FFD&M changes name to Fine Furniture Design
Mar 09, 2010
By , Furniture Today
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Case goods manufacturer FFD&M is shortening its name to Fine Furniture Design, and also is launching its first trade advertising campaign to raise its profile in the industry.
The acronym had stood for Fine Furniture Design & Marketing. The company was formed in 2001 as a marketing and design arm of case goods and flooring manufacturer Fine Furniture Shanghai.
It has since produced and marketed a line of case goods available at mostly upper-middle price points. It has a good-better-best story, with queen beds retailing from $999 to $1,999 and formal dining sets (table, six chairs and credenza) from $2,999 to $5,999.
Company officials said they decided to change the name to emphasize the quality of the product, which also includes occasional, casual dining and accent chairs.
"The name FFD&M never seemed to resonate with the customer, the people we were selling," said Jim Adams, vice president of product design and marketing.
He said the change is an evolution from an acronym to an articulated name.
"We are who we have always been - Fine Furniture Design," he said. "Now our name, our furniture and all our printed literature and advertising will be the same."
Fine Furniture President and CEO Ted Philpott said the name change is part of a strategy to "build greater recognition and more sales across all distribution channels."
"Our products speak for themselves, we believe, and this name change will help us enhance what we already believe to be the best reputation industry-wide for outstanding designs, quality and service," he said in a statement.
The new name and logo will be visible on nameplates inside the drawers of various case pieces.
Retailers that sell private- label goods can elect to remove the nameplate if they wish, Adams said. Those retailers account for about 5% of its account base.
Adams said the visibility of the name and the emphasis on the word "fine" will help the company compete at the upper end of the market.
"This will make it easier and more consistent for the retail salesperson to tell the Fine Furniture story," he said.
No significant changes are planned for the product mix, other than to fill in with new product over the next 18 months.
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