Transforming a leading household products company from a manufacturing mindset to a customer-driven design business

Becoming a millennial-centered company

LocknLock is Korea’s leading home & living products company. The company's ascent was achieved by delivering highly-functional airtight containers in Korea and tumblers in China. But low price competitors, diversified sales channels, and an evolving customer base meant the strategies that drove this growth wouldn't ensure future success. The organization boldly chose to redefine the core value of its business, aspiring to shift from a manufacturing and sales-oriented focus to a human-centered design culture.

LocknLock sought out Daylight as their partner for this transformation. For two years the Daylight team has worked side-by-side with LocknLock to help redefine the brand, retail store design, product design, and the organizational culture.

‍

Thanks to this partnership, LocknLock has reinvented itself into a vibrant millennial lifestyle brand with a completely redesigned retail experience and award-winning product line.

Rebranding: Replacing a sea of sub-brands with one clear brand system capable of supporting business expansion

Historically, LocknLock would develop new sub-brands each time it identified a new market or customer need. This brand dilution created confusion and didn't speak to LocknLock's evolving customer base. With Daylight's help, LocknLock stepped back and asked,

“How might we connect with millennial parents and younger generations to satisfy their desires and needs in daily life? “

To answer this question Daylight spent time in the homes of current and potential customers in China and Korea to more deeply understand their desires and needs. Daylight also sat down with internal executives and employees to listen to their expectations and concerns about the company’s new strategies.

Based on insights from these internal and external interviews, Daylight defined the brand principles and developed a new brand system that can be flexibly applied to product and business expansion while inheriting authentic brand values. ‘LL’ in the new symbol mark reflects the vibrancy of Living, Love and Linked. The bottom bar in the new symbol mark represent the LocknLock as a platform that connects people and products.

‍

Retail store design: From selling a product to experiencing a lifestyle

LocknLock retail stores used to be all about efficiency - people would enter, grab what they needed from stacks of product, make their purchase and head for the exit. Today one-click shopping meets that pragmatic need. This gave LocknLock the opportunity to transform their stores from efficiency to experience and expand the business as a lifestyle platform.

Daylight, together with the LocknLock team, directed and developed a completely new store concept, the store name, visual elements, in-store experiences including an environment-friendly cafe and product sourcing strategies. As of 2020, eight stores have opened in Korea as well as one inThailand. These reinvented locations are bringing in younger generations and male customers who had rarely visited the store until now.

Product Design: From functional to desirable

LocknLock's bottle insulation technology and outstanding durability had given it strong market position in China and Korea. But LocknLock had bigger aspirations. The company dreamed of an aesthetically beautiful thermal bottle that Instagram-savvy millennials would tote anytime, anywhere. They sought something that would appeal and sell through globally.

Daylight helped bring that dream to life, working with LocknLock to design a line of bottles that brought together the form and materials of East and West. Clean lines, contemporary colors, and a delightfully anachronistic handle has made it a must-have for millennials in the office and out on adventures.

‍

All of which makes perfect sense, since Daylight's human-centered designers spent meaningful time listening to the needs and opinions of young people before crafting the perfect flask for a millennial-centered kitchen and living products company. The design world seems equally taken with the line, giving it both an iF Design Award and making it a Reddot winner.