Project rationale

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Project rationale

• One of the challenges of introducing enterprise
  to the curriculum, has been to make it more than
  just an occasional one off, one hit, bought in
  solution. I have therefore, been looking to
  develop enterprise opportunities that can be
  delivered as part of the curriculum or program of
  study , rather than apart from it. This project
  sits well within the product design courses that
  we already offer and could be undertaken with
  year 9 or 10 students, giving them both
  enterprise skills and useful preparation for GCSE
  coursework in Graphics or Product Design.

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Enterprise outcomesWorking with
othersResponding positively to changeFinancial
and business understandingRisk takingResponding
to success and failureWorking to
deadlinesConfidencePresentation
SkillsLeadership and motivation

• Product design outcomes
• Task analysis
• Questionnaires
• Prototyping
• Methods of production
• Social issues
• Product Analysis
• Presentation
• Identification of needs and wants of others

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The following sections will consider the relevant
issues and show how students have addressed these
in their work

• Inspiration
• Ideas
• Product analysis
• Product development and prototyping
• Market research
• Social issues
• Methods of production
• Marketing
• Presentation
• Sales
• Evaluation

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The inspiration

• The inspiration for this project was a
  subject close to my heart. While buying wine at
  my local branch of Majestic, I noticed some empty
  wooden boxes from fine wines. Majestic kindly let
  us have a range of these boxes and they formed
  the inspiration for the students in developing
  their project.

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Brainstorm

• The students were presented with the empty
  boxes and encouraged to think about possible
  uses, or products that could be created by
  recycling the boxes. The students were encouraged
  to think outside the box if you will pardon the
  pun but soon settled on developing ideas related
  to drinking as they thought this would give a
  theme to the products they made and there was a
  strong visual link with the materials they were
  using. This was done as an open discussion with
  one student taking notes.

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Product Analysis

• As the students were not necessarily familiar
  with products related to wine, they undertook
  analysis of various wine related items. They were
  looking at both the form and function of the
  products, identifying both good and bad aspects
  of the designs studied. Through doing this they
  were able to note strong ideas to take forward to
  their work and pitfalls to avoid.

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Product Development and Prototyping

• Students worked in pairs and were tasked with
  developing one idea from the brainstorm outcomes.
  After creating initial sketches and considering
  construction, the students then produced a
  prototype of their idea. The purpose of this was
  to provide a sample product for market research
  and to ascertain the ease and speed of
  construction of the product. All key factors in
  deciding whether a product will be profitable
  when produced in quantity. The sample products
  were then photographed for market research
  purposes. Careful lighting and props were used to
  create an atmosphere of quality in the pictures.

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Market research

• Having created and photographed a range of
  products, the students needed to ascertain which
  products would be popular but also importantly,
  which would be most profitable. To do this they
  conducted market research by creating a
  questionnaire for parents. This contained a
  picture of each product and asked parents if they
  would be interested in buying the product, how
  much they would be prepared to pay and to rate
  both practicality and appearance. Tick boxes were
  provided to make it easy for the person
  completing the questionnaire. In addition the
  students displayed their prototypes in the staff
  room and asked staff to complete the same
  questionnaire. They had a 33 response rate which
  is considered statistically significant for
  market research purposes. This enabled the
  students to identify which products to promote
  and produce in quantity.

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Social Issues

• Before starting production and finalising
  choices of product and materials, students
  considered how their choice of product might
  impact on the environment and society. All
  designers have a responsibility to consider these
  factors for the benefit of people today and in
  the future. Issues to consider are those such as
  Recycling, Fair trade, Sustainability,
  Biodegradability, Toxicity and design issues that
  effect Environmental Footprint, such as sourcing
  materials locally and using flat packing to
  reduce transport pollution. In addition the
  students decided to give 1/3 of any profits to
  the chosen charity of Majestic Wine Warehouse, as
  they had supplied the wine boxes.

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Methods of production

• Students were tasked with deciding which would
  be the most efficient methods of production for
  their products. The prototypes had been made as
  single one off, items, however, if they were to
  go into production of batches of certain product
  lines, should they each make one, work in pairs,
  teams, or dedicate themselves to just one process
  of production, so they become highly skilled in
  that one task. The pros and cons of these options
  were considered and compared to industrial
  manufacturing practice.

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Marketing

• The importance of image and establishing a
  coherent brand was discussed and the students
  decided they needed a logo and company name for
  their products. They created the name REWINED
  this was a choice that is easily and clearly read
  but because of the misspelling catches the eye
  and sticks in the mind. It also clearly relates
  the products to wine and plays on the fact that
  recycling is used in the production of the
  products, both ethically and commercially
  attractive. The old fashioned font used, hinted
  at the writing found on the wine boxes and the
  use of red and black helped to demark the dual
  meanings of the name.

