JAC DESIGN- Jack and Jill Cards targets babies and birthdays
Graphic design company partners Carole Cornish and Jane Bromham had been running JAC design for 12 years and during this time, had been incubating a business idea that could be working for them 24/7.
When Carole and Jane joined Profitnet, they wanted to present the new business idea, rather than their existing graphic design business. The new idea was an internet-based design and print service for greetings cards.
People would simply upload their personal photographs to the website, design and order personalised, professionally printed birth announcement and thank you cards. At first, the publicity flyer appeared to be a disaster. “The group didn’t get it at all!” said Carole, “but that was our saving grace.” The partners went back to the drawing board to rethink how they were to communicate their proposition. With the help of the group they dissected their offering and looked at the key benefits for their target customers, and considered the points of difference from competitors. Jack and Jill Cards Ltd was born.
“I couldn’t think of a more diverse group that I could have presented this to” says Carole “any other groups I could think of have things in common, apart from business, and would therefore have been very biased.”
For the next nine months, the group helped to discuss and shape the business proposition, whilst the partners developed the website and communications materials.
“If there was one thing we had to single out as the most important factor that we got from the group, it was to perfect the sample card that was to be distributed” says Carole. “The group helped us recognise that the most potentially fertile market for our personalised cards would be families, especially new ones.
“So we negotiated placing our sample card into a promotional bag that is distributed nationally to 95 per cent of all new mothers.” Carole also valued the input from guest specialists.
“They convinced us we had to be brave and think big!” she said. Fourteen months after launch, the business is now starting to make a profit and the emphasis has changed to tightening up the processes to maximise efficiency.