Our passion to build inspires the development of innovative product lines and helps us set ourselves apart from competitors. However, that passion persists even after our products hit the market, and it needs to. Great products need great stories to attract the attention of customers while building up our brand. At Marley New Zealand, we use aspirational feature homes to encourage consumers and designers to ask for our Stratus Design Series® coloured uPVC spouting and downpipe systems.
Feature homes are exceptional properties around the country that use our Stratus products. We are constantly looking to increase our share of installs in the residential new build market, and having stunning real-life examples to entice and inspire customers with is an important part of this. In fact, over the last five years our uPVC share of the new build market has grown by 5%, and Stratus sales have grown some 300% since we launched colours – gaining visibility through feature homes has supported this growth.
In general, our Sales team identifies these properties and then brings them to my attention. One of our latest feature homes – the historic waterfront McCallum Residence located just one hour outside of Auckland – was identified by my marketing colleague Nigel Lee, who knew the home’s restoration project manager.
The McCallum family were very particular about staying true to the home’s original design when undertaking a recent restoration project, and were set on installing copper spouting and downpipes, until they found out how much that would cost. That’s where our Stratus Typhoon spouting profile with external brackets came in: it captured the look the McCallum’s were after at a fraction of the price, is easier to maintain and clean, and doesn’t rust.
Needless to say, the Stratus Typhoon solution does the McCallum’s stunning historic home justice. From there, I worked with a local advertising agency to bring this story to life. We created photo and video material that we’ve since used on our website and social media profiles, as well as in magazines and in partnership with local influencers. This feature home story has been very well received and has succeeded in building even more interest in our products.
Building a premium brand is a long-term effort, and communicating our passion with clear and consistent messaging will help position our company as a supplier of premium products. For us, the feature home programme is an innovative way of creating value for Marley, and is an extension of the passion to build that goes into our products, bringing us a bit closer to end customers.
By Nigel Montgomery
Senior Product Manager – Marketing, Marley New Zealand
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