VIEWPOINT
BEHIND THE SCENES OF A MARKETING CAMPAIGN
Gareth Osborne, senior marketing manager for Tarmac’s Cement outlines what goes into a marketing campaign...
IN A COMPETITIVE supplier market, it takes time, creativity and investment to launch a successful marketing campaign. We all remember a creative advertising campaign, whether it’s the old Yellow Pages adverts, a cheeky Paddy Power billboard or the latest brand to target your Facebook profile. But how many of us have ever considered the extent of research and development that goes into such concepts? Often the campaign will be developed around existing brand values. Blue Circle cement, for example, is a brand built on quality, reliability and trust, forging a reputation over more than 100 years.
Like some of the world’s biggest brands, it has continued to survive and strengthen in a changing industry by staying true to these core values, ensuring ongoing resonance and continued demand from its loyal customers. In fact, a new survey of more than 1,000 tradespeople shows that positive associations with Blue Circle have increased in the last year, particularly amongst younger buyers, and the brand scores above average for availability, trust, innovation and being worth paying more for. Now these same values are shaping the latest marketing campaign for Blue Circle’s packed cement range; ‘One of the Family’, highlighting solid family values. The new campaign promotes the packed cement range, with
each individual product being given a family characteristic that is aligned to the product’s features and the benefits they bring to the end-user. For example, Blue Circle Mastercrete Cement is ‘The Reliable One’ thanks to its superior quality and improved workability, whilst Blue Circle Postcrete is ‘The Easy One’ as there’s no mixing and it sets in less than ten minutes. But there is much more to this than a few creative connotations.
Customer research Tarmac’s own research showed that brand awareness of Blue Circle amongst 16-35 year-old tradespeople rose 7% from 2017 to 2018. In fact, this particular insight has contributed to a change in Blue Circle’s digital marketing approach as a whole, including the development of a dedicated EDM strategy and a Blue Circle Facebook page. This strategy has already helped to drive engagement with 16-35 year-old purchasers, especially amongst almost 5,000 people that have liked the Facebook page – giving a fantastic grounding for the campaign. There are also some notable links between the family values demonstrated by the brand and those within the trade. For example, research shows of all sectors, tradespeople have the strongest family business traditions; one in ten took over from their father and 20% plan to pass their business down.
Tradespeople also rely on delivering a trustworthy job, with the same research showing 82% of commissions come through personal recommendations. If that’s not enough, builders, and landscapers who buy packed cement products are not dictated by strict work hours and enjoy spending spare time with family.
Marketing channels Next consideration must be given on how to reach this audience most effectively. Brands have a wealth of communications channels to tap into, from their own website, point of sale and social media platforms, to merchandising, email marketing and even vehicle livery. This is where close links with merchants can pay dividends for the entire distribution chain.
In the case of ‘One of the Family’, we applied marketing techniques that we knew would resonate with the identified younger audience. Aside from the colloquial language used in adverts, we used storytelling, which is a powerful way of connecting people to brands,
allowing them to identify with brand values on a subconscious level.
We also used social media to connect with a
younger audience, tapping into a social world. With high mobile phone usage, these users have a strong affiliation to online influencers and a constant desire to be in the know, consuming recommendations from online reviews.
Ultimately, like any trade marketing campaign, this is about driving awareness of the product range in order to increase sales through merchants. But only once they are armed with the understanding of the audience and an appreciation of their thought process (alongside eye- catching point of sale materials in branch) can merchants can take advantage. BMJ
14
www.buildersmerchantsjournal.net April 2019
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