Introduction
For this project we are working in groups with the marketing students on a live design brief. eDecks are an online wood merchants specialising in decking, timber and fencing. They are a seasonal business that experience a large drop in sales over winter. Their brief for the marketing students is to create an integrated marketing campaign (IMC) in which they “think creatively about how eDecks can drive winter sales and expand its appeal even in the off-season”. Our task is to visualise the marketing student’s ideas for them to present to eDecks.
Research
eDecks
Prior to meeting the marketing groups, we were placed into graphic design groups. We worked as a team to carry out research on eDecks and produce our own creative ideas to boost winter sales.
Based on the brief given by eDecks their target audience is homeowners/gardeners, DIY hobbyists or small-scale landscapers.
When opening the eDecks’ website, the user is immediately overwhelmed with graphics, call to actions, pop-ups and bright backgrounds meaning the user is not lead on a clear journey through the website. This could lead to indecisions when purchasing and a loss in sales for eDecks. Soegaard (2021) states that “white space is a great tool to balance design elements and better organize content to improve the visual communication”, a less cluttered website could lead to better communication with the consumer and increase sales.
The products promoted on the eDecks’ home page when we carried out the initial research, at the beginning of February, were not seasonal or relevant to a UK audience during winter. Having products that are more likely to sell during winter such as outdoor heaters, grit, log splitters, leaf blowers would be beneficial to promote.
Competitors and Social Media
When looking at competitor websites we decided to look at larger businesses that offer a similar product range such as B & Q and IKEA, these competitors are successful and thrive throughout the year, not just during spring and summer.
B & Q’s social media content over winter included mainly posts about Christmas or user generated content created by influencers.
Whereas IKEA’s social media posts included no content by influencers but still showed a large amount of Christmas posts or posts about their product range.
When analysing eDecks social media pages there was no clear direction. Their posts were not relevant to winter, each channel repeated the same content meaning that it had not been catered to the user’s needs and the posts didn’t lead to an action.
Ideas
This research led to the discussion of whether eDecks should broaden their product range to include products that can be promoted at Christmas. Such as outdoor Christmas lights and decorations or kits to make the garden look festive for families.
Based on the research we carried out we created a list of possible actions that could be included in the IMC.
After working on the initial research and ideas we met with our two allocated marketing groups and Ash from eDecks, I will discuss these meetings more in Posts 3 and 4.
References
B & Q (2025) Timeline [Instagram]. December 2024. https://www.instagram.com/bandq_uk/?hl=en [Accessed 14 Apr 2025].
eDecks (2025) Homepage. https://www.edecks.co.uk/home [Accessed 28 Mar 2025].
IKEA (2025) Timeline [Instagram]. December 2024. https://www.instagram.com/ikeauk/?hl=en [Accessed 14 Apr 2025].
Soegaard, M. (2020) The power of white space in design. Interaction Design Foundation. https://www.interaction-design.org/literature/article/the-power-of-white-space?srsltid=AfmBOor8hCkuM_E6YsNgrrxPgZ3SOEAhMzDbj5fuMEHYcAE53tHghqxL [Accessed 7 Apr 2025].