COLORBOND® Permagard® steel

Market
COLORBOND® Permagard® steel, the material used in cool room panels, was developed by BlueScope Steel to incorporate Microban® antibacterial technology. Microban® is proven to inhibit the growth of surface bacteria that can cause odours, stains, food poisoning and allergies.

The previous cool room panel was seen as a commodity product as there was no specific branding in place. This allowed an opportunity for imported steel with similar physical product attributes to enter the market and trade off the brand attributes established by COLORBOND® steel. To protect against future competitive pressures from imported steel, a product development and branding initiative was required to defend market share.

Communications
The campaign was designed to build awareness and encourage a behavioural change in the target audience to specify the new product by its full name.

We segmented the market in order to successfully reach the entire cool room panel market with a cost-effective approach.

Target groups included:

• Large end users:
  • Facilities/Operations Managers of cold logistics companies
  • In-house cool room designers within companies including large supermarkets and fast food chains
• Mid-sized end users:
  • Food processors
• Small end users:
  • including owners of cafes, hotels, small goods manufacturers
• Channel:
  • Specialist cool room designers, refrigeration consultants and coolroom builders with various needs depending on their customers’ size and needs
• Council
• BSL customers (insulated panel manufacturers)

To reach the large end users - a target audience with whom BlueScope Steel have traditionally had no relationships - and get them to the Round Table Meeting, we wanted to create an invitation that was personal, gave an overview of the product launch and made an impact on the target. An iPod with an audio message from the National Building Market Manager was sent to 45 people. These were the design and specification managers of cool rooms at the largest cold logistics companies, such as McDonalds, Swire Logistics and Woolworths. We also sent the invitation to the largest cool room design companies. BlueScope Steel then followed up those who received iPods to organise a round table meeting.

In order to reach the large amount of smaller cool room users in a cost-effective approach, we leveraged the channel. We targeted those in the delivery channel who had a major influence in the decision making process of smaller cool room users. These were the 350 designers and builders of cool rooms. An information pack including brochures, fact sheets, HACCP endorsement and a multi-media CD ROM was sent to the designers and builders of cool rooms.

Three single minded post cards were also sent to large and mid-sized cool room users, staggered over three weeks. The post cards served to remind the target audience to specify the new product by it’s full name.

A product website was created and advertising was placed in national trade magazines to support the campaign and reinforce key messages.

Results

• 80% of those who received the iPod invitation responded positively, by attending the round table meetings.
• The twelve month period following launch of COLORBOND® Permagard® steel saw an increase in sales volumes of 43%. Three times the expected target.
• Material specification sheets, especially from the tier one target market, now specify COLORBOND® Permagard® steel by its full name.