Helping a major flooring brand become more relevant to the people shaping spaces.

Let’s face it: in the world of commercial interiors, product performance gets you into the room, but it does not necessarily make you the brand architects and designers feel inspired by. In flooring especially, many companies make similar claims around quality, craftsmanship, and sustainability. Important, yes. Distinctive, less and less.

Ege Carpets, one of Europe’s largest manufacturers of textile flooring, was at a moment of ambition. The company wanted to strengthen its position with architects and designers and build a brand that could lead on more than product performance alone. But to do that credibly, they first needed a clearer understanding of what actually matters to a design-led audience, and where the brand had real permission to stand apart.

I led the global research phase of the project, speaking with architects and designers across markets to understand how they perceive the category, what they value in the brands they choose, and how ideas like design leadership and sustainability show up in real decision-making. A key part of the work was helping separate what had become category baseline from what could genuinely create preference.

From there, I translated the research into clear strategic implications for senior stakeholders, facilitated workshops to align the leadership team, and worked closely with creatives to shape brand directions rooted in audience truth rather than internal assumption. The aim was not just to identify an interesting brand story, but to help the business make sharper choices about what it should stand for and how that should come through in future expression.

The work gave Ege a clearer view of how the brand was currently perceived, what was no longer enough to differentiate, and where the more meaningful opportunity lay. It created a stronger strategic foundation for the next phase of brand development and helped move the conversation from broad ambition to more focused, deliberate choices.

Because when everyone in a category is saying the right things, the real question becomes: what will make people feel that this brand sees the world differently?