It's not an easy time for the home improvement industry. Lister Trade Frames manufacture windows, doors and conservatories and supply them to installation companies. In a market that's seen a decline of around 10-15% per year for the last four years, Listers have consistently posted record figures. They're winning market share, respect and a reputation for being the role model for an industry that needs to accommodate profound changes.
The fact that we've been working on their marketing for roughly the same period may, of course, be a complete coincidence.
| Format: | CD-ROM |
| Primary Use: | Customer give-away |
| Secondary Uses: |
Exhibition attractor |
| Client-editable: | No |
| Remote update: | No |
| Internet communication: | Contact messaging via optional Internet connection |
| What we did |
Content consultancy |
Listers have a particular approach to business. It's firmly based on ethics, strong service values and innovation. All of which attributes are claimed by nearly everyone else in the industry. But nearly everyone else is struggling, while Listers continue to grow. We needed a vehicle that produced an extended attention span in order to prove our point.
The piece is introduced by Listers' Managing Director, Mark Warren. There are plenty of disastrous video productions that use MDs to embarrass themselves, so why are we fond of using "real" people? The problem usually isn't in the presenter, it's in the script. We wrote words that sounded like Mark talking, and it all became surprisingly easy - and convincing.
The meat of the production gave a rationally laid-out view of the business offering, majoring on the advantages to the installer of dealing with Listers. Easy installation is a feature of their products, so we included videos to demonstrate these features in action. There's also a door designer function that installers/resellers can use as part of their sales conversation. This mirrors the on-line Shockwave application we created on the Listers Website (which we also built).
Listers wanted to use the system at the industry's premier annual exhibition. We set it up so that, if left idle for a few minutes, it switches into auto-run mode. It then runs as a rolling presentation until interrupted by moving the mouse or pressing a key. Stand visitors could explore the Listers proposition, either alone or with a sales manager in attendance, and then take home a copy to view at their leisure.
In fairness, not every part of Mark's introduction was a first take. In fact the out-takes were funny enough that we couldn't resist adding a blooper reel to the finished CD. Within 48 hours of the CD-ROM's release Listers had received two strong enquiries from major sales/installation companies. Were they impressed by the technical brilliance of the presentation? Were they persuaded by the customer focus in the clear advantages we'd put forward?
No, they loved the blooper reel, and decided straight away that this was a company they'd enjoy dealing with.
