Pottery In Australia Vol 35 No 1 Autumn 1996

More on Marketing
John Eagle continues this regular series providing information on aspects
of marketing for the ceramist.
Moving away from packaging as an obvious
marketing device, perhaps it is time to comment on
other methods of complimenting a product by
adding to its appeal in the market place. Any product
needs to gain an edge over the competition to the point
where a wavering customer will select it rather than
another.
This article is about functional ware and the relationship
of design and a marketing idea that my partner, Rosema1y
and I worked with in the early 1980's, and this rationale to
some extent still influences my thinking when attempting
to design and produce a new product.
The business was a small retail/wholesale concern just
out of Ballarat with the range being functional and
relatively earthy. In spite of the obvious practical nature of
my work I was still asked from time to time questions like
'Can it go in the oven?' 'Can you use it?' 'What can you do
with it?'. These questions were usually asked about the
more complicated items like pie plates and pudding bowls.
However, other items like casseroles and mugs were not
exempt.
The need to explain and to discuss the usefulness and
versatility of our products provided the answer to our need for
a marketing idea that would make the product's general use
obvious and provide guidance for a specific use - a recipe!
We felt this idea would also be a worthwhile item in
shops and galleries where there was not time for the sales
person to be completely involved.
For each pot in my main range a recipe was developed
that was tried and tested (two desserts in a single night!). On
the inside of the swing tag that went with the pot there was
a recipe that we knew was a success in that particular pot.
With the development of the recipes came the
realisation that my pots in many instances needed to be
better designed and a process of refinement was
undertaken. One example of a redesigned form was the
pudding bowl. The original bowl was shaped with a
slightly constricted top and then a slight flair to allow the
cloth or foil to be tied without slipping off when the
pudding was steaming. This was fine except that when the
pudding was cooked it had to be dug out of the basin,
often in the most unceremonious manner! By altering the
design and providing the support for the cloth or foil, and
by redesigning the rim, not only was the shape more
comfortable as a pot but the pudding could be removed
happily in one piece.
Our cottage outlet also enabled us to extend our
marketing ideas based around the recipes. One of these
ideas took the form of a recipe tasting day. Although not an
immediate financial coup, the good will and interest
generated increased the sales made over the following few
months and convinced us that the effo1t was worthwhile. On
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58 POTTERY IN AUSTRALIA + ISSUE 35/1 AUTUMN I 996