The Brief Ep 14: Beyond the millennial - expanding audiences and building trust with Ruggable

In 2021, washable rug brand Ruggable launched in the UK after steadily growing in the US. With a big focus on filling the social feeds of millennials, the brand is looking to grow its audiences through new channels all whilst building trust.

Expanding your audience can feel like a challenge at the best of times, but as a relatively young brand operating on a global scale, there’s a lot to navigate.

For this episode, Ellis Bird is joined by Charlotte Ford, European Senior Marketing Director at Ruggable, and Sarah Warewinter, Managing Partner, Strategy, at McCann Bristol. During the conversation, they discuss the journey to expanding audiences, the importance of data, finding the right channels, and getting internal buy-in.

What we cover in the episode

• Ruggable’s journey so far
• How do you know when it’s time to start expanding your audience?
• Finding like-minded audiences
• Why you shouldn’t change your brand to suit a new audience
• How challenger brands can find connection
• Finding local relevance on a global scale (without being precious about your brand)
• How testing has shaped Ruggable’s strategy
• Building (and maintaining) trust as a D2C online brand

About the speakers

Charlotte Ford is European Senior Marketing Director atRuggable. With extensive experience across some of the biggest consumer brands including Heycar, Treatwell and Amazon, Charlotte is a specialist in brand and customer engagement. Passionate about brand building and solvingcomplicated strategic challenges, she joined Ruggable in early 2024 and has since led the way on growing audiences and channels.

Sarah Warewinter is Managing Partner, Strategy, at McCann Bristol. With a traditional planning background, Sarah is well versed in customer insight, research, brand management, creative and business strategy; and believes that brands need to be built on strong strategic foundations to develop amazing creative marketing. Her experience is channel agnostic, and she is passionate about making sure that brands use all available resources in the right way to connect with their customers.