Annabelle Cleeland

Ideas Program 3

31 Aug 2020

About

Annabelle Cleeland runs a fine merino wool property with her husband in North East Victoria, Tarcombe.

The idea

Annabelle entered the program with a well defined target audience for her solution, mothers who were seeking natural fibres to help overcome particular health issues in their children such as skin sensitivities, allergies and breathing challenges.

She identified an opportunity to create a line of pure wool bedding that could help to regulate body temperature in newborns and babies.

"The Program was challenging and powerful. The only way you know you are setting yourself up for success"

The advice to challenge every assumption has been valuable in ensuring that every investment, product, sales channel is right for my consumers. Identifying value propositions and a lean canvas means that I have a clear idea of the pain points of my customers and how I can work towards relieving these.

Program Impact

Through numerous customer interviews, Annabelle was able to establish that many mothers experienced challenges with skin sensitivities and allergies in their children however many did not make the connection between natural wool fibres being a proactive response to reducing issues with skin sensitivities. Annabelle identified that she would need to potentially educate consumers on the benefits of superfine merino wool by establishing strategic partnerships with medical and health professionals.

Similarly, the program challenged Annabelle to let go of some of her assumptions and she was able to identify the potential for a number of additional segments she had not considered previously such as those customers looking for high quality/premium, organic and aesthetically pleasing fibres for their homes.

Following the program, Annabelle has received a positive response from her purchase tests with new email subscribers interested in when the product range will launch. She has a goal to develop a number of prototypes, set up her ecommerce platform and launch two products by winter 2021.