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Brand logo
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Marketing

• Once the students had decided on their company
  name and logo they used this in the production of
  a brochure to promote themselves and their
  products. The brochure used the logo several
  times to reinforce the brand and the strap line
  of Relax Rewined Recycle used alliteration to
  reinforce the company image. The brochure used
  the promotional pictures and descriptive text to
  encourage a positive image of the products.
  Contact details were included. Also a disclaimer
  that not all products would appear exactly as in
  the photographs due to the varying nature of the
  boxes we could obtain. A custom order option was
  offered to meet individual requirements. As an
  ethical company they also included the message of
  supporting responsible drinking of alcohol.

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Brochure exterior
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Brochure interior
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Presentation

• The students were tasked with preparing a
  presentation as if they were bidding for venture
  capital for expansion of their business. This
  outlined the nature of the company and its
  development the challenges that had been met and
  overcome and the success achieved so far. They
  created a Power point presentation, business card
  and put key aspects of their products and
  marketing on a CD ROM that potential investors
  could take away.

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Sales

• One of the most challenging parts of the
  project was to actually sell the products they
  had made. The first choice was to try the local
  town farmers market. The students contacted the
  council who told them that they would be
  delighted if the school took a stall but that
  they would require 5,000,000 product liability
  insurance. This provoked in interesting
  investigation into product liability and
  litigation. We contacted the schools insurers and
  to our surprise discovered that the school did
  have the required cover for the canteen and such
  events as the school fair and that cover would
  extend to the products made by the students.
  However, pitches were not available till some
  time in the future so students decided to look
  for another opportunity.

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Sales

• The students then identified the forthcoming
  school show as a sales opportunity. They obtained
  permission to set up a stall in the canteen
  through which people accessed the auditorium and
  where interval drinks were served. An advert was
  placed in the programme and the stall set up for
  the first of a two night run. The students were
  quite disappointed with the results of this first
  nights sales with only about four items sold and
  30 taken. We had a single period the following
  day to try to work out how to improve sales.
  First we discussed and identified barriers to
  sales and then decided upon action to address
  those shortcomings.

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Analysis of first night sales

• Barrier to sales
• People did not realise that the students had made
  the products but thought they had been bought in.
• Not everybody read the advert in the program as
  the auditorium was very dark.
• Many people remained in the auditorium during
  the interval.
• People looking at goods on the stall did not know
  who was in charge ,or who to ask about the
  products.

• Solution
• Students put up displays of the preparatory work
  at either end of the stall showing their
  development of the products.
• The students greeted each group of people
  arriving and gave them a flyer about the products
  and encouraged them to visit the stall.
• One of the students went on stage before the
  performance and explained the project and
  encouraged people to view the stall and displayed
  information.
• Students stood both behind the stall so it was
  clear who to ask for products or give money to
  and a couple in front of the stall to engage and
  encourage potential customers.

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First night displayThe goods were displayed but
with little information, it was unclear who was
responsible for the products and who was manning
the stall.
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Flyer promotion
The students created this flyer to generate
interest. On the second night each person was
greeted before entering the auditorium and
offered a flyer. This led to several people
having discussions with the students about their
work, leading to some initial sales. Even those
not interested in purchasing anything were
impressed by the students initiative and
creativity, a good advert for the school.
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These pictures are from the second night, showing
clearly priced products, the smiling sales team
and at the interval lots of happy customers!
Second night display
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Evaluation

• The changes the students made to their sales
  strategy were very effective and sales on the
  second night were over 100 which the students
  were delighted with. In addition, after the
  event, students sold more of their products, as
  people who had seen them on the night but not had
  money with them, placed orders. The students
  entered this project in the NAT WEST/RBS Kent
  County Enterprise Challenge and were delighted to
  be declared the winners in 2008 after presenting
  to judges both at the school and at the final in
  Swanly. The project has proved to be a great
  success and the students were much more motivated
  than they might have been doing an ordinary
  design project. The enterprise spin gave then
  insight into many interesting fields and the
  experience of really selling goods they had made
  was a wonderful builder of team spirit and self
  esteem.

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The team at the NAT WEST/RBS Enterprise Awards
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Presentations
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The completion of the project
Finally two of the team returned to Majestic to
thank them for their cooperation, donate 30 of
the money made to the charity the company
supports, and give them a complimentary
chalkboard.