CMA News

People Power Campaign

As the UK’s leading independent standard-setting body, warranty and insurance provider for new homes, NHBC works with the house-building industry to raise the standards of new homes and to provide consumer protection for homebuyers. Read More

Foundation Depth Calculator App

As the UK’s leading independent standard-setting body, warranty and insurance provider for new homes, NHBC works with the house-building industry to raise the standards of new homes and to provide consumer protection for homebuyers. Read More

At this week’s Construction Marketing Awards for 2014, Constructing Equality Ltd. scooped the award for Best Construction Blog. Read More

In a year where the awards were spread around the record number of companies who entered, two was the maximum number of trophies taken away by any one of them. NHBC, SLG, and Lakehouse picked up two wins – NHBC for Advertising and for Mobile, SLG for Direct Mail and for Agency of the Year, and Lakehouse for Branding & Positioning, and for Marketing Team. Read More

The shortlist for this year’s Construction Marketing Awards has been announced. This year saw a record number of entries coming from a wider variety of organisations than ever before. Shortlisted organisations include contractors, architects and trade associations as well as manufacturers and agencies, highlighting the quality of marketing in every corner of the construction industry. Read More

Mike Rigby, Managing Director of MRA Marketing, on winning the CMA Award for Strategic Planning & Management for EH Smith

We are really pleased to have won the prestigious award for Strategic Marketing at this year’s CMA Awards, for our EH Smith campaign. Read More

Nick Dutton, Managing Director of Door-Stop, shares his thoughts on winning the ‘Best use of Website’ at the CMA Awards 2013.

We’re delighted to have won the ‘Best use of Website’ at the CMA Awards this year especially as it’s the 4th CMA award we’ve won with MRA Marketing’s help. Read More

Lucy Woodhead, communications manager at JELD-WEN, discusses how they developed their award winning website to offer trade professionals and homeowners easy access to expert advice and in-depth information, while showcasing the full JELD-WEN product range. Read More

The shortlist for this year’s Construction Marketing Awards has been announced. This year saw a record number of entries, beating the previous record set only last year.

Lafarge Tarmac has garnered the most mentions in the shortlist. The manufacturer appears in seven of the eighteen categories, including best campaign over 25K and best branding and positioning.

With the number of entries growing year on year, it is clear to see that despite budgets being cut over the past five years, marketing still plays a vital role in the construction industry. The entries show that the discipline is helping to deliver an increase on the bottom line of some of the industry’s best-known brands.The winners will be announced at a gala dinner on Thursday 5th December at the Radisson Blu Hotel in West London.

Full shortlist

Strategic planning and management – Lafarge Tarmac/ EH Smith & MRA Marketing/ Reynaers at home

Sustainability marketing strategy – Jewson/ Carillion

Best campaign over £25K – NHBC/ Minister Roofing and Roofline/ Lafarge Tarmac/ JELD-WEN/ Jaywing

Best campaign under £25K – Brandon Hire and Alive/ ISG/ RICS/ Clugston and Shrewdd Marketing/ Design & Display (Harris Associates)

Best product launch – JELD-WEN and Jaywing/ SWISSPACER (MRA Marketing)/ Knauf/ Safehinge (ThinkFrog Marketing)/ Lafarge Tarmac/ Howarth Timber Group (Harris Associates)

Best use of press and PR – Sustainable Building Solutions (Willoughby Public Relations)/ Tata Steel and the British Constructional Steelwork Association/ Polypipe (Refresh PR)/ Lafarge Tarmac

Best use of a website – JELD-WEN/ Tata Steel and the British Constructional Steelwork Association/ Doorstop (MRA Marketing)/ Contour Casings/Carillion (CIB Communication’s)

Best digital campaign – PC Henderson/ Isover, Saint Gobain (IndigoRiver Creative)/ RIW (CIB Communications)/ Weber, Saint Gobain (IndigoRiver Creative)

Best social media campaign – British Gypsum (Tangerine)/ Lafarge Tarmac/ Knauf Insulation (CIB Communications)

Best mobile campaign – PC Henderson/ Lafarge Tarmac

Best use of events and live marketing – Everglade Windows (Balls 2 Marketing)/ Celotex (CFA)/ Certsure (NICEIC)/ Howarth Timber Group (Harris Associates)/ CBG’s OCPN

Best use of direct marketing – Certsure (Cogent Elliot)/ RICS

Best use of advertising – Weber, Saint Gobain (IndigoRiver Creative)/ RICS/ Celotex (CFA)/ Murphy (MGA)/ Westco Flow Control (Marketecture)

Best branding and positioning – AluK, GB (The Think Tank)/ Lafarge Tarmac/ Reynaers at Home/ Polypipe Building Products (Rare Creative)/ Group

Best professional services marketing campaign – Consumer Credit Solutions (MRA Marketing)/ Groundforce/ Dexter Moren Associates

Agency of the year – CFA/ Alive/ CIB Communications/ Ridgemount PR/ Rare Creative Group/ Saentys

Marketing team of the year – Certsure/ Celotex/ Polypipe/ Tata Steel and the British Constructional Steelwork Association

Young marketer of the year – Sophie Seddon (Novus Property Solutions)/ Katie Neal (Crofton)/ Joanne Sim (Cundall)

Following the team’s recent win at the CMAs, Dave Raynor, plumbing and heating category director at Polypipe, discusses how the manufacturer has successfully managed a year of complex communications challenges, including the restructuring of product divisions and the launch of new product lines.

In late 2012, we recognised an increasing cross-over between merchants and installers purchasing both our plumbing and underfloor heating products. In recognition of this cross-over, we combined these two leading product ranges to form one cohesive offering, the company’s largest – Polypipe Plumbing and Heating.The challenge the marketing team faced was to communicate this new offering to the target audience groups, in order to support Polypipe’s wider business objectives of increasing sales.

Delivering an integrated marketing campaign

In order to meet these objectives, we conducted detailed research into our target audiences – primarily plumbing installers and merchants. This research was then used to create and deliver a strategically-focused and integrated marketing campaign, including the launch of a significant number of new product lines and a new merchandising concept.

As part of this campaign, we revamped our online presence with the introduction of www.polypipe.com/plumbing-heating. Created to provide customers with a single source of information, the website comes complete with an installer knowledge centre, updated quotation tool and online ordering service. We also refreshed our marketing literature to accommodate the new offering including handy, pocket-sized literature and merchandising guides.

In order to capitalise on valuable face-to-face communication with our customers, we exhibited at a number of trade and consumer shows. Via a third party agency, we also implemented a trade and consumer PR campaign, which ran in parallel to a targeted programme of trade advertising.

Winning ‘Marketing Team of the Year’ was the second celebration of the evening for us as we also picked up the award for ‘Best Use of Press and Public Relations’ with our PR partner, Refresh PR.

Tangible results

Installers and merchants alike greeted our strategy with acclaim. Key results from the last year include expanded distribution and a five per cent sales increase, a combined audience reach of 11,814,828 via trade and consumer PR, an increase in merchant stockists and high sales of new product lines. Finally, average monthly enquiries were up 290%. The CMA award win rounds off a brilliant year for us, leaving the team optimistic about what 2014 will bring.