Client Brief:
When auditing the brand it became cleaar that Wavin required a solution to remind the market of why their brand was the number one choice with a clear communications strategy on their brand superiority. They needed to focus on precisely why their product was so much better with very tangible and factual evidence of their product performance and delivery.
They also needed to physically differentiate themselves from the imposters to prevent any further miss-selling without incurring major capital expenditure or re-tooling costs with such an extensive product range.
Most importantly they needed to separate and segment the market between premium and cheap, a common strategy in the fast moving consumer goods arena but not so within their industry.
Solution:
Wavin had a number of challenges:
- communicate their genuine brand product superiority.
- physically change the product appearance to look different to cheap imports to aid immediate brand recognition.
- indiscriminately target everybody at all levels of the industry from the large construction buyers, directors, proprietors to medium/small builders, architects and labourers. They all directly and indirectly influenced the purchasing decision process and needed to be informed/reminded of why they should choose Wavin.
Firstly the product’s appearance was changed. All their fittings were modified to have a yellow click sealing ring around the neck of the product. Yellow was chosen because it is a premium associated colour in the industry and it clearly standouts on a building site and in the ground where all these parts are used.
Traditionally all these products, theirs and competitors, are terracota brown in colour so this was a radical yet simple change. Wavin took ownership of the colour yellow in this category. The functional design of their product meant this change could be done without massive capital outlay but most importantly none of their competitors were designed in the same way so Wavin couldn’t be copied without the infringers incurring significant costs.
This colour change to part of the product design meant immediate recognition whether bought at the wholesalers or mass delivered to a large site. They stood out, were different, distinctive and memorable.
In parallel to this we had to look at how to reassert Wavin’s brand dominance in the market and how to effectively segment the market to separate them from the incursions.
We developed Wavin Premium™ to separate the brand from all other players in the market. This was then supported by a range of collateral which clearly communicated the product’s far superior benefits and features which very effectively widened the gap further between Wavin and all other players. The product always exceeded expectations in delivery and performance, it was over engineered so it already owned the Premium position. Industry just needed to be reminded of this.
In an industry with such a diversity of influential forces and buyers we needed to target a very broad range of participants which required a communications strategy on multiple platforms. Most importantly the market needed to be reminded of why Wavin and the Wavin Premium™ product range was the number one choice.
Our communications strategy involved the combination of a direct mail campaign, packaging, trade advertising, editorial in trade publications, point of sale in wholesalers and resellers together with beer mat like leaflet drops in cafes near large construction sites for construction site workers to pick up.
For the direct mail campaign we designed a piece of packaging to communicate Wavin’s core message and to carry a sample of the new yellow click sealing ring coupled with a matching benefits and features leaflet. This in itself was a radical move in an industry unused to such communications activity. Every buyer, decision maker, director and influencer got a sample product in a matching yellow box reflecting the packs contents in the post.
The Wavin Premium™ yellow click sealing ring is never actually seen or bought detached from the rest of the product on which it normally fits so this would have triggered some surprise and curiosity too. The product sample was supported by a matching circular concertina folded leaflet which mimicked the yellow click sealing ring. It sat inside the ring on receipt and opened out to communicate the products benefits and feature on each page fold using a combination of photography, technical illustrations and graphics.
To target site workers the leaflets, similar in size to beer mats, were liberally distributed around cafes, coffee shops etc. located near significant building sites. Site workers had an impact on purchase decisions because Wavin products are much easier to fit with a larger more accurate and superior fixed sealing technology.
The cheap infringers are more difficult and slower to fit with half the tolerance range and a weaker seal which often falls out of the fitting, all of which makes a big difference on fitting and working conditions on a typically wet windy day in Ireland, not to mention long term product performance. Leaking sewers are no joke and re-digging the ground for refits costly and messy. Site workers provided the feedback up the chain of command and their relative speed of fit rate during the course of a working day. They work with the product hands on and know the difference.
To ensure management, engineers, architects and other influencers were reminded or re-educated about Wavin Premium™ editorial and advertising was produced to run in trade publications in parallel to the direct mail campaign.
In store point of sale with physical yellow sealing click rings stuck to the display ensured smaller operators were exposed to Wavin Premium™ at the buying stage in resellers and wholesalers. The industrial bags in which the Wavin Premium™ product was packed and delivered were also redesigned to again clearly communicate the core brand message and provide strong visual impact whether viewed instore or onsite.
The project was a great success on two fronts. It re-affirmed Wavin’s dominance as the number one brand of preferred choice and achieved significant commercial returns.
If you’d like to know more about how we can help you create, build, grow or re-launch your brand we’d be delighted to talk with you.
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“Persona Design successfully applied their extensive experience from consumer goods directly to an important industrial B2B product range within our organisation and was pivotal in the formulation of our marketing communications including design, packaging, point of sale material and promotional plan, all of which contributed to a very successful commercial outcome.”
Michale O’Donohoe, Sales & Marketing Director,
Wavin Ireland Ltd
“I have worked with Persona Branding & Design for more than 8 years. They have become an invaluable extension of our team, working with us in a flexible, intelligent and pragmatic way.
“Persona Design successfully applied their extensive branding experience from consumer goods directly to an important industrial B2B product range within our organisation. This was pivotal in the formulation of our brand communications strategy which also included design, packaging, point of sale material and brand promotional plan, all of which contributed to a very successful commercial outcome.”
“I can’t say enough about the excellent work that Persona Branding & Design has done for us. They didn’t just look at our design requirements but challenged us to really look at the fundamentals of our brand and our target market.
“Persona Design has always exceeded the objectives of our briefs. Their level of interaction and creative rigour offering a range of fresh concepts is brilliant.
“Persona Branding & Design has adroitly managed several of our most important brand design briefs over the past couple of years and in doing so brought a high degree of creativity plus in depth knowledge in dealing with packaging and print suppliers that was vital for the completion of the successful end product.
