Life's A Pitch - Change of Idea

I tried to arrange a meet up for our blog group before the next PPP session so I sent out a message on the group forum but got no response. I'm not sure whether I didn't do it right or whether the notifications aren't set up properly but the other members of my group didn't get informed that I had posted anything. I resorted to Facebook to get in contact with them. It wasn't convenient for everyone to come into the studio for a chat about our business idea on the Friday so we discussed the topic over Facebook. Obviously it would have been better to have everyone sat around a table but this worked for us and I feel we left the conversation with everyone on the same page. 

First issues raised in the chat:

• The travelling truck idea was getting too complicated. 
• We're not sure how much licensing and organisation it would take to sell food and drink as well just the artwork. 
• The truck idea would have a lot of initial costings before even having the chance to make any money, we would be starting out having invested a lot of money into it already with no guarantee of any return. 
• Would it be possible to simplify the truck idea down?
• Could we revert back to the idea of the online competition/shop?
• The online shop might be more manageable and simpler to work out costings for. 

We seemed to decide on taking forward the online shop/competition idea and the conversation developed into what this would involve. The idea is that a monthly theme would be set, work based around this theme would be entered into the competition, winners would be selected, their work would be sent to a manufacturer for products to be made and then would be available for sale on the website for a limited time. It is almost like a hybrid of Redbubble and Illustration Friday. 

Things to consider with the development of this idea:

• Limiting the range of products available would mean we would only need one manufacturer. 
• Maybe just sticking to 2D products like prints, posters, greetings cards, postcards and stickers would keep things simple and also make the postage process simpler. 
• If the business proves successful and gains momentum we could include additional products like t-shirts or stationery.
• How would we gauge how many products we would need to make without ay previous sales figures?
• Would we have to prepare for a loss and leftover stock in the first few months or could we make to order?
• Could one of the products be wrapping paper? We would have to consider that some designs are not suitable for repeat patterns. This might be a development we could plan for in the future if the business takes off. 
• How many winners would there be for each theme? Maybe 10 or 12. 
• Whats the audience? Local or worldwide? Limiting it to the UK would be a good starting point and it would keep shipping prices simple. 
• We would have to consider the packaging of the products, names, branding and logos need to be developed. 
• Could we include a personal note from the winner to say thank you for purchasing their design? A personal touch - providing a direct connection to the creator. 
• PRICING: manufacturering costs, postage costs, employment and wages, what do the designers get? 
• What files would need to be submitted for the competition? Resolution, size, colour, etc...
• Primary research - send out surveys to get a feel for what our audience think about it in terms of what they would pay.
• Research into other sites lie Quertee and Redouble and analyse how much percentage they take. 
• Submission fee? Might be off-putting. 
• If we make enough money we might be able to but our own printing equipment and cut out the cost of paying another printer. 
• Space needs to be considered, if we had our own printers we would need a bigger work space - rent, bills, additional costs. Might be best to avoid this to begin with. 

I feel a lot more confident with this idea rather than the lorry idea. I think this is much more realistic and we would be able to work with this idea as if it was something we could actually do. I think because the lorry idea would have been way out of our price budget, it seemed slightly unrealistic so it would have been easy to get carried away with things whereas the website is more grounded and can be taken more seriously. 

I need to do some research and think of some potential names to bring to the next PPP session.