When athletic apparel company Yogasmoga approached us, they were still planning the launch of their purpose driven brand. Having raised significant capital and created the ultimate yoga pants they were preparing to design and build 10 retail locations, an eCommerce platform, and a mobile app – all to be executed in a single year. We joined them to expeditiously deliver on-brand experiences, spanning retail design to app development, in order to carry out these ambitions and scale the brand.

Our Approach

A startup needs the advantage of a team at its fingertips to respond swiftly in tandem with agency support. Drawing on past experiences, we recognized the value of building an in-house team to support fast-paced growth. So, we placed 4 designers within Yogasmoga’s team, led by creative director Anisa Suthayalai.

This initial step was a critical decision, without which our work would not have been possible for 4 years. The in-house team was able to react quickly to tasks but, most importantly, ensured brand identity and voice were not sacrificed for momentum.

Key Takeaways

• Experience Design

• Marketing and Fast-Paced Growth Strategy

• Building a Community

• Brick-and-Mortar Retail Experience

• Engineering

Experience Design

What Needed to Improve

Although Yogasmoga was a new brand competing with established players like Lululemon, the founders had worked diligently to build a truly distinct brand with their own USA-made fabric IP. We decided to focus our attention on a strategy that brought their mission-driven purpose to life. Our job was to present this differentiation in the most inspiring and clear way possible, with the ultimate goal of building a forever audience.

Marketing and Fast-Paced Growth

Omnichannel

Success was measured through performance metrics, and, with a physical and online presence, our strategy was truly holistic.

Gifting and Loyalty

The gift card and gifting program was a holiday run-away success with exceptional customer engagement. Similarly, our loyalty program became a key tool in brand growth as it incentivized customers to return for repeat purchases. We also utilized the loyalty program to offer every Lululemon customer a $50 gift card in return for a set of their sheer leggings – a key turning point in the brand’s success.

Advertising and Emails

Working with the Yogasmoga team, we created holistic weekly marketing and engagement calendars. Email marketing, social content, and paid media worked in tandem to tell a unified story.

Building a Community

Sparking Conversation

The marketing team spent an incredible amount of time engaging with customer feedback via email and chat. We saw this as an opportunity to invite the audience into the conversation. We designed a community platform called Rangoli, where the Yogasmoga community could publish fun and personalized content. Users could also tag articles by color, thus creating an easy-to-browse platform.

Brick-and-Mortar Retail Experience

Connected Multi-Channel Experiences

To gain a clear understanding of the in-store customer journey, we mapped experiences across the 10 locations. We wanted to ensure users were able to engage with the community in-store and online. This journey mapping allowed us to create high-touch experiences for in-store shoppers – like Gifting, Loyalty Events, and Yoga Classes – that were linked to the Yogasmoga website. Every in-store experience was translated to a mobile and desktop presence through video broadcasts and digital events.

Engineering

End-to-End Engineering

Total flexibility was paramount for the Yogasmoga team. Knowing this, we built a team of developers who could handle any task. From custom reporting to a sophisticated multi-channel inventory system, our engineering team built all aspects of the business’s digital operation needs. The site was hosted on AWS and integrated with the POS systems across 10 stores. This allowed Yogasmoga to seamlessly keep their inventory synced at all times.

Our Collaboration

Our partnership with Yogasmoga was a deep one, and we were personally invested in its success. We began our relationship when the founders were building Yogasmoga in a New York apartment. Since then, we’ve worked together to help them grow 10 stores with a bicoastal brand status. Our engagement was an embedded relationship where we were able to be integral partners in the growth of the company.