David Pead

The Construction Marketing Awards, presented this year on 29th November, give the construction industry the opportunity to recognise its very best marketing campaigns. Winners are invited to contribute a summary of their entry to this blog:  today it is Lafarge Cement, Winners of the Best in-house marketing team category.

Judges comment: “This team delivered a wide range of marketing solutions tailored to different customer groups. They managed a range of campaigns and had a great deal of success. Their work was consistently of a very high quality, and always made a positive sales impact and exceeded objectives.”

Lafarge summarises: A big challenge for Lafarge’s marketing team is how to effectively communicate a single brand identity to a diverse and broad target audience.

At one end of the scale Lafarge manufactures bulk cement products for large construction companies, who use cement in hundreds of tonnes for projects such as power plant builds or sports stadium construction, and at the other end of the spectrum Lafarge also produce specialist bagged cement products for Pro-DIYers to buy from their local B&Q outlet.

In-between these very different purchasers, there are smaller construction companies, jobbing builders, sustainability managers, DIYers, architects, civil engineers, technical directors, local authorities and many more. All of these have different purchase drivers regarding building materials.

Strategy, engagement plans and creative demonstrated dynamism and innovation in each of the 2011 campaigns, with results providing sufficient evidence of their effectiveness. Lafarge Cement has also launched many more campaigns over the last 12 months such as an Extra Rapid Cement promotional campaign that provides customers with a chance to win a ride in a dragster, launched a range of ready-to-use products in B&Q with heavily researched Point of Sale communications, and released an iPhone app for DIYers plus much more.

Fifteen categories of marketing excellence were recognised last night at the annual Construction Marketing Awards, with Manchester based specialist SLG Marketing taking the top Agency of the Year accolade and Anil Govind of Groundforce, being awarded the title Marketer of the Year.

Run by the Chartered Institute of Marketing Construction Industry Group (CIMCIG) the awards recognise and celebrate the best and most innovative marketing campaigns in the construction industry year.

In 2011 there was a marked rise in the number of entries for the digital and on-line categories, with new technology well represented: Optima’s ipad application particularly impressed the judges in the Best Use of Technology category.

However, if there was one characteristic common to many of the entries, it was that of really effective targeting.  The Build Centre (and its agency Tangent Snowball) won in two categories for its thorough and well-planned campaign targeting existing customers with personalised promotional material, while NICEIC won the Best Use of Exhibitions category for its own live event whose success was down to careful analysis of the target audience to deliver an attractive programme.

The event coincided with the 40th anniversary of the founding of CIMCIG and the awards evening was enriched by the presence of a number of past members of the Group.  Renowned British architect, Ex RIBA President and CIMCIG founder member Owen Luder gave a welcome address in which he reflected on the importance of the marketing discipline.

“Marketing is not just about being known – it is recognising that you have a skill or a product that someone wants to buy and then knowing how to sell it to them.  You must know your market.

“The great thing about awards is that they raise standards.  Even if you don’t win, just by entering you focus on raising your standards.  I am all in favour of awards.”

CIMCIG Chairman Ian Exall summed up his reaction to this year’s entries: “the level of professionalism and articulate problem solving is definitely more advanced than we have seen in previous years. More and more of the entries demonstrate that marketing isn’t just about a nice brochure or golf day but good strategic analysis and implementation.

These are certainly tough times for the industry. However, the winners in the awards give me huge confidence that we have the skills to take advantage of the opportunities that are out there.”

The full list of winners and shortlisted entries are as follows:

Category One: Best use of Strategic Marketing
Winner: Build Center (Tangent Snowball)
Shortlist: AJA  Fermacell (AJA),  Kingspan Benchmark (IAS B2B),  Lafarge Fact (McCann Manchester) Barrett Steel (Netconstruct)

Category Two: Internal Communications
Winner: Imtech Process
Highly commended: Apollo

Category Three: Best Use of Advertising
Winner: Acheson & Glover – MRA Marketing
Shortlist: Redrow, Caterpillar (Young & Rubicam), Forbo (CIB)

