Case Study: Broad Stripe Butchers
Lorna Milligan is a senior graphic designer at Jupiter Design in the UK. Her work involves briefing and managing in-house copywriters, designers, photographers, and production artists, and she recently led the creation and launch of a customer-facing e-commerce site for Fairfax Meadow, the biggest supplier of meat to Michelin-starred restaurants in the UK. Here she explains how the copy and tone of voice are among the most important aspects of the site.
replicating the premium butcher experience online
We were taking a purely trade service, Fairfax Meadow, and offering their premium meat directly to the public, and after profiling the audience we knew we had to speak to them clearly, confidently, and engagingly. The voice had to sound warm, friendly, and real, and not obviously copywritten. Because it is only online it was important to make it sound personal, and have a face and voice behind the site.
From start to finish, all of the communications around this new brand had to feel as if they were speaking to someone personally. It is a very important expression of the brand, which puts the customer directly in touch with master butchers. The objective of the brand was to sell the product, and the objective of the copy to bring the brand to life.
The Approach:
using real people to speak just like real people
We knew the audience love organic food and we built a profile around this. We decided to keep it separate from the main trade business and we created the name and brand, Broad Stripe, in order to launch the new website service.
We had played with loads of names, and started exploring ideas around the butcher’s striped apron. The broad blue stripe means Master Butcher. We presented this as the route to follow – with the apron providing the brand with an established feel and positioning it as an expert in the field. The website had to feel real, like interacting with a butcher. We created a “family” of butchers, casting everyone from the company. Some were real butchers; others worked in the offices. We created the butchers’ personalities before casting so we could find faces that would fit with the characters we devised. Giving them personalities enabled us to have real conversations in character and helped the language sound like a real conversation with a customer, giving the brand personality.
The main characters were Vernon, Pete, Janet, and a young apprentice. They bring the brand to life in imaginary conversations, and quotations on the website. The whole brand hangs on this tone of voice and method of communicating to the customer. We didn’t take the usual approach to writing the website – there is no introductory copy, for example. We demonstrate the values of the brand and the quality of the meat through the voices of the butchers on the website.
There are three types of copy: the butchers’ voices (and the visual part of the brand) and the two sections within the site – the educational aspects and the selling aspects. Educational aspects include hints and tips for storing and cooking meat, recipes, or celebrity interviews. Selling aspects are very much about the food, with photography and copy evoking the mouthwatering qualities, describing the flavors of the fresh lamb and the sticky and sweet pork.
Hero banners feature product copy – 12 rotate continually, and each takes the visitor to the shop front. We use appealing copy straight away on the home page, and when the visitor comes to the store front the canopy moves up, giving a sense of entering something. The hero banners and ads on the site show a range of food, from typical British fodder to à la carte dishes, and we adjusted the language to suit the mood these created.
The educational side is important as it provides customers with cooking tips and recipe ideas so that they use it at any time, not just when purchasing meat. The recipes are useful reference points, and they appear in relevant locations throughout the site. Examples include how to cook the perfect steak, explaining how the products are so good all you need is a bit of seasoning.
The call to action is made clear with a butcher’s chalkboard, with writing highlighting bestsellers, as well as mini-ads for the best cuts. Prompts to buy appear frequently. Information features show which parts of the animal are linked to the cuts, and which are best for roasting or frying. Each box of meat sent to customers has a card signed by the packer.
The Result:
the customers build strong relationships with the brand
The butchers’ voices are what brings the Broad Stripe brand to life. The tone of voice is friendly, warm, and inviting, enticing and drawing the reader in. Copy is punchy, talking about sizzling sausages, but is also descriptive and evocative, with references to taste and flavor indicating quality without spelling it out overtly. It is helpful too, explaining storage and delivery, showing how the order is constructed, the speed of delivery, and that there is always someone available at the end of a phone. We have found the mini-ads in the third column drive a lot of the business, and the front page offers are effective too.
The premium feel and upmarket approach was best received in the south of England, where customers will buy a week’s supply of meat at a time. Broad Stripe is an aspirational brand; we’re proud that our customers leave the box out in the kitchen.