case studies

hunter boot

Hunter Boot Ltd has been producing wellington boots since its first inception in 1856. Given this heritage the company is undoubtedly traditional in many ways. Hunter were keen to retain their traditional roots and established customer base whilst embracing the 21st Century and welcome the fact that their products are now worn by a much wider range of people and used for a much wider range of activities. Their move into the consciousness of a younger, more fashionable audience has been helped by iconic fashion figures such as Kate Moss being seen wearing their products in the public eye.

the brief

Hunter began working with LEWIS in early 2007 with the aim of developing brand and commercial growth amongst both their traditional and newly established customer base.  A major part of this was to create a sophisticated and stylish web presence to act as a showcase of the brand and to offer Hunter customers an increased level of customer service, ultimately to include the opportunity to purchase Hunter Boots online.

our idea

Online branding:
LEWIS were tasked with the challenge of creating a dedicated brand home for Hunter online.  From the offset the style of the site and the imagery used were recognised as key drivers to elevate the Hunter online brand to a more aspirational level.  Hunter were keen to project a modern, stylistic element to the design without alienating their long-standing customers.  They aspired to achieve a clean, contemporary online brand style.

LEWIS strategised the website design stage with Hunter and conducted research into their key audience groups and competitors to develop an appropriate brand styling for the site.  Professional photography was specially commissioned and art-directed by LEWIS to capture the ambiance of the brand appropriately.  This imagery was adapted for use throughout the site, most prominently within the Flash introduction to the site, which successfully portrays the aspirations of each of the key audience groups.  In March 2008 the website photography achieved recognition from the wider creative industry by winning an Award of Excellence from the Scottish Master Photographers Association.

Customer Relationship Development:
A major element of the website strategy was to ensure that it could act on behalf of Hunter Boots as a customer service tool and was able to provide a framework for future promotional and customer engagement activities.  In fulfilment of this goal, LEWIS implemented a number of features throughout the site to encourage user interaction and feedback.  Functional customer tools such as the Boot Selector which allows users to input their specific preferences to view available stock in real time and the Store Finder, a searchable database of current Hunter Boot stockists were adapted for this purpose.  Capitalising on the current trends for social networking and content sharing, users of the site are welcomed to post their own feeds from YouTube and Flickr and use the customer review feature to post their own comments on Hunter products to the site (after approval by Hunter of course!).

Niche targeting is planned throughout the coming year with opportunistic campaigns aimed at the fashion audience.  The first of these, running a competition to win two tickets to 2008's Glastonbury festival has begun, using the website as the contact point for all entrants.

E-commerce:
As a phase 2 of the website development we are in the process of implementing a full online e-commerce solution to capitalise on the growth of the web sales market and enable Hunter to have complete ownership and control over a direct sales channel without the need to rely on third party online stockists.  This phase of the website development is currently in the process of completion and is due for launch mid June 2008.  LEWIS are building a customised e-commerce solution to the following specification:

• Secure server and hosting
• Bespoke shopping cart solution
• Fully integrated feed from Hunter's product database
• Payment gateway link to RBS/Streamline
• Fulfilment process integrated with LEWIS CMS system

the outcome

The launch of Phase 1 of the Hunter website has been welcomed with great praise from the client, their customers and the industry at large.  It has transformed the way that Hunter Boot promote their brand image and communicate with their audience.  With the imminent launch of Phase 2, including the ability to purchase the full Hunter product range online, it is hoped that the website will continue to positively develop the way that their business operates. 

"This website scores highly in my opinion.  It has clever use of Flash and the total product offering is explained on the home page in a very clear and appealing way.  It supports the heritage positioning well by modernising the brand to appeal for today's consumer.  The website navigation is easy and everything combines well as a whole.  9/10."

Asanka de Silva, Senior Brand Value Manager, Charteredbrands
As featured in the Drum's ‘Creative Review', 9^th May 2008