Our Year 7 Christmas Market is a big event at All Saints. The year 7’s split into groups, create and produce a product which they believe will sell to their peers, younger & older. This was a 6-week project, which was actually very little time to create and manufacture a product. I was in a group of 4, Emma Bakkers, Jasmine Kooner, Jess Ferris, and I, and We Created the Acelet.
Step 1) – Creating the idea/Pitching
The creation of the idea of our product was one of the most challenging parts of the project. We had multiple lists, names, and ideas to choose from, such as candles, stick photo frames and friendship bracelets. We had many ideas, but there was only one that the entire group agreed with: Friendship Bracelets. I personally wasn’t 100% on this idea, but it was our only plan that might work, so I agreed, which I now am so happy I did.
We had to pitch our idea to Miss L, who we were hoping would grant us our $30 investment from the school, that we would pay back later. Our first pitch was a mess, and we didn’t have any exciting parts, just 4 girls making bracelets out of string. We were turned down, so we went back and brainstormed again about what we could do better to be granted the investment. We really wanted to continue this idea, but were quite disheartened. We wrote another pitch, much better from the first, all memorized it and brought prototypes this time. We were told that we didn’t have a prototype of what we were proposing, a adjustable bracelet, so we were turned away. We spent the next 24 hours working out how to make an adjustable bracelet, so the next day we showed Miss L, and she agreed. The pitching process was hard, but it taught us perseverance and how we could continue anything if we did it right.
Step 2) – Spending
Our next step in our journey was to find the products we were talking about, we only had $30 to buy enough for many bracelets, so we were thinking this through carefully. We decided to buy the string from our group mates, as this had already been used, so we were recycling, and it was much cheaper than buying it from the shops. We bought this for $7.50. there wasn’t much, so we had to be careful we didn’t waste it. We had all talked about an ethical option, or an eco friendly option, that’s when I remembered I had made paper beads before, which, if done correctly, turned out very nice. I also had a bead maker, so we paid to use that as well. We ended up paying $5, $4 for the usage of the machine, and $1 for the paper pad with patterns. Halfway through the project, we payed $2 to use Jas & Jess’s Wool, because we had run out of string, the wool created much more than the string and was a hit with the consumers.
Step 3) – Designing & Creating
Throughout the project, we had been prototyping and creating different designs, and finding what worked best. We picked 4 designs that we would sell, and re-named them to sound better. The Tiger – a stripy pattern formerly known as Candy stripes. The Signature Acelet – our first creation. Horse Tail – a braid, and Eco fun – a paper bead design that was eco friendly. We spent the next 2 weeks creating at a rapid rate, not counting. We ended up creating 19 Tigers, 10 Horse Tails, 20 signature Acelets, and 6 eco fun. We spend a lot of innovate ed time creating.
Step 4) – Pricing
We talked a lot about pricing during the creating time, we even surveyed the class and asked what they would pay for the Acelets. We were told we weren’t allowed to do 50c or any type of cents. During HASS we investigated phycological pricing. Psychological pricing is when you put the price at $0.99 instead of $1, as it sounds and looks cheaper. We decided that the Signature Acelet and Eco fun would be $1, but we used psychological pricing and put it at $0.99. the Horse Tail would be $2, but it was set at $1.99. we wanted the Tiger to be more sophisticated, without raising the price. So we set it at $2.
Step 5) – English and the Advertisement.
For an assessed English piece, we had to create an ad for our product, and analyse it. We would have to pick 1 ad for our advertising during the market. We ended up voting and mine won.
Step 6) – The Market
6 weeks passed in a blur, time ran out so fast I lost track of it. The day came of the market as quick as I could snap my fingers. We spent innovate ed before the market setting up the common with desks & decorating. We had rounds to pick our stalls, my group was in the 4th round. We picked a nice spot in the corner of the common, this was strategically placed for a reason. During the market I went out to advertise. I wrapped tinsel around me, wore a Christmas tree hat, and took 2 Acelets and a poster. I stood outside the canteen and yelled “Get Your Friendship Bracelet! Go straight down there to the End and you will find our store! $1-$2!” multiple times, once everyone had passed, I did this walking through the market. It seemed to work and people walked that way and bought an Acelet. My group was having the problem of to many people rather than to little. We were almost sold out by the time the market finished.
Step 7) – after the Market
After the market, we went and counted the money, repaid our float and investment, and counted our money. We made $70.70. we had no clue where the $0.70 had come from, Miss L just said we probably dropped $0.30, but it was fine. We were stressing out at this point because we thought we lost $40, because our spreadsheet that was done properly and with much time (thanks to Jess Ferris), and it said we should have earned $40 more. That’s when we looked in the bag and realized we had forgotten to sell some Acelets because they didn’t fit on the table. We were so relieved. On Monday after the Christmas market, we had an assessment reflection on the market.
Overall, this experience has been inspiring and helpful. I have absolutely loved working with my group, they made things so easy and were brilliant to work with. This project took much time and was super interesting, and all together, a wonderful project.