We like Laura Ashley, it is a great brand. Better then almost any other brand Laura Ashley occupies one emotion, romance. And we are always sad, when we see the brand suffering or not fully capitalizing its power.
And here is another example.
Laura Ashley entered a co-branding arrangement with Scotties Facial Tissue, The Laura Ashley Collection.
Tissues are a commodity. So it does not come as a surprise, that packaging and even decorative packaging plays a huge role, when you are marketing tissues. Scotties found out via consumer research:
“Research shows that consumers care about the design of a facial tissue box just as much as they care about the quality of the product inside,” says Joe Richards, director of marketing for Scotties. “When we asked consumers what design brand they would like to see created as a tissue box, Laura Ashley was at the top of the list.”
Instead of Laura Ashley fully utilizing its strength, they went down the co-branding route. Alternatively they could have arranged a brand license for tissues or – maybe even better – for tissue boxes only.