Case study: How challenger brand Wilton London lifted consideration by 10% in the UK capital

Anna Simon, ex L’Oreal executive, now Marketing Director at Wilton London, had us in a spin when she told us all about the brand’s strategy to increase awareness, the activations and execution, and exactly how she’s tracking the impact.

Wilton London was founded by Sam Whigham and Mike Perry in 2018 and began from a passion for scents.

Sam, who loved beautiful fragrances and disliked the smell of traditional cleaning products, began creating his own by blending his favourite essential oils with eco-friendly fragrance-free laundry liquids. Friends soon started asking for bottles of their own, and Wilton London was born.

Now, Wilton London offers perfumer-designed, ethically sourced laundry products with lasting botanical scents.

However, despite filling this unique market gap, Wilton London faces the challenge of building awareness to compete with established household brands.

So, how exactly can a challenger brand take on the laundry giants and make a lasting impact, just like its scents?

Step one: deeply know your audience

First things first, Anna emphasised the importance of understanding your audience, as this sets the tone for your messaging and your overarching strategy.

“We have created Wilton London for the Conscious Curator.. These individuals attach emotional value to their purchases - they want to feel good about a purchase, whether that’s because of its quality, the brand’s ethical approach, or because it’s stylish and will look great in their home,” Anna explained.

“Our customers want to transform everyday mundane tasks into enjoyable rituals, all while taking pride in their homes.”

By understanding the Conscious Curators and their decision-making process to purchase, Wilton London has been able to effectively differentiate itself against its competitors and appeal to consumers who seek more than just a functional laundry detergent.

Step two: Set strategy to drive growth

With the target audience well understood and a brand refresh that took place late 2023, Anna set a strategy for 2024 that would aim to increase the brand’s awareness in its key region - Greater London.

The strategy focused on three main areas, which would reach their target consumers, Conscious Curators, with multiple touch points.

1. Sampling

Sampling played a crucial role in increasing brand awareness. Wilton London distributed 90,000 samples nationwide in the first half of the year through targeted events, activations and partnerships.

Having been a consumer brand marketer for many years, Anna knew in her gut that sampling works when done right, but it’s hard to prove its ROI.

Despite the challenge of proving ROI from sampling activity, it was a pivotal part of the strategy.

Partnering with like-minded brands, such as luxury bed linen company Secret Linen Store, Wilton London distributed 7,000 samples in e-commerce packs for a month, which immediately uplifted website traffic and customer engagement.

2. Events

Anna and her team also focused on disrupting at non-traditional events (for a laundry brand) to reach their target consumers.

Participating in events like the Chelsea Flower Show and the Taste of London, they created memorable experiences by setting up sensory gardens and scent stations (just like a perfumery), which allowed event attendees to experience their fragrances in a unique setting - and unlike any other laundry detergent brand!

During the events, the team integrated sampling and distributed product samples along with exclusive discounts, eye-catching signage and activation spaces, which in turn generated significant social media reach.

3. Meta Advertising

The sampling and events were supported by Meta advertising, which proved to be an effective way to gain national reach. With a limited budget, Anna’s team managed to reach 160,000 people per month through targeted ads.

The Meta advertising also played a role in omnichannel marketing, supporting Wilton London’s awareness and rate of sale uplift core grocery retailers.

This helped build a solid base of brand awareness by consistently showcasing Wilton London’s unique value proposition of beautifully fragranced, ethical laundry products, as well as its award-winning credentials.

So, did the strategy work?

Yes, yes it did!

In the six months from January to June 2024, using Tracksuit data, Wilton London saw a remarkable 13% increase in brand awareness in Greater London, with the biggest shifts being in May and June (when they showed up at the Chelsea Flower Show and Taste of London!)

Not only has the awareness risen significantly, but so has consideration (an impressive 10% increase from 6% to 16%) indicating the brand is solidifying its presence in the category.

Seeing as Tracksuit’s research shows consumers don’t consider more than 2 to 3 brands at one time in a category, this is incredible progress for Wilton London on the path-to-purchase.

The brand's concentrated efforts in London have also had a flow-on effect to overall brand health in the UK. When looking at Wilton London's brand metrics across the entire United Kingdom, there has been a brand lift of 3% awareness (~1.7M humans) and 2% consideration (~1.2M humans). Pretty cool for a small brand in a very competitive market!

While these growth metrics in the data offer Anna proof that her strategy has worked, another Tracksuit tool that she particularly likes is the Imagery tool.

Anna explained, “Being able to clearly see what our target customers think about our brand is really beneficial. The Imagery tool enables us to see if our messaging resonates with our customers, and in our case, it’s great to see that we’re nailing it!”

“While the tool has shown us positive results, and some known truths such as being seen as expensive compared to other brands, it could also act as an early warning sign if there was an issue with messaging or brand repositioning. Users can clearly see what their customers are saying about their brand, which I really believe is invaluable for new and smaller brands,” she added.

What’s next for Wilton London?

Anna’s strategic focus on experiential marketing, targeted sampling, and effective use of Meta advertising has driven a significant increase in Wilton London’s brand awareness.

Despite a small budget, the innovative approach and use of Tracksuit to measure the impact enables further growth by giving Anna confidence to double down on the current growth strategy and gives her insight into when activation fatigue has been met and a need to expand marketing activities and channels is required.

Alongside measuring the impact of her strategy, Anna also now has the data to take into retailer discussions to grow distribution and can use it to support future investor conversations.

Safe to say all the house-proud millennials in the Tracksuit London office are off to Sainsbury’s to stock up on Wilton London before anyone else gets their hands on it!

A huge thank you to Anna for sharing your strategy with us. We love seeing epic results for customers! To follow along their journey head to the websiteOpens in new tab, InstagramOpens in new tab or TikTokOpens in new tab to find out more.