Otto is the name of the first of the three businesses l will be launching over the coming six months. Otto is a new company, with a new appraoch; designing, developing, and marketing contemporary furniture.
The business is owned and run by myself and my brother Simon (the design talent). Whilst my background and experience is in brand and marketing, Simon will be providing the product and furniture expertise. Additionally we'll be drawing heavily on existing relationships and pulling favours wherever possible.
Our approach is to bring the manufacturer closer to the customer and customer closer to the manufacturer. We aim to develop a sales and marketing infrastructure which is not reliant on the usual retail outlet. We want to streamline the processes and interactions between manufacturer and customer. That is not to say we are looking to minimise customer contact, in fact the contrary is true. We are looking to provide a better level of service and customer involvement within the buying process. We want to develop a real sense of occassion and ownership in our customer interactions and within the whole purchasing process.
At this stage we are finalising the business plan and working on product prototypes. Even though we are looking to initially develop a small product portfolio, there is still a great deal to do in terms of being able to fully commercialise the idea - particularly on a very limited budget.
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