TUL

The Journey from Commodity to Premium

BRAND

OfficeMax TUL

INDUSTRY

Office Products

BACKGROUND

Writing instruments were treated as low-margin commodities with little brand loyalty. Private-label margins hovered around 7%, and internal belief held that customers would not pay a premium for store-brand pens.

INSIGHT

Consumer research revealed that people maintain personal pens tied to preference, performance, and identity—behaving more like fashion or beauty accessories than office supplies.

MY ROLE

Led brand strategy, product positioning, design direction, packaging systems, and in-store merchandising experience, aligning merchandising, sourcing, and operations around a premium product vision.

BRIEF

Create a premium private-label brand that customers would actively choose, elevating the category experience while driving meaningful margin expansion.

WHAT WE DID

Conducted deep consumer research on writing behavior, feel, and performance.
Benchmarked against premium global writing brands to identify design and performance gaps.
Built TUL as a design-forward, performance-led product brand centered on craftsmanship and experience.
Created a tiered pricing architecture from $1.99–$20.99 to support premium perception while maintaining accessibility.
Developed integrated packaging, retail storytelling, merchandising displays, and launch marketing to reinforce the premium positioning.

RESULT

Fastest-growing private-label brand at OfficeMax.
Expanded into pens, markers, dry erase, and desk accessories.
Award-winning brand and key retail differentiator.
Led to the launch of 10 additional premium private brands across four categories.
Direct contributor to expanding private-label margins from ~7% to ~25%.

WHAT’S NEXT STARTS HERE

Get in touch at durriyagunja@gmail.com

TUL