2025 Gold Retail and E-commerce

Agency: Craft Media London

Client: Ruggable

Entry Name: Proving advertising effectiveness for Ruggable

Executive Summary

Ruggable is a US-based entrepreneurial brand selling design-led, washable rugs - perfect for families with children, households with pets, or anyone with a tendency to make a mess. After a few successful years, its Meta results and growth began to plateau.

Strategy

Ruggable’s performance comms had focused on its heartland audience. They are Considered Curators - early adopters of home design, willing to take a chance on unknown brands. But analysis showed there weren’t enough of them to drive meaningful growth.

The team needed a broader but still relevant audience. Enter the early majority - the Stylish But Safe. They care about their home, love to host, and are incredibly house proud. The challenge? They default to well-known, established brands such as M&S, John Lewis and Next. For them, purchasing from Ruggable - an unknown brand at a higher price point - was a risk.

The strategy used smart planning and data to make Ruggable feel familiar at a fraction of spend. This meant choosing channels favoured by incumbents while also signalling the right message. It also involved taking a laser focus on the single right region and media partner.

Creativity

Digging into the data identified an opportunity in London - not the obvious choice given its cost (2.3x CPT vs other regions). However, it holds the greatest density of the target audience, represents the most financially comfortable and house-proud version, and has strong ties to home interiors.

An ITV-only partnership magnified spend through the broadcaster’s Backing Business initiative. This effectively doubled the value, essential for making Ruggable feel bigger and more familiar in a high-cost region and month.

Across September, it ran activity for four weeks (90% spend in linear) and deliberately overcommitted into premium environments. Peak programming placed the alongside established advertisers. Finally, to cement stature, the brand partnered with TV celebrity Ellie Taylor to bring the creative to life.

Results

Organic search, website visits and paid social effectiveness saw notable increases during the campaign period. Where London had previously behaved identically to the control region, increases in users to site and revenue demonstrated that TV was a catalyst.

The activity encouraged the Stylish but Safe early majority audience to take a chance in purchasing Ruggable, with the campaign delivering an ROI of more than 4 x Ruggable’s original investment.

Contributors

The Specialist Works

The Team

- Charlotte Netherwood, Strategic Business Consultant, Craft Media London - Zoe Stevens, Comms Planning Director, Craft Media London - Hattie Sumner, Planning Manager, Craft Media London - Jen Jones, Founder, Craft Media London - Rhys Appleyard, Client Director, The Specialist Works - Cian Raferty, Client Manager, The Specialist Works - Emma Martin, Managing Partner, The Specialist Works – Sian Kelly, AV Director, The Specialist Works - Nick Odams, AV Executive, The Specialist Works – Clay Wertheimer, VP & General Manager, UK and Europe, Ruggable