Our latest ShopShare brought together gelato extraordinaire Black Vanilla with magnificent McQueens Florists in what can best be described as a blending of beauty. These two bespoke brands joined forces to create a very special ShopShare that left customers asking for more, with mentions across many a publication including Stylist, The Sunday Times, Telegraph and You Magazine.
The collaboration
Black Vanilla created limited edition flower-infused gelato flavours, inspired by McQueens seasonal bouquets for a 3 day pop up. Surrounded by an array of stunning flower arrangements the Black Vanilla team set up a gelato stand in the middle of the store featuring English Rose Petals, Mint & Lime and Madagascan Vanilla flavours. This special occasion was used to invite VIP clients to free tastings and for passers-by to try samples and purchase scoops if they wanted.
The motivation behind the Pop Up
For McQueens the motivation was clear according to Operations Manager Michi Kanatschnig “We have been embracing social media and are keen to develop our online presence further and saw a pop up collaboration as a very good way to engage in cross brand promotion.”
For Black Vanilla collaboration was the key. “We very much enjoy working with the most exciting and innovative collaborators to reach further milestones of creativity and bring our products to new audiences in new ways, with partnerships we are proud of” said Geni Johnson, Black Vanilla’s Customer Relations Manager. “It was a fun and busy time, both in store and online.”
Top tip: for more insider information check out these blog posts on how to work collaboratively and how to choose the right brand match.
Practical Steps
Powered by We Are Pop Up, McQueens and Black Vanilla came together to discuss the ShopShare. Both parties were inspired by the potential to work together. Once dates and times had been arranged, contracts signed and logistics sorted, they co-ordinated a PR drive dropping gelato samples and beautiful posies along with information about the ShopShare to a variety of press.
The experience
Overall the experience was positive. For Black Vanilla “It was brilliant to have the floral aesthetic and to create some artisan flavours that worked a treat. It was very useful having We are Pop Up arrange the contract and smooth out any wrinkles.” McQueens were similarly pleased saying “we had a flurry of activity across all of our media channels.” which helped them to achieve their ShopShare objective.
Lessons Learnt
Black Vanilla admits “We could have perhaps advertised more on the street to encourage higher footfall past the store and into the pop up.” McQueens echo a similar sentiment “The brands collaborating with us could try to also engage with local businesses and passers-by with some advertising to make people who are not on social media aware of the fact that they are present”
Final thoughts
Black Vanilla had a few final thoughts: “Collaborations are a fun way of promoting the creativity and artisan nature of your brand as they provide an opportunity for unique flavours and settings. They are also a good opportunity to develop positive relationships with other brands with a similar vision and aesthetic.” McQueens agree “Go for it!”
If reading about this unique, creative collaboration has made you want to find your own perfect brand match, find our latest ShopShare listings here.
You must log in to post a comment.