Plant-based, no nicotine vaping device Ripple+ is to roll out further convenience store ‘takeovers’, which will see its branding on shop fronts, fascias and windows.
Stores in Camden Town and Notting Hill in London, as well as locations in Manchester and Bristol have been earmarked for the marketing initiative, which will take place early next year.
The brand – which is stocked in more than 850 pharmacies and shops worldwide, including Superdrug and WHSmith – began the store takeover effort in 2020.
“We started speaking to our stockists and pitched this crazy idea of completely revamping their stores – which was unheard of, given that everyone was indoors,” said Ripple+ co-founder Lucie Beecham. “The idea behind the revamp was that we were going to take stores that we felt would be seen by our core demographic and Ripple-ify them completely and subtly – a case of ‘if you know, you know’,” she added.
Three London locations and one in Paris have already been overhauled, repainted in a light blue and cloud design. Within the stores, mock health warning posters state “Nicotine is dumb”.
“Since we’ve taken over the stores, we’ve seen a huge increase in customer acquisition across each store and get about 10 to 20 mentions on social media weekly from people who’ve captured photos,” said co-founder Sam Beecham, Lucie’s brother. “We then turn these pieces of content into memes. The cultural impact of the stores on our socials have been great for our community engagement.”
While they are used and look like reusable pod vape devices, the company considers its products “portable aromatherapy diffusers”.
“Our next-gen aromatic diffusers are designed to soothe oral fixation by replicating that hand-to-mouth gesture. We’ve replaced the pesky nicotine with natural plant extracts and aromas to transport you to a puff-able utopia,” the brand says.
The company was founded in 2019, after the siblings had become “hooked” on sweet-flavoured, high-nicotine vape devices while living in the US. Operations began in their parents’ garage, but the company now employs 16 staff at its headquarters in Camden.
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