendly. Because of this new data, I adjusted the sale price of candles on the Bee & Bellflower website and launched a new wave of ads focusing on the all-natural ingredients in Bee & Bellflower candles.
I am proud of the results of my senior project. I was able to develop a brand style, research the target audience, create a website, and produce engaging advertising material. I plan on continuing my work on the Bee & Bellflower brand and will continue to update the website accordingly.