While structural engineers specify the amount of necessary slab deflection, architects have to ensure that internal walls can meet the technical demands placed upon them and ensure the demands of aesthetic finishes.
Glass partitioning and drywall systems meet the required levels of deflection, but as they are usually supplied from different manufacturers, integration between the two was not considered. Yet modern space planning usually requires a mix of glazed and drywall configurations meaning that integration detailing of these two elements is often left to the architect.
Interior fit-out solutions manufacturer SAS International overcame this challenge to provide a solution that would meet structural and aesthetic demands in a single system. System 8000 is a fully-glazed frameless partitioning system suitable for a range of workplace interiors.
Launched in April 2012, the system was developed with 64 different sections; this enables the system to work with 26 different types of glass including toughened, laminated and fire rated, and provide an array of options to meet differing project requirements.
With growth in the UK office refurbishment market, the new system was designed to be fully relocatable to provide further flexibility.
The marketing objectives
The core objective was to raise profile of System 8000 with two audiences: architects and contractors. PR and marketing messages needed to explain its USPs to each audience.
This also needed to draw on the company heritage of SAS International as a leading UK manufacturer of interior fit-out solutions that has extensive knowledge of this marketplace and delivers value.
A two-pronged approach was used, leveraging press relations firstly to target architects; with editorial in the architectural and design press, focusing on the aesthetic finish and innovative design details.
Customer mail shots to main- and sub-contractors were augmented by contractor-focused trade press coverage. Here the messaging had to be product focused, to not only highlight the ease of fitting but also its availability direct from the UK manufacturer, enabling speed of supply and cost efficiencies.
By using PR there was an opportunity to educate and inform the audiences around both the brand and product and its unique offering.
Key activity included the development and availability of all product literature on the SAS International website at launch. The following was produced by SAS International:
• System 8000 brochure – a 48 page brochure with detailed product information, photography, drawings.
• Project galleries – these were completed to provide specifiers with inspiration for projects with the use of detailed imagery.
• CAD downloads – to enable specifiers to incorporate design details into their own drawings effortlessly.
• Technical manuals – developed for each variation of the system to provide detailed specification drawings and information.
• Video – multimedia content was produced to enhance the product literature offering (56 views on the launch date alone).
• Sample cases – designed and manufactured to enable sales staff to demonstrate system features to architects and contractors.
• Mail shot to contractors on the launch date.
Press releases and tweets, advertorials, editorial forward features and insertions into magazine e-newsletters were looked after by The Think Tank, with coverage to appear through the first three months launch period.
Bespoke editorial content was developed for placed articles and advertorials. This resulted in multiple placement opportunities in target press with a focus on the new product.
Results
System 8000 has been well received by specifiers, with a number of architectural practices including it within specifications, and contractors quickly adopting the System.
Forty-one pieces of coverage in trade press including print, and online publications: 33 print and eight online including key architectural titles: ABC&D, AJ Specification, Architect’s Choice, Architect’s Data File, Architecture Today, Building, Building Construction & Design, Building Innovations, Building News, Building Products, Building Specification, Building & Facilities Management, Building Talk, FMUK, FMX, FX Magazine, Glass & Glazing Products, Glass Times, Interiors Focus, Interiors Insight, OnOffice, Premises & Facilities Management, Qube, Refurbishment and Renovation News, RIBA Journal, Spec Finish, Specification magazine.
• Advertising Value Equivalent (AVE): £58,384
• Circulation: 441,825
Social Media: Twitter was utilised with specific tweets posted from 26th March 2012 onwards with links back to the relevant pages of the website to encourage click through.
From April 2012 to June 2012:
• Followers increased from 2891 to 4212
• Mentions totalled 887
• Posts totalled 145
• Retweets totalled 116
E-newsletter: Total delivered emails: 10,341, Total read: 1,836 (18% of emails delivered were read), Total clicks: 451 (25% of read emails clicked a link)
Website Traffic: Average daily visits: 450 approximately – visits on 30th April 2012 was 651, a percentage increase of 45%.
CAD Downloads: 548 individual drawings were downloaded from the SAS International website.
Going forward
SAS International’s System 8000 partitioning received a ‘Highly Commended’ in this 2012’s AIS Best Practice Awards. The Association of Interior Specialists’ Awards recognise outstanding innovation in the commercial interiors. It also made the judges’ longlist for the World Architecture News (WAN) Awards for Product of the Year. It has been installed in a broad range of projects including offices at the prestigious Heron Tower in the City of London, and has become a flagship product in SAS International’s range.
Client quote
“Launching a new product using a comprehensive range of print and online communications tools can be very effective. The internal team worked alongside our PR agency The Think Tank to co-ordinate our approach. The launch was well received, and awareness generated delivered lead generation. We were shortlisted in the Construction Marketing Awards for Best Product Launch against some very stiff competition; all on a very tight budget!”
Malcolm Stamper, brand manager at SAS International