Category Four: Best use of Public Relations
Winner: BSS – Willoughby PR
Highly Commended: Swisspacer (MRA) Shortlist: Glidden (Tangerine),  Eurovia (Wildwood)

Category Five: Best Use of Direct Marketing
Winner: Build Center – Tangent Snowball
Shortlist: Trelleborg (IAS B2B),  Lafarge (McCann Manchester, NBAT), BLP (TC Communications)

Category Six: Best Use of Technical Information
Winner: Optima – Cyber Duck
Shortlist: Trelleborg (IAS B2B), Fermacell (AJA)

Category Seven: Best Use of Events and Exhibitions
Winner: NICEIC
Shortlist: Kingspan (IAS B2B),  Knauf (TGV), Surestop

Category Eight: Best Use of Website
Winner: Door-Stop – MRA Marketing
Shortlist:  Minster (CIB), Woodhouse,  Lafarge (McCann Manchester, NBAT), Sotech (Harris),  Barrett Steel (NetConstruct) , Megaman (Neonlite)

Category Nine: Best Use of Digital Communications/Media Winner: Tubosider – Considered Creative Shortlist: IES, Trelleborg (IAS B2B)

Category Ten: Best Product Launch
Winner: SitexOrbis
Shortlist: Alumet, ESG Polyvision, Lafarge Cemergi (McCann Manchester), Kingspan (IAS B2B), Tata Steel

Category Eleven: Best Campaign under £25,000
Winner: Groundforce Highly Commended: SitexOrbis Shortlist: Trelleborg (IAS B2B)

Category Twelve: Best Campaign over £25,000
Winner: Alumet
Highly Commended: Glidden Trade (Tangerine PR)
Highly Commended: Polypipe (SLG Marketing)
Shortlist:  BLP (TC Communications), Lafarge Big Boys (McCann Manchester NBAT Redmark),  Lafarge FACT (McCann Manchester), Goodman (Campaign Works), Catnic (CIB)

Category Thirteen: Best In-house Marketing Team
Winner: Lafarge Cement
Shortlist: Alumet

Category Fourteen: Agency of the Year
Winner: SLG Marketing
Shortlist: Tangerine, IAS B2B, CFA, Harris Associates

Category Fifteen: Young Marketer of the Year
Winner:  Anil Govind, Groundforce; Shortlisted: Carina Watson, Built for Marketing; Daniel Jenkins-Ferguson, NICEIC

The Construction Marketing Awards, presented this year on 29th November, give the construction industry the opportunity to recognise its very best marketing campaigns. Winners are invited to contribute a summary of their entry to this blog:  today it is Apollo, winner of the Best In House Marketing Team category

In November 2009, marketing was given standalone status within Apollo for the first time in its history.

Set against national economic downturn, Apollo’s new marketing department had a challenging task ahead.  The first strategic decision in meeting this challenge was to cut agency support and build an in-house team that could deliver far better internal communications, with minimal increase in cost.

With a clear strategy in place to weather the economic storm and grow into a national provider of integrated property services, the Board understood the importance of retaining Apollo’s high standards, unique culture and excellence in health, safety and sustainability.  They also recognised people as key to Apollo’s success.  So, Marketing’s objective – to ensure all employees were kept informed, engaged and encouraged through difficult economic times – was acknowledged as playing a vital part in Apollo achieving its long-term vision.

Against this backdrop, Marketing set out to make dramatic improvements to staff communications and success is notable. Today, Apollo’s unique culture remains and all employees, across regions and workstreams, have clarity on the company’s business objectives, understanding the importance of maintaining high levels of commitment to health, safety, sustainability and quality.

Also, by creating an in-house team, Marketing has had a huge impact on Apollo without breaking the budget. Costs have grown just marginally, while productivity, quality and consistency have increased dramatically.

Better still, while competitors have been forced to close, Apollo remains a growing, financially-stable company (ranked 50 in Sunday Times Top Track 250, 2010) people want to work for. Its employees continue to be recognised as the driving force behind achieving the business vision; to become a national provider of integrated property services and, what’s more, Marketing is now valued as key to Apollo’s continuing success.