A renowned brand
Consolidation is key: How we consolidated 2,500,000 parts for one single campaign
The client, for whom we developed this extravagant campaign, is a Danish renowned jewellery brand. The client operates around 2,700 concept stores and 4,500 other points of sales around the world. We are fortunate to have had a long term relationship with this brand and have worked together on more than 75 seasonal and special VM campaigns throughout the years. We develop and produce campaign material for the more than 7,000 points of sales and distribution to the clients 4 regional distributions centres.
This project in particular was very complex and required a substantial number of production partners and a solid and reliable assembly line to bring all the parts together. The complex nature, combined with the fixed deadlines, made coordination, consolidation, and assembly of the components vital.
The creative brief
The client approached us with a stunning Christmas campaign idea. The campaign was to be implemented in the brand’s global stores, so on-time distribution was a must.
The campaign was made up of three different aspects:
1. Castle advent calendar
The client envisioned a sparkling, enchanting, and magical castle hanging in the window. The castle should have 24 mystical advent calendar-like doors that showcased different jewellery pieces. Each day, a new door would be opened, just like on a regular children’s advent calendar would.
The structure of the calendar was to be a delicate and feminine castle, fit for a princess. With swirly details, a sparkling roof to mimic snow, and organic-looking building ornaments, the castle would fit perfectly with the brand’s personality.
2. Christmas bauble clusters
To go with this hanging advent calendar, the brand envisioned hanging, oversized baubles and two different 3D clusters of Christmas baubles to be placed in the window. The organic-looking clusters required an interchangeable aspect to them, swapping from a royal blue to a festive red colour from November to December, respectively.
3. Cabinet baubles
There was also a vision for 3D baubles and clusters to be placed inside the store cabinets as well baubles to be attached to the glass windows of the cabinets.
The baubles needed to attach securely to the glass, but not be permanent or difficult to remove once the campaign had finished. Same as for the window baubles cabinet version, which also needed to be interchangeable from blue to red.
Castle advent calendar, christmas bauble clusters and cabinet baubles
Castle advent calendar
The overall design of the calendar was given to us in 2D sketch format, based on which we provided the client with a 3D visualisation for approval.
Due to the level of details and the size of the castle, the best and most cost-efficient production methods had to be developed.
As part of the technical developing process, methods of assembling the metal elements, inserting the printed pictures of jewellery behind the doors and the method of hanging the castled safely and elegantly had to be considered.
Consolidation of the many elements was the biggest challenge for this campaign. Since there would be a large number of components that needed to be coordinated, consolidated, and assembled before distribution, the project required an assembly line that could accommodate this precise construction and assembly process within a very short timeframe.
Finally, for the distribution, there needed to be a way to ensure that the delicate but large structure was safely and optimally packed for worldwide distribution.
Christmas bauble clusters
The next challenge was concerning the Christmas baubles. To create an organic-looking cluster of the baubles, we needed a way to attach the individual baubles together and still make it possible for some of the baubles in the cluster to be changed from blue to red. This change had to be done easily without the use of tools, for the shop personnel to do the change of colour by themselves.
Cabinet baubles
For the cabinet baubles, a similar way of attaching the baubles was to be developed to make the colour change possible.
Further for the cabinet baubles, a method to mount these on the cabinet window safely had to be found. This was complicated by the fact that the customer wanted an effect where the bauble was split in two, with one half sitting on each side of the window.
The individual baubles required a luxurious expression, and as they were to be 3D, they needed to be stable enough to not roll around the shop floor.
We suggested two strategic initiatives
Castle advent calendar
After the design of the castle was finalised with the right appearance and right delicate and feminine expression, we could start the technical development of the castle.
The castle would be made from thin metal sheets due to the strength needed for the structure. Also, metal would be the right material to achieve the different surfaces the client wished for. The play between matte and shiny surfaces created by differences in depth and areas with different kinds of [word missing?], all contributed to outlining the contours of the castle.
To achieve the desired effects, the metal would have to be photo-etched. As this technic has size limitations, and due to the wish of 3D depth effect between different parts of the castle, the model had to be broken up into elements for production. The castle was split into 11 different elements, which could be individually photo-etched and surface treated.
The assembly method of the calendar with invisible rivets was developed, and the full set of production drawings, including measurements, melting depth indication, and holes for rivets, were provided by our engineering team to the chosen production partners.
The Christmas calendar itself was made in cooperation with 12 different production partners, all supplying different elements/components to complete the makeup of the castle.
These components included:
- The sheets of metal for the structure
- Photo etching of metal
- Paint for the numbers of the castle’s doors
- Glitter for the roof of the castle
- The rubber feet
- The paper for prints of the jewellery
- The double-sided tape to secure the picture of the jewellery to the castle
- Rivets
- Custom made rope for hanging the castle.
- Custom made styrofoam was used to support the castle during construction
- Packaging
- Assembly manual
The assembly and the packing, optimised for distribution, was carefully considered during the development phase.
Christmas bauble clusters
The client was keen on Christmas baubles, where no joining lines were visible. To achieve this and to have baubles strong enough to be joint to a cluster, polished metal baubles were the chosen solution. The baubles came with three different surface colours: Silver, red and blue, all in both matte and shiny versions, and were joined together with different methods. The baubles to be permanently fixed together were joined by a rivet, whereas the coloured baubles to be changed from blue to red were equipped with a threaded nut. This enabled the shop personnel simply by hand to screw the blue ball off and screw the red ball on when the change was made.
As the cluster had an off-balanced, organic shape, a concealed counterweight was added to prevent the clusters from tipping over.
Cabinet Christmas baubles
The smaller baubles for the furniture were moulded in plastic, and as they were to be split into halves, with a half-sphere sitting on each side of the glass. A magnet was countersunk and fastened with a rivet at the flat side of each half-sphere. This enabled the baubles to gently sit on each side of the glass, without any material leaving residue onto the glass.
Consolidation and assembly is key
Our solution to this complex assembly and consolidation challenge was to utilise our in-house agile assembly line. Separate production lines for each element were set up, and the staff were on-the-job trained to perform the various tasks.
Each assembly line was broken up into several stations, so each worker had a specific task to perform. By not asking anyone to assemble a whole calendar or bauble cluster, but only to perform a manageable subtask in the whole process, we could do easy training, reducing the risk of mistakes and secure a high paced production speed.
With the correct set-up, we manage to consolidate 2,500,000 individual parts, using 125 workers, within four weeks, with a total volume of 2,700 CBM shipped in 57 containers into one stunning Christmas campaign.
A Innovative and unique campaign
The brand featured the 3D calendar on their social media pages and promoted a single piece of jewellery each day. This structure fitted perfectly with the brand’s consumer- it was delicate, feminine, enchanting and whimsical.
The organic-looking bauble clusters complemented the castle advent calendar perfectly.
The plug and play solution meant that the store staff simply and easily unscrewed the blue baubles and replaced them with red baubles come December, creating a completely different atmosphere.
The Christmas baubles provided a fun and interactive aspect to the campaign. These were easily moved around the glass, thanks to the attached magnets, by customers and staff. These 3D structures gave a multi-faceted edge to the campaign and had never been seen before.
This unique campaign is a fantastic example of TJ Squared’s abilities in complex consolidation processes.
Are your envisioned campaign complex and require extensive consolidation? Then get in touch with us and let’s talk about how we help – and make it easier and cheaper for you, to create your vision at scale.
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Our work includes custom-made visual merchandising campaigns, for both window and in-store use – for a wide range of well-known retail brands.
