Sainsbury’s and Ohh Deer have joined forces on a design competition to spark some fresh new approaches from new designers for the supermarket’s Valentine’s Day selection for next year.
The competition, which is being publicised by both Sainsbury’s and Ohh Deer’s (including via their social media channels), is open for entries (via Instagram #ohhdeersainsburys) until the end of this month.
The plan is that some 41 shortlisted designs will be displayed on a feature end in 230 Sainsbury’s stores while the overall winning design will go on sale in 520 stores.
All designers will receive 10% of the profit of every sale from their respective cards from Ohh Deer.
“I had seen and admired the competitions that Ohh Deer has done for their ‘design a sock’ and also ‘design a box’ for their delivery packaging and thought the calibre and quality of designs submitted were fantastic,” said Carly Pearson, senior buyer of cards and wrap for Sainsbury’s about what gave her the idea for the competition. “I felt that alongside the Ohh Deer team we could offer a fantastic platform to some of the really talented new designers in the market,” Carly added. “Valentine’s is the next event we are working on so it seemed like an opportune moment, but if successful this is something we would like to continue to do for other upcoming events and range refreshes,” she revealed.
Mark Callaby and Jamie Mitchell, co-owners of Ohh Deer said they were delighted to be approached by Carly with the idea for the competition. “We obviously jumped at the chance!” said Mark. “We’re hosting the competition via Instagram and work with Carly and the team to decide the winners from the entries.”
The rules as well as tips on entering the competition appear as a blog on the Ohh Deer website.
https://blog.ohhdeer.com/home/2021/3/31/design-a-valentines-card-for-sainsburys
‘Remember the design could end up on the shelves of Sainsbury’s stores around the country so we need to make sure they’re suitable. No full-frontal nudity, and any swearing must be censored to sh**.’ The blog wording explains as well as reinforcing the publisher’s ethical standpoint.
‘We are an inclusive and progressive team at Ohh Deer and won’t accept any designs that demonstrate hate, prejudice or discrimination.’
Each artist can each submit up to 10 designs into the competition.
Mark and Jamie are hoping that the final winners’ selection (in late June) will be made from Ohh Deer’s impressive new headquarters – the top two floors of The Old Art College in Loughborough which is to house its offices as well as its creative and content creation teams.
Added to this, and to accommodate its continued growth, the company is moving its warehouse to a new 25,000sq ft space (more than doubling its current premises) in a neighbouring village to Loughborough.