We have the honor of working with a visionary philanthropist, Lisa Wise of the Initiative for Affordable Housing, on branding and website development for her start-up aimed at helping low-income women gain job skills. Ritzy Rags trains women as paid employees to use traditional weaving methods to create upcycled products such as rugs and purses.

Every year, SolDesign chooses a non-profit partner for a pro bono project. Ritzy Rags was our choice in 2010 because of their local efforts and inspiring cause. (ending poverty + helping Mother Earth + producing beautiful handmade products = what could be better?)

While Ritzy Rags had begun product development and a website, we started the branding process from the beginning to create a comprehensive, cohesive identity that will spark sustainable change.

Discovery

We conducted several in-person meetings, complete with a tour of the weave house, to learn more about Ritzy Rags.

After hearing about their origins and vision, we delved into discussions about product development, launch dates, logistics and target audience. With rugs as the primary product, Lisa hoped to attract a 50+ crowd with disposable income interested in home decor.

Below are images of “practice” products:

Next, we needed to conduct some research of our own.

Brand Audit, Target Analysis and Strategic Recommendations

To gain an understanding of Ritzy Rags’ category, we researched non-profits, professional weavers, and upcycled products. In our search, we found two organizations to serve as case studies: TOMS and Women’s Bean Project.

If you share my save-the-world sentiments, you may have heard of TOMS’ mantra: “One for One.” For every pair of shoes TOMS sells, they donate a pair to a child in need. While TOMS is a for-profit company rather than a non-profit, they are an excellent example of a Movement, or a sustainable effort toward creating lasting change.

Women’s Bean Project has a similar goal as Ritzy Rags: To teach women job readiness and life skills through crafting a sellable product. Their items, including gourmet food and handmade jewelry, are byproducts of the cause; their marketing emphasizes the importance of the women before the beans.

Ritzy Rags is definitely sparking a Movement, and based on the success of the case studies above, we decided we need to market them as such. We will use social media to spread their story in the first phases, so we want to reach an audience who engages social media channels.

Redefining the target audience was one of the most exciting steps because there’s so much opportunity with Ritzy Rags’ products and purpose. We believe their cause will reach several groups of people, so we divided the new target audience into three tiers:

Tier 1: Educated, socially-minded people in their mid-20s to mid-40s with disposable income. This group is drawn to products with a story, the environmental movement, home and fashion items, and authentic marketing. They are also our brand ambassadors, or the group who will tell others about Ritzy Rags via word of mouth and social media channels.

Tier II: Here’s where Ritzy Rags’ initial target audience stands. This group is 50+, educated, and comfortable with online shopping. They have a stable income and are interested in home products, unique gifts, sentimental custom items, and meaningful causes.

Tier III: This fun group includes our teens and young adults, from ages 12 to early 20s. They are interested in bags and other wearable items, as well as trendy products that may also be meaningful.

We hope that Ritzy Rags’ awesome work will attract more people than those in the groups above, but we plan to reach out to those targets first.

Based on our discussions and research, we also crafted a positioning statement:

Ritzy Rags creates one of a kind handwoven
products from upcycled materials for the end
consumer. The products are designed by low-income
or homeless women who gain job and life skills while
learning a marketable trade. Through the purchase
of Ritzy Rags’ products, consumers ensure the
future of our community by supporting environmental
sustainability and the demand for skilled labor.

We concluded the document with strategic recommendations, including setting up an Etsy shop, and reaching out to local stores and galleries.

Now that we had a solid direction and definition of Ritzy Rags, we were ready to begin next steps: Naming and Logo Design.

Look out for an update on these steps next week!

This holiday season we took our creativity to the kitchen with the making of SolFood - an eclectic cookbook that takes readers through our love affair with food and the recipes that inspire us. We had a blast compiling and sharing our favorite drinks and dishes - we hope they excite your palate and spark your culinary imagination! We’d love to hear your response to the book and cherished recipes. Happy Holidays from all of us at SolDesign.

Download your copy now!

Because social media is such a gas, we’d like to pass this special segment onto you for your viewing pleasure. We’d like to thank Saturday Night Live for giving us a great laugh. Enjoy!

Today is the official launch of the Pepsi Refresh Project. Good Magazine and Pepsi have partnered to give away $20 million in grants over the next year. Users can submit their ideas to do good online, vote for them and share them with others. It’s like the American Idol for Good. The Pepsi Refresh Project is accepting 1000 ideas a month so get ready for March - I think February filled up in under a minute (I have no statistics to support this claim but I am sure it was super fast). Now hurry up and go share your idea or vote for your favorite. And it may not hurt if you are downing a Pepsi product while clicking the mouse. I would drink Pepsi but I was born in Atlanta and I’ll always be a Coca Cola girl no matter how “good” Pepsi gets. How about you? Are you more likely to purchase a product if the brand is known for doing “good”?

I was first introduced to this video last month and the production of it is truly remarkable. Not only is the video shot backwards, it is also done in only one take.Having been on several video shoots myself, I recognize the amount of coordination and effort it takes to make something like this possible. The importance of timing and placement of each and every individual in every part of this video is nearly impossible to make happen in one take.

Every high school youth in the video did everything in reverse. That included the lip-syncing. The students all had to listen in reverse to the Hall & Oates song, “You Make My Dreams” played in the video and then learn the words in reverse.

It is quite amusing to watch the erratic movement of the various teens in the video, as they make their way across the school grounds. This is actually the second backwards dub video, a challenge to another high school who did one previously to the song, “Hey Ya” by Outkast. I definitely have a soft spot for anything involving a little H & O:)

-Meg

Stewdio.org is the website of Stewart Smith, a designer from NYC that has done some great work. I was particularly amused by his Browser Pong app….basically the classic computer game Pong done with browser windows. Super fun!

It was 1963. The Beatles permeated the airwaves with “I Want To Hold Your Hand;” To Kill a Mockingbird was the Oscar pick of the year; State Mutual Life Insurance invented the Smiley Face; women wanted to look like Jackie-O and men wanted to look like John F.; and everyone drank and smoked, regardless of the time of day, location and health.

The nostalgia of 1963 is the inspiration for AMC’s Mad Men, and like many of you, we’ve been obsessed. To pay homage to our favorite television indulgence, we decided to setup a wet bar and break out the Lucky Strikes for Kirsten’s birthday party at Sol. We evoked Don and Betty Draper with perfectly quaffed hair, double breasted suits and A-line skirts, and we threw back cocktails in the conference room. If you haven’t seen it yet, we highly recommend you check it out! And check out all of us looking oh so debonair…

We spend loads of time researching Socially Responsible companies and how they creatively market to consumers for the better good. Kirsten found this today and I think its brilliant and most importantly, fun. http://thefuntheory.com/. LOVE IT.

Just when you thought facebook wasn’t wasting more of your time already, along comes polyvore. It’s a site that allows you to put together inspiring outfits that you wish you had the time and money to buy. Most articles of clothing are linked to online retailers, generating them a little revenue on the side.

polyvore.com

FL909 drumcomputer - make some beats!

The first time I saw this I thought it was just a picture of the original drum machine that defined early house music. But no, it’s actually a fully functional clone of the beat machine created in flash. It even looks like it’s from 1984 with coffee stains and such (is that blood??). I was in love with Daft Punk’s album Homework which has the TR-909 all over it. Their latest effort Alive 2007, is a mashup of all their songs and it totally has me pumped about electronic music again. So if you’re like me & one of your goals for 2008 is to make more hot beats, lay down some high-hat & drop that b.a.s.s bass!