Rockwool

The Difference Between

Summary

Rockwool are the UK’s leading manufacturer of stone wool insulation for thermal, fire and acoustic applications. Only Rockwool insulation products are wholly natural and recreated from natural processes that exist only in nature. The parent company, Rockwool International A/S, is based in Denmark and has 22 factories in 14 countries with offices in a further 21 countries. Rockwool provides good fire and acoustic insulation properties but had been slow to respond to changing market trends. Brand awareness wasn’t an issue, more what the brand represented. ONE brand needed to represent both the company and its products – ‘Rockwool’.

Further Information

UK buildings contribute 44% of total CO2 emissions and, in recent times, building regulations have concentrated on Part L. Although Rockwool provides excellent, cost-effective thermal solutions, this legislation has generally favoured foam insulation manufacturers who can deliver better thermal performance. However, the construction industry is changing and there are now a range of different pressures on specifiers, contractors and building owners. These days they are expected to ensure that building designs minimise the risk of fire, offer excellent acoustic and sustainable performance.

Rockwool had all the credentials to professionally position itself as offering future-proof, superior performing 4 in 1 insulation solutions (thermal, fire, acoustic, sustainable).  Their brand just wasn’t communicating it. The existing positioning of ‘firesafe insulation’ restricted them from providing the market with what it really needs and pigeon holed them for specific applications. Research indicated that Rockwool needed to provide enhanced customer service and become more assertive in communicating its differentiated capabilities. It also needed to support the brand, act as a market leader and be the voice of the industry.

Campaign Objectives

• To reclaim competitive advantage
• To ensure that Rockwool are considered for more applications
• To make Rockwool stand out as a brand
• To build stronger relationships
• To playing a role in the community
• Launch brand positioning and creative execution to reflect Rockwool’s future desired offering for superior 4 in 1 insulation solutions
• Clearly communicate Rockwool being manufactured from stone wool (not glass or foam).

Target audience

Rockwool worked with IAS B2B to conduct total market opportunity analysis, segmentation and prioritisation of both addresses and people. This was facilitated by database development. Ultimately, the launch programme concentrated on 400 employees and 8000 architects.

Media Channels

Over 50% of the audience prefers to source further information online with c.40% preferring to receive information via e-mail – growing trends continually being measured. The creative strategy was to interactively get both internal and external audiences thinking and becoming 4 in 1 – to create some marketing buzz.

INTERNAL

Competition
Having completed internal Brand Briefings, the next stage was to reiterate the new brand positioning. A Red Letter competition carried the key messages and offered prizes to suit both male and female audiences. The objective was to send each employee ONE of the FOUR competencies and encourage them to find 3 colleagues with the other three competencies before becoming 4 in 1 for the chance to win a prize.

Internal Posters
Posters were positioned around the building to generate excitement about the forthcoming competition.

Intranet
The poster was also replicated online and posted on the company intranet

Direct Mail
Each employee was sent ONE postcard to their home address. The postcards were strategically selected to get individuals mixing with others outside their immediate departments.

EXTERNAL

Outdoor Advertising
Using existing expertise alongside market segmentation and prioritisation workshops IAS identified Head Office locations of the top London architectural practices. 48 sheet posters were strategically placed to raise brand awareness and create a buzz. The poster sites lasted for the duration of what was to come.

Direct Mail + Competition
Direct Mail was implemented every week for 4 weeks and each focused on an individual 4 in 1 competence (thermal, fire, acoustic, sustainable). For the launch mailer 1,000 ‘gold’ architects received a box mailer containing a piece of diabase rock (natural raw material used in manufacturing) and a tag detailing its source. Inside there were also details of the competition launch.

Another mailer asked ‘Are You 1 in 4’? with the challenge to find 3 other colleagues, enter team details online and answer 4 weekly questions to gain access to the vault. On week 5, one final question was revealed with the winning prize a voyage to Hawaii, the birthplace of Rockwool (where the rock was initially discovered!). A second group of 7,000 ‘silver’ architects received cost-effective weekly mailers.

E-marketing
To compliment the direct mail, supporting e-mail reinforced the messages with a direct link to the website for registration. Once a team had registered, e-mails automatically informed members of their personal details. Subsequent weekly questions were automatically e-mailed to them and once one team member had answered, all received notification.

Website
www.rockwool.co.uk/1in4 was developed and became the centre of the activity.

Trade Advertising
Post-campaign brand advertising appeared in the core press to further embed the new brand positioning and superior 4 in 1 offering.

Results

• 8,000 contacts targeted
• Unique addresses – 3,348
• Total teams registered – 160
• Total participation – 640 (4 members per team)
• Response Rate – 8.2% (based on contacts)
• Unique teams – 4.7% (based on addresses)
• New contacts – 209

Client testimonial

“The issue of Brand and importance of building strong relationships had become more significant within our rapidly changing building materials and general construction marketplace. Choosing IAS B2B as our partner was an easy choice due to them specialising in our sector, the people we met (and now work with) and having a structured, proven results-driven Brand and Dialogue process that meets the needs of our future business. Six months in and through hard work and strong collaboration we have distilled our Brand Strategy, have a segmented approach to market and an exciting new brand proposition to communicate to our complex market.”

Craig Bligh, Marketing Director, Rockwool UK