Posts Tagged ‘CIMCIG Events’
Building relationships
Author: Nick Pauley, MD of Pauley Creative
The window of interaction between product manufacturers and architects during specification is brief. If it’s maximised and architects are left with a positive experience, they’re very likely to return to you in the future… but how can you make best use of this interaction? Evolve it into a ‘relationship’? And ultimately nurture it moving forwards?
Philippa Grantham, architect, Studio Klaschka
Construction Marketing Awards – winners announced
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
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
Any colour you like as long as it’s not blue (or yellow)
CIMCIG’s Rick Osman considers which colours to avoid if you want to be easily recognised…
One of the principal purposes of marketing is to differentiate your company or brand or products from those of your rivals. By doing so you hope to rise above the competition and so be recognised, and thus be better understood or appreciated and therefore more likely to be specified.
Which is why in the construction industry where a large proportion of building materials are treated as commodities it is important to carefully consider, along with much else, the colours you use to promote your marketing message.
By far and away the most popular colour used in corporate marketing is blue, a walk out of our office to the local shops for a sandwich revealed a row of four adjacent shops all with blue fascias (Carphone Warehouse, Thomas Cook, Cancer Research and a newsagents if you’re interested). This reflects the prevailing belief that blue is a safe colour, a colour that will not offend. As we say in the design business “The client always likes blue”; which is a good reason for you to avoid it as the MDs of most of your rivals are happy with blue.
Read more…
Marketing sustainability in construction
Can we get away with the ‘Green’ Deal?
When dealing with issues of sustainability it would seem that construction marketers have their work cut out for them on many levels. Not only do we have to persuade a cynical market that our products really are as ‘green’ as we claim but we have to do it without falling foul of the regulators? As delegates at the latest CIMCIG seminar heard, just mentioning the word ‘green’ could be enough to incur their wrath.
Read more…
Digital marketing – the easy alternative?
There’s one thing we’re all led to believe about technology – it’s supposed to make our lives easier. What’s more, in an age when marketers are being challenged to slash overheads, do more in less time, and save carbon… surely technology can provide some help there too, can’t it?
That’s just one of the things we set out to explore – in a very practical way – at the CIMCIG digital marketing workshop on 17th March. By the wonders of the world wide web, simultaneous events were held in London, Bristol and Leamington Spa, with speakers broadcasting from each venue during the course of the afternoon.
It was a first for CIMCIG – a bold plan that took weeks of preparation. We did it for several reasons. Firstly, marketers are being challenged to use ever-changing technology in a relevant way. There’s a pressure on marketers to know how webinars, virtual events and video conferences work, and understand the pros and cons. So we did our own event to give delegates a real-life “social media experience” – so they could see first-hand what those benefits and pitfalls might be.
Secondly, it promised huge potential for us as CIMCIG. With our membership dispersed around the country, perhaps this kind of virtual approach could provide more convenient regional events, and a model for the future.