Trying something new
Searching our path in Amsterdam´s Christmas Market
Finding our voice
We officially launched ReCover on 1st November 2024. We started online, announcing it to family and friends via Instagram and Whatsapp. People became curious a good amount of people visited our webpage and we started selling the first ReCovers within our close sphere.
However, soon we realized that Instagram was not going to be the ideal place to present our product. People on Instagram spend between 1 and 5 seconds on each post, many times even less.
In such an extremely fast environment: How could we talk about making a statement with ReCover, to show the people that you care more about them than for your phone.
In essence, and due to the nature of our product, we had to create slow content, or at least, a little bit slower than what we could present in Instagram.
So we started thinking about the options we had at hand.
After a year or focusing purely on the production, we still had a lot to do and to learn on the marketing side.
Finding our path
Realization
“We must go out there and be seen, we must show the ReCover to the people, to everyone, not just family and friends”.
When thinking about reaching people, we thought about reaching out to companies but it turned out to be a complex matter.
Also, no one knew ReCover, so these cold approaches where not our preferred option.
One of the other options we had, and that Viki had been thinking since long time ago, was going to a market and make a stall for ReCover.
So, without hesitation, she started applying to the different markets in the Netherlands until we finally got an email confirming that we could apply to “the Sunday Markets” - an organization that manages markets on Sundays (o.O! ) around the Netherlands.
With them we got the last spot available for the Market on the 1st December. The Sinterklaas Markt (Saint Nicolas Market), in the surroundings of the old train station “Westergaas” in the Westerpark (Amsterdam).
The Challenge
It was going to be an outside market, in December, in the Netherlands. We could expect low temperatures, cold rain and wind; but anyhow we were extremely excited.
Now we had to rush, we had one week and a half to have everything figured out.
Finding our stall
We got the last market stall available, which happened to be a 4 meter long stall. So we had to think about how decorate it and more:
The questions we had:
How do we show the ReCover?
How do we draw the attention of the people?
How do we design it so it matches our product and the vibe of the place?
This was especially relevant, considering we were going to be in a market where stalls are packed with hundreds of different colorful products and many things to look around.
And we had to explain a brand new product that should pop-up, or call the attention of the people as they walked by.
We thought: “We have a massive stall and ONE product to show. How do we do it?”
We decided to keep it simple but special, placing two phones with two ReCovers inside a central Plexiglas vitrine, and then placing some posters along both sides explaining and featuring the ReCover, the emotions and the problem solved.
Building everything was funny but sometimes messy due to the wind.
We had to carry everything there (two massive bags, two chairs and a suitcase), reaching the location in the morning, finding our stall and building everything. We were also dog-sitting the maltipoo Paddignton, and we had to make sure he had everything there to have a good time as well.
We had warm clothes, for us and for the dog, food, water and everything set up.
Now it was time to see peoples’ reactions.
Finding our people
Wind is tricky and people don’t like being pray of sellers.
When you are behind a stall, if you look to the people approaching your stall directly they may back-up, on the other hand, if they see you busy doing something else behind the stall, they may approach more freely. Without the pressure of being observed.
So we tried to act casual, relaxed, looking far away into the distance with no expectations, and only if people where showing special interest and would look longer to our stall I would ask them:
“Do you understand what this is about?”
It turned out to be a good conversation opener, maybe because it was also a real question.
I wanted to know if the presentation of the product was actually good, and if the posters where helping to understand the idea.
Then I would tell the people that I was asking because it was the first time we were presenting the product to the market, and I was curios to know their thoughts.
The people we talked to where really interested. They acknowledged that phone overuse was a problem, and they liked the idea and concept.
They also wished us a lot of success and were amazed that Viki and I did the whole project alone, without externalizing any step (but production).
Some dads joked to their kids as hey passed by our stall: “Hey look kiddo, you need such thing, eh!”, and laughed.
And a good amount of people starred at the posters as they walked by. People could recognize the problem.
Finding connection
It was already getting late, the market was less busy and our friends that visited were away walking around. Suddenly a guy approaches us:
“Hello!! So…I have an iPhone 13 and I keep breaking my phone case all the time” - he said.
Viki and I laughed kindly.
“Hello Sir! (hahaha) How are you? Sorry, but unfortunately we do not sell phone cases here…”
“Oh, haha, okay not problem but what is this about?” - he responded.
From there on I do not recall so much the conversation, but basically that guy understood everything in about 2 seconds. The whole concept of ReCover and how it worked.
“Yes, so when you are reading a book for example, you see the ReCover there on your phone and then you remember not to grab it and you keep reading right?” - he said.
“Yes, because we just unlock our phones the whole time right?” - he continued - “And when you are with your friends you really make a declaration that you are there with them”.
It was so clear, so fast and so to the point that I felt he already knew about ReCover. He decided to take two, one for him and one for a friend.
We felt incredibly energized to have such good connection and such a feeling of understanding right away. Such things really pump up our spirits.
Finding our path
Going to the Market really helped us define better our target group.
The ones that showed more interest were mostly millennial. People who are aware of the phone overuse, and did not necessarily grew up with them, but of course people from other age groups where also interested.
People who remembered a happy time before the phones were there.
Going to the market, as marketers, was an intense and funny experience. It was also a challenge to ourselves, to be there in the front line to show what we had done.
We learned a lot and we are already looking forward to the next live event, maybe again in another market.