It’s an age-old quandary: a brand name with decades of equity and a ferociously loyal following that doesn’t speak to the full breadth of the company’s value. With a massive product spread that spanned all seasons and categories well beyond holiday decor, the name Christmas Tree Shops wasn’t forming the best first impression. The New Englanders that had shopped at their founding stores for years knew what the store had to offer, but the company found the name was a barrier to bringing in new customers.
We worked closely with consumer research teams and visited stores to help us develop a name that spoke to the bargain-hunting mindset characteristic of their core shopping target. The name And That! embodies the emotion of a customer seeing one great product after another. We created this name to apply as a transitional modifier to the original name Christmas Tree Shops, showing customers outside of their New England base that there is so much more in store. A modifier like this not only communicates in the short term but also leaves the door open to dropping the original, brand-limiting name entirely.
