With 230 years of experience in jewellery making and luxury retail, Goldsmiths is a brand that boasts impressive staying power. First opening in 1778 in Newcastle, Goldsmiths have a long tradition of high-end craftsmanship and merchandising which includes being chosen to create the Rugby League Trophy and becoming the UK’s first appointed stockist for Rolex watches in 1919.
As such a historic brand, Goldsmiths understand how to adapt to the changing needs of their audience, and how best to communicate to that audience. Their showrooms offer customers not only fine jewellery and watches from some of the world’s most renowned makers, but an experience that has engaged people for hundreds of years.
In this project with Goldsmiths and Hammersons, PressOn was tasked with printing and installing graphics for the Highcross shopping centre in Leicester that reflects the luxury experience customers can expect in Goldsmith’s newly revamped Highcross store.
The Campaign
Goldsmiths, which is one of the UK’s leading quality jewellers, has set out (in the words of Craig Bolton, executive director of the Watches of Switzerland Group) to create a “relaxed, inclusive, and experiential” update to their stores which brings “fresh life to our high streets”. Using a neutral design palate, VIP areas and hospitality bars serving food and drink, the retailer aims to build on its reputation for in-store hospitality and expertise by creating a “memorable luxury experience” for customers.
This refurbishment reflects the wider trend towards experiential shopping in the retail sector, as brands strive to differentiate between their real-world and online offerings and tempt people in-store. To advertise this showroom revamp and broader repositioning to the shoppers at Highcross, PressOn needed to create a variety of print graphics that reflects the luxury and heritage represented by Goldsmiths and draw people into their newly refurbished premises.
The Graphics
Highcross Leicester has 110,000 square metres of retail space and around 18 million visitors a year. This extensive space and high footfall created a variety of opportunities for implementing a successful print marketing campaign, with many areas of Highcross being utilised to implement graphics to their best effect.
The prints were installed out of hours on the 6th February 2022 until their removal on Sunday 20th March 2022, with designs that reflected Goldsmith’s restrained and tasteful colour palate. The quality of the print ensured crisp and vibrant results, with the leading message of “Goldsmiths reimagined” rendered in white typography on a black background.
One of the most striking pieces of print was “panoramic”, a sweeping graphic adhered to a glass lift shaft that intersects the retail space from floor to ceiling. With the use of Highcross’s access machinery, our team installed the removable vinyl (which had a matt laminate) overnight, using six 1200 x 5m drops of vinyl to create the overall graphic, which totalled to an impressive 3500mm x 10200mm piece of print marketing.
Other architectural features of Highcross that were used in this campaign were the elevators and escalators. Four double-sided, and latex printed ‘sandwich print’ pieces of vinyl were applied across the escalator barriers to create a stunning visual that Highcross shoppers can’t miss. To take advantage of the space available on lift doors, (where visitors will spend time waiting) three lift door graphics at a size of 1200 x 2100mm were latex printed onto self-adhesive vinyl with a matt laminate and installed on the ground floor.
Last (but not least) a 3m x 5m tension fabric hanging banner was installed in the atrium at Highcross. Printed on latex and silicone stitched, the banner had fabric on both sides and is visible throughout much of the retail space. Not only are these fabrics highly visible and impactful, they’re also a powerfully sustainable alternative to traditional PVC printing. They’re PVC free, they’re reusable, and the frames are made from recyclable aluminium – they’re becoming a hugely popular form of low environmental impact print.
Why Elevator, Escalator and Tension Frame Graphics?
This project is an outstanding example of how print advertising in shopping malls can make creative use of the space, and take advantage of the variety of options available through the design features of the building.
Using graphics strategically across shopping malls at areas of high footfall or when shoppers will be experiencing moments of downtime is a great way to get noticed, and as this campaign with Goldsmiths demonstrates, there are many exciting and creative ways to achieve your marketing goals.
Why PressOn?
The graphics for this campaign needed to reflect the heritage and quality of the Goldsmith’s brand, while also communicating their repositioning and building curiosity and buzz around their revamped Highcross store. PressOn’s years of experience, reassuring expertise and capacity to produce high-quality media ensured we could deliver a project to extremely high standards, and meet tight scheduling requirements for production and installation.
Want to know more?
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