Return this once-market leader to pole position.
Case Study
MONIER BRICKS & ROOFING
Established in 1862, Monier Bricks is New Zealand’s largest and oldest manufacturer of brick building products. Sister business, Monier Roofing, has been manufacturing concrete roof tiles since the 1940s.
Their respective bricks and roofing brands were confusing to customers, so the decision was made to merge the brands into a single entity, Monier Bricks & Roofing. This is when I got involved.
Services
Strategy
Brand Strategy
Copywriting
Design
Website Architecture
Web Design
Online Configurator
Product Creation
Naming
REQUIREMENTS
Make bricks sexy, not boring. Increase bricks & roof tiles sales & regain lost market share.
Customers perceived bricks as lifeless, boring, and what you’d see on soulless sub-divisions throughout the country. The bricks side of the business had been seriously affected by large advertising budgets from competitors.
To compound their problems, the previous management team benched their marketing activities for many years. They believed that due to their solid history, and given they were market leaders, that they were untouchable. This decision cost them an unimaginable amount of money. They were getting crucified by competitors and were falling lower and lower on people’s shopping lists. In short, their sales were in the toilet.
Research
Research Monier, their clients, competitors and industry.
New Website
Create a new eCommerce website. Later we’d recommend and implement an online configurator tool.
Blog Posts
Write blog posts and authority articles for the new website launch.
Product Development
Recommend new products and name amd launch them.
Brand Strategy
Upgrade an existing brand strategy, for a more modern and relevant take on their business. This included new Values, Positioning, Personality, Key Messages, Brand Story, and Brand Expression.
Website Architecture
Create website architecture that will encourage sign-ups and keep people inside Monier’s ecosystem.
Marketing Strategy & Execution
Develop a new marketing strategy and relaunch the brand.
Recommendations
THE NATURAL CHOICE
After a strategic review of the business, customers and market, I discovered that bricks, especially, had come a long way. House designs using bricks and roof tiles were now limited purely by imagination.
Also, Monier wasn’t speaking regularly to their diverse nationwide audiences of direct customers building new homes, architects, group building companies and builders. Monier needed to properly engage their customers, in their language, where they hung out, online and offline.
I first created a new positioning and tagline, “The Natural Choice for Sustainable Style”, and my team created the new logo and lockup. This change alone made a significant and positive impact with all of Monier’s audiences taking notice for the first time in a long while.
We then created a new style guide for printed and digital materials, along with new brochures in a minimalist, clean style to allow the products to shine.
Next we created sample bricks packs which were sent with new brochures to key customers, prospects and interested parties. This was backed by a print and online advertising campaign for greater awareness and direct sales.
We created a new website to speak to different audiences. Brochures and sample packs could be ordered from the new site.
We then developed a product visualiser tool in various screen sizes, as an easier way to represent their products and get people excited.
This was a first of its kind for New Zealand. Developed over a 9-month period, this tool presented two different house styles.
Visitors could select one and then begin to create the look they desired using the entire bricks and roof tiles product ranges. We computer generated their products in a realistic style.
I then recommended new brick ranges to appeal to different audiences. I created the Monier Metro range which was unlike any other brick. It is sleek to create many different looks and design creations. Four new colours were initially created, which I also named.
I then suggested Monier create new roof tiles that incorporated solar panels. This was later taken onboard and launched.
Results
Back on track!
Monier was back on the radar with a huge increase in buyer enquiry from all their audience groups.
Their new brick range was selling incredibly well, to the point they then purchased their biggest competitors and created a joint partnership with their next leading competitor.
Enquiries from their website increased 12-fold, and after launching their new visualiser tool, Monier had 322 new houses saved within the system in the first month and more than half of those resulted in customer quote requests and sales.
Sales increased significantly across the board and the team’s morale at Monier lifted considerably. They were recharged and excited by the new developments and how they looked and were now performing in the marketplace.
Monier had a good history and was able to build on that by showing the market they had shifted their thinking and approach. They were now a very different company and it resonated with their customers.
LOUISE FARAC, MARKETING MANAGER
Will’s integrity is outstanding.
I absolutely appreciate Will and his team’s commitment to delivering on our projects, which they always do with passion, talent and an exceptional level of courtesy.
MORE CASE STUDIES
Here’s a couple more of our Case Studies. See a full list from the top drop-down menu.
