How much common ground is there between a computer processor manufacturer and truly global brand Intel, and Colorcoat, the pre-coated steel subsidiary of Anglo-Dutch steel-maker Corus? ‘Not a lot,’ you would be forgiven for thinking. Unless of course you’d spoken to Ceri George, strategic marketing manager at Corus Colorcoat, who has engineered and led a transformation of the specialist Corus subsidiary’s commitment and approach to marketing over the last six years.
George explains that a central part of her strategy has been to establish Colorcoat as an ingredient brand, which is a key consideration in the decision making process for a larger product; in this case, steel-coated buildings, in Intel’s case, PCs. We want our customers to see the Colorcoat brand like ‘The Intel inside’, explains George. It gives them reassurance and peace of mind.
Like Intel, Colorcoat has made a concerted effort to build a relationship with the ultimate users of its products (in its case, commissioners of the buildings; in Intel’s, buyers of PCs and servers), as well as the direct customers that are mostly architects and developers. As a result, Colorcoat and Intel have developed remarkably similar propositions, although in dramatically different industries and circumstances. The logic is easy to follow, and the solution is an extremely adept way of tackling a tricky marketing issue. However, Colorcoat’s recent escalation of this strategy has emerged not from a marketing department wishing to be seen to be doing something clever for its own sake, but from a very real set of challenges facing the global steel industry. Indeed, it may ultimately be the factor that safeguards the business for the future and protects its 400 jobs.
The fact that Colorcoat is, ultimately, part of an old-school heavy industry is impossible to ignore when you’re on-site at its Shotton, Flintshire headquarters (about half an hour from Chester in the Welsh borders).
The vast sheds where the steel coils are coated are visible for miles, and the site takes about 10 minutes to circumnavigate by car as I discovered when my taxi driver approached it from the wrong direction. The marketing department is tucked away in a corner, in a curious and incongruous collection of administrative buildings. Some are crumbling relics from the Victorian era, others hail from the future-embracing optimism of the 1950s. In the weak January sunlight they look as if they would be at home in a Russian ‘information’ film from the Soviet era, promoting glorious scientific advances.
Ceri George occupies a smaller office just off the main room, with a first-floor view across the flat Flintshire landscape and another relic of the site’s industrial and social heritage: a dilapidated bowling green and pavilion.
In the corner of the room, perched on top of a coat stand like the fairy on a Christmas tree, is a Corus-branded hard-hat. Although she’s dressed for a business meeting with a journalist, the hard-hat sends the message that George is quite prepared to leave the cosseted confines of the marketing department, to roll her sleeves up and go back to the factory floor. And this, in many ways is an excellent reflection of her approach to the challenge of marketing Colorcoat.
George has been with Corus since graduating in 1989, moving between various commercial roles across the organisation, beginning in sales. But she explains, I’ve always been interested in marketing; I felt sales and marketing were interlinked, not separate. Having proven her competencies and creativity and made a name for herself in the organisation, she was given a chance to formally move into marketing following a reorganisation of the company in 2000, and was given the task of developing a strategy for Colorcoat. It is not a typical Corus subsidiary, primarily because it actually has a brand. This was created back in the 1970s as a means of promoting a new process for pre-coating steel that had been invented by the then British Steel (which became part of Corus in 1988).
George describes the foresight involved in investing in branding for such a product, in such an industry, at such a time, as nothing short of visionary. This was a time when marketing would have been a really dirty word. We had some very forward-thinking people back in the 1970s.
By contrast, even today the concepts of marketing and branding remain conspicuous by their absence throughout the global steel industry.
George says this brand legacy was critical to her interest in, and enthusiasm for, Colorcoat, describing it as the company’s crown jewels. Its benefit has been simple and yet fundamental: differentiation. It has enabled Colorcoat to charge a premium for its products, and develop and maintain a dominant position in a UK market, with an approximate 60 per cent share.
However, while having a brand was a significant asset, in itself it could not guarantee a profitable future for the company indefinitely, and by 2002 considerable challenges for the future were becoming apparent. The market has changed a lot in the last 10 years, explains George. The chief driver of this continues to be, unsurprisingly, globalisation. This was putting pressure on prices on the supply side, and threatening to undermine Colorcoat’s premium positioning.
