Vintage Ball is a craft workshop founded in Veliky Novgorod in 2010. It produces glass Christmas tree toys. Their glassblowers and artists have retained the classic technology and create each ball entirely by hand, without using stickers and printing.
The workshop is owned by a married couple, very sincere and open-minded people — as we love. It turned out that at the same time they own a shelter for cats, take care of them and, after serious selection, attach them to new loving owners.
We met to discuss the form of the commercial offer. It didn’t sell, being formulaic and impersonal. As usual, competent specialists in a field have been accumulating their competencies in and around it for years, but now a professional look from the other side is required.
We decided to dig deeper, and that’s what came of it.
Domain
Domain name novshar.ru belonged to a former legal entity and recently ceased functioning due to non-payment. The registrar requested an unreasonable price, so the proposal was ignored. Later, due to the imperfection of the auction algorithm, the domain was intercepted by a cybersquatter.
Be careful. When reorganizing, do not forget about assets such as domain names and transfer them to new legal entities on time.
Assuming this outcome, we registered a new one in advance — vshar.ru — by creating an account for the workshop and configuring it, in particular, corporate email @vshar.ru, a file archive and free but powerful SSL certificates.
Website
Of course, you can limit yourself to a VK page, but we always recommend that you have at least one-page websites, since they are the only ones that show real freedom in presenting information.
As experience will soon confirm, the very next day after the site was published, the first order was received from it.
There were no sources for the old site, so first we collected it from the archives of search engines. After evaluating the volume and feed, we decided to redo it. We started with the structure.
It was simple. Putting ourselves in the place of a potential interest, we have formed a convenient, logical menu that sets the foundation.
The outline is defined, it’s up to the content. The old website, the VK page, repeated discussions with the customer, his archive, updating, emphasis — and the content is ready.
Tilda was chosen as the platform, which provides convenience for both development and further administration.
Corporate identity
Along the way, we took up identity. Due to its relevance and sufficient recognition, we decided to preserve the previous concept, refreshing it and giving it a technically competent look.
The font chosen is not vintage in the strict sense, but it works well in our style, especially in signage and headlines — where you need to combine rigor with personality and where a slightly "mechanical" solid accent is appropriate, but with a slight reference to retro.
Moving away from the banal "curly" will allow them to get away from the template and rebuild from competitors. It fits the product line well, is moderately solemn with characteristic serifs in the spirit of 19th-century fonts. In addition, it is officially free and not worn out.
Marketing
The work on the website initiated the audit and contributed to the adjustment of the strategy. In particular, we have developed a new product and a segment of the target audience. As is often the case, it is enough to slightly shift the angle of view, and it turns out that the micro-changes introduced into the product allow it to be reborn.
Interior balloons have become such a product. It does not depend on the season, which allows to load production in the "cold" months and opens up new horizons. The idea crystallized while we were sawing and painting a high-tech stand in the style of a JAB:
Media
Returning to the original question, we adjusted the commercial offer, as well as updated the price list familiar to wholesale buyers.
The workshop operates in the B2C and B2B segments, the latter are often slow and poorly receptive to change. Even after making it possible to order through a convenient catalog on the website, they are more accustomed to dealing with an Excel spreadsheet. Well, our task is to make working with a Vintage balloon really convenient, so customers have received their own table with automatic determination of the customer’s category and the amount of his discount:
Conclusion
The completion of the project was marked by the transfer of the website to the customer’s account and training in its further administration. We were ready to show everything inside and out, which was not required due to the competence of the employee.
In any case, we stay in touch with our dear customers and are always ready to help.