Case Study - VElove
A brand to promote our connection with people, animals and nature
Background
The seed of my entrepreneurial was planted in 2005 after I adopted my doggie, I began to aware of animal cruelty and became a dog volunteer. One day when I back home, my doggie didn't welcome me, instead she looked happily to welcome the bag that I just borrowed from my friend. After I was aware that this bag was made from animal hair, I felt guilty because I imagined if my doggie was looking for an animal friend to play then she will be disappointed. After that day, I started to look for leather alternative products, However, I only can buy durable and eco-friendly leather alternative products over the world for personal use because our city doesn't offer these products. In 2016, I conducted different research methods aimed at understanding the key reasons for developing these products.
The research findings showed that fashion is top most polluting industries in the world, especially in the leather industry and fast fashion. Workers, animals and our environment are suffering and paying the true cost in their lives. Additionally, one of the crucial reasons to causes of climate change is animal agriculture. Although the vegetarians are rising and become the trend, the demand for animal by-products (leather) is growing and the leather chemical is increasing. It seems unbalancing. Therefore, I further research to know about the current situations in the market.
The needs of social innovation and the challenges
I found that some people and organizations are actively developing innovative materials in Europe, these materials are fair-traded, eco-friendly and plant based. However, they need to raise public awareness over the world first to support these products.
Since people who live in the city are far from nature, the commercialization formed an awareness & knowledge gap. It caused us may not be feeling our connection with nature and animals all the time to further explore more about sustainable living.
Therefore, VElove was formed to promote our connection with animals and nature. I source and engage the innovative materials developers over the world to import these materials for product creation. Through the story of designing vegan lifestyle products to raise public awareness about sustainable living. After applying for different social funding, I finally received a 2-year funding for further development.
Potential target audience
After the research, I aware my potential target audience from green segments and found that even through gap was formed, but one of the reasons for people to sustainable living is environmental and animal concerns. Based on these findings, apart from targeting the key segments, I also focus on people who have pets to empathize with animals and nature through emotional connections and raise awareness about sustainable living.
About the brand
Based on the potential target audience, VElove developed as a vegan brand - Design and create the products with caring the animals, people and the environment (nature). The brand was received vegan certificates, verified is a cruelty free brand and no animal products were used). To spread the message of our brand purpose - Promote our connection with people, animals and nature, together to create a sustainable future. From products development to delivery, VElove consider the sustainable solutions by review every touchpoints, provide an experience for audience to feel and connect with our brand purpose.
Therefore, Apart from ethical sourcing the innovative plant-based materials and other eco fabrics over the world, ethical factory and the eco materials used on packaging and promotion are the first considerations. Moreover, VElove further collaborate with local shetlered workshop to create our products and providing repair services to extend the product life.
Since brand expression is the key to evoking empathy and building emotional connections with audience, I further research to discover the suffering of animals and created a set of signature animals called VElove Animals (We love animals) as the bridge to communicate with target audience by personification. These animals are birds, cats, dogs, moon bears, polar bears and rabbits to act as brand ambassadors. They telling their own stories and dreams to evoke our empathy, guide us to explore the meaning behind their stories. Moreover, apart from create customisation animals products for audience, VElove partnered wtih animal organisations, for every purchase, portion of sales will be donated to spread our love and build emotional connections between people and animals.
Spread the brand purpose to the communities
VElove adopted the design thinking framework to discover the problems and define the needs, then based on the brand purpose to identitify the potentials services to connect our audience:
- Sell the products through online and physical consignment stores
- Customized workshops and seminars for schools, organisations and corporations
- Ideation event and provide sustainable design solutions to the organisations
Online store is an important channel for VElove to promote our purpose. I created a website to spread the message and sell the products in local and around the world. The structure and content of website are focused on telling the brand story with animals to guide the visitors explore the reasons of creating these products before support us.
The online store is follow the design thinking process to continuously listening and understanding the customers. This regular feedback collection can help me to review the effectiveness of promoting our brand purpose and keep enhancing the product and services accordingly to improve the experience of connecting each other.
Physical consignment stores are helping VElove to improve the experience. After the feedback collection, I awared that one of the barriers for customers to support our brand purpose is they cannot feel the new materials and try the products. Therefore, I collaborate with different types of retail stores for customers to feel at ease trying the product with the new materials after reading the stories. At the same time, VElove reach wider variety of customers through the physical stores.
Apart from selling the products, VElove dive into the communities by face-to-face. Through providing customise workshops, seminars, exhibitions and booths in schools, organisations and corporations to spread our brand purpose. This connection not only supporting VElove to promote sustainable living in the communities more actively, it can further broaden our audience to support our business and initiatives in the future.
Apart from long-term partner with animals organisation to donate portion of sales. I ideate the event and provide sustainable design solutions for the animal organisations to spread the brand purpose more directly with our audience to continously build emotional connections with animals and people.
Develop a one-stop sustainable living platform to the public
After I collecting the feedback about 2 years, I was awared there is no one-stop solution of sustainable living online platform for public in Hong Kong. I believe provide convenience solutions and the information are related to people's daily action can further promote sustainable living into our communities and build a long-term relationship between people, animals and nature. Therefore, I developed a mobile app to provide the information about sustainable living in our life and target people in Hong Kong before the end of the funding. If you would like to know about about this project, please visit the case study of VElife .
Social medias and media coverages support VElove to grow
Social medias are another key channels for VElove to spread the brand purpose to the communities. I conducted the research to analysis the practice of how sustainable brand use social media to raise awareness. I also adopted the UX skills to evaluates the situations of VElove by journey mapping and the effectiveness of VElove current practice in social media by A/B testing. All of these findings helped VElove to enhance the engagement to the communities with limited budgets.
Media coverages are helping a lot to rapidly spread the story of VElove. Almost all of the media groups contacted VElove through messages in social media. Under their support, I can explain my brand development and spread the brand purpose in an emotional way to connect with the audience through around 15 medias coverages, includings TV show, Radio broadcast, magazines and newspapers etc. They helped me meet new friends and organisations to spread the brand purpose together.
Although VElove was closed in 2021, I'm so grateful to have this experience, all the encounters and support, together to spread our love in the communities.