The logical starting point for devising a strategy was an audit, designed to help understand where the brand was, how it was presenting itself to the market and what its customers thought of it. This was conducted by Colorcoat under the Knowledge Transfer Partnership, with Manchester University.
This resulted in a number of key revelations, one of which was the finding that, although Colorcoat had 90 per cent awareness amongst its target audience, many did not appreciate its link with Corus, which provides assurances of quality. In other words, it was becoming the Hoover’s of the sector: universally known, but not necessarily preferred. It also confirmed George’s view that Colorcoat’s pre-eminence was by no means a foregone conclusion going forward. We needed to refocus and re-energise, she comments.
A further conclusion related to the word ‘Colorcoat’ itself, and its role. We wanted to change it from being a prefix for products to being an umbrella for the whole offering. This would sit over and above individual product names (that are quite technical). The relationship between the parent company, operating unit and products was therefore complex and sensitive and needed to be addressed and formalised to ensure each was contributing in the most effective way to the offering. This is perhaps best described as fine-tuning.
A major influence on George’s thinking had been a Skoda case study that she’d seen presented at a marketing conference, examining what happened after the Czech car company was acquired by VW. Skoda had very high brand-awareness, so instead of changing the name, they set out to change people’s perception of what Skoda was. I wanted to change people’s perceptions of Colorcoat. Their perceptions weren’t negative: it was more about colouring in what Colorcoat means, giving it a personality and distinct identity. The two attributes that George and her team concluded should be integral to the Colorcoat brand were quality and expertise. These reflected both its heritage and its aspirations, and would be encapsulated in all of the brand’s activities going forward.
The next step was implementation, and George was clear that the first priority must be the organisation itself. A comprehensive communications programme was embarked upon, with briefing sessions conducted to all 400 staff in groups of 30. The message is that everyone is an ambassador, explains George. We have defined the brand and will take charge of the communications, but every department must play a role in delivery in terms of service, quality of the product, how we answer the phone, etc. We’ve tried to encourage them to think about quality and expertise in everything they do.
As well as personalising the message, the internal campaign has sought to demonstrate the wider context to staff. The messages have been reinforced by a brand booklet issued after each briefing and subsequently through promotional merchandise, posters and messages via inhouse publications.
George describes the reaction as generally very good and she adds that the campaign has also served to provide much-needed context for the company and the importance and quality of its products. The problem for most staff is that they just see the steel coils going out, they don’t see the finished product. What we’re delivering is a building. Our products have been used on the Millennium Stadium [in Cardiff] for example. Many people were surprised about this. We’ve given them a bit of pride.
Once the new brand messages had been launched internally and momentum gathered, Colorcoat began to look externally, and has gradually ramped-up activity, aiming to communicate with both architects and their clients in turn. Increasingly, though, the Colorcoat team is beginning to look further afield into Europe and even beyond.
Going international is a key part of what’s next, says George. The idea is to take the UK model to other markets where there is value. She cites the Netherlands, Belgium, Poland and Germany as key opportunities, adding that Colorcoat is also targeting Russia, although using a slightly different model to reflect local market dynamics.
But whilst the wider world presents opportunities for Colorcoat it also creates uncertainties, or even threats, given the consolidation that the steel market is currently undergoing. Irrespective of which potential acquirer is successful for the battle to seize control of Corus, the future of its primary brand is at best uncertain.
By contrast, the ability of the Colorcoat brand to differentiate products and enable premium pricing should prove to be its saving grace, following acquisition. Both bidders are interested in Corus’ downstream operations, says Ceri George, adding somewhat convolutedly, I don’t anticipate that [Colorcoat and its brand] will not be relevant going forward.
So whilst the giant steel coating sheds of North Wales and the pristine development labs of the San Francisco Bay may be worlds apart, they are at least home to businesses with similar approaches to marketing and branding. And if, as an ingredient brand, Colorcoat can replicate even a fraction of the success of Intel, it will surely have a bright future.
Related articles
Employment benefits – 02-01-08
Or use our enhanced search functionality to find other related articles
Click here to search and apply for the latest B2B Marketing Jobs
