"Check Out My PEX" T-Shirts

T-shirts are a perennial favorite "giveaway" item for hardware stores and lumberyards -- contractors love 'em and the free advertising to have your name on a human billboard is priceless.

One contractor can carry your name all over the county (what we call "reach" in advertising terms) or work at the same job site for several days in a row (what we call "frequency.")

So, when ZURN wanted to do something different to advertise their line of PEX tubing and fittings, I suggested a t-shirt. We had recently had  great success with t-shirts in "safety green" an almost fluorescent yellow-green t-shirt. I suggested we use this for ZURN along with the phrase "Check out my PEX" on the chest, a play on words that I thought would be appealing to plumbers and general contractors everywhere.

To tie this into ZURN, we are giving away the t-shirt FREE to customers spending $250 (or more) in ZURN PEX tubing and fittings. Results have been very gratifying.

A lot of plumbers in New York and Pennsylvania are proud of their PEX!

The Auburn Ladies' Open House

At our Auburn branch, Lydia, our Certified Kitchen Designer, wanted to have an event to highlight our Kitchen & Bath Showroom and let people know about the wonderful resource they have right under their fingertips. We promoted the event in our monthly sales flyer, on radio in the Auburn market, with color signs that were distributed to local markets, and through Social Media, specifically our FaceBook account.

We wanted something consistent, recognizable, and funny that would appeal to our women followers. I put together a series of "ads" that could run the week prior to the event, reminding people of the upcoming event, and keeping the awareness up.

Monday morning's ad

Tuesday morning's ad

Wednesday morning's ad

Thursday morning's ad

Friday morning's ad

Saturday morning's ad

Invoice Messaging

With the advent of eMails and electronic invoicing, a great portion of our invoices and monthly statements are now sent electronically. Unlike traditional printed "statement stuffers" in snail mail, tagging product messaging at the bottom of the email adds no cost, but increases the positive communication we can have with our customers.
Messages were designed for three types of communication: image building, time-sensitive events, and new product introductions, and fit at the bottom of the emailed communication.

New Product Introductions:

Banner ads could be timed for new product introductions, and can be targeted geographically if, for example, a product is rolled out a selected locations, such as North Main Lumberyards only, or due to contractual limitations, available in New York but not Pennsylvania.

Time-Sensitive Events:

Special deals can be promoted, such as a sale on smoke detectors to coincide with National Fire Prevention Month, or special events, such as our annual appearance at the Empire Farm Days.  The ads can be created ahead of time and placed into the queue. They can be turned on or off remotely, so if an event is doing better than expected, we can stop additional messages from being sent to avoid customers arriving when our stocks are depleted, or change an offer to reflect an evolving supply situation ("New Models now available.")

Image Building:

We can create messages for our vendors to send out to current and/or future customers. The message can tie-in with the vendor's existing campaign, or, more likely, we can create the message to enhance the vendor's image with our customers.

Signs, Signs, everywhere signs

A unique part of the 2010 Vendor Marketing Program were the billboards. This allowed us to present a variety of clients, and client messages, that underscored the broad range of products we offer, while presenting a Big Message in a stylish and timely manner.

This particular billboard was facing the traffic traveling towards the Big Box competitor just a few miles down the road, one that typically sells their CFLs for more than double the price at which we sell our CFLs, giving a nice double meaning.

The idea of the "twisty light bulb" was intriguing. The main thrust of the advertising was always the cost-saving and environment-saving aspects. But, they are just fun to look at, and play with visually. Here's one of the ideas that generated smiles from the client, but didn't make the final cut!

Keep On Truckin'

As part of our first-ever Vendor Marketing Program in 2010, we gave vendors the opportunity to use our trailers as a canvas on which to put their message. As we have 15 locations throughout central New York and northern Pennsylvania, our trailers travel widely along many major thoroughfares, and their message is seen by several thousands of people each week.

Several vendors opted in to the program, representing a diverse array of products. I designed a unifying look that was carried through all vehicles. It had to present the vendor's message without overpowering our own branding.

In addition to trailers, each store has a box truck that is used for local deliveries, and also available for vendor branding. As the majority of local deliveries are to contractor's job sites, the messaging on the box trucks is delivered both to prospective users of the vendor's product, as well as current users to reinforce the vendor's image.