G-Award Winning Marketing

Hot off the back of DoorCo’s G-Award for Best Promotional campaign, won for the launch of Flip and Gripcore, Ben Aspinall, IT and marketing manager shares some of the background behind the radical campaign and how it shaped all of DoorCo’s marketing

DoorCo ended 2021 on a high, with our first G-Award win: Best Promotional Campaign for the launch of Flip and Gripcore, the two new innovations launched in tandem during the year.

Our first G Award for such a significant project was extremely exciting. Not only are the products hugely important to the business, making us the only composite door manufacturer with two types of door slab and our own glazing cassette system, they were also developed and launched during some of the toughest trading conditions ever.

As well as the significance of the products to the business, there were further challenges to consider. Firstly, each product type already existed in the marketplace. We’d evolved what was on offer with a lot of innovations but this meant the campaign really needed to stand out from the crowd.

Another goal was to expand our audience. DoorCo does not compete with customers, but desires to be a household name and the product launches were the perfect platform to kickstart this campaign.

In true DoorCo style, we embraced all these challenges and together with our long-standing PR agency Brouha, engaged a creative agency to deliver a campaign that would achieve our comprehensive brief.

A new way

We followed a series of exploratory workshops to dig deep into this brief and gain a real understanding of the products and the business itself. One of the few advantages of lockdown was having the time to really explore our ideas and after a lot of soul searching from the team, the decision was made to bravely step out from under the DoorCo brand – something we’d spent years cultivating – and give these new products their own name and identity.

CGI

As a techie, I’ve always wanted to explore the world of CGI (computer-generated imagery) and Gripcore was the perfect opportunity. We wanted to demonstrate how the door is manufactured as well as highlight the key features and benefits. In fact, CGI was the perfect vehicle to visually represent both products and bring them to life, demonstrating their technology, innovation and key benefits. Flip’s video even acts as an installation guide.

The launch

The creative enabled us to have the new B2B2C (business to business to consumer) marketing conversation we wanted. We were able to promote the new products to DoorCo customers (businesses) but also brand awareness down the chain with consumers, generating leads on behalf of our trade customers.

We embarked on a high energy, multi-channel communications campaign, choreographing a phased reveal to the market via key media partners, direct marketing, and our own social media channels, with a particular focus on Instagram to gain traction with the large network of renovators and self-builders, designers and influencers.

The campaigns ran concurrently, both following a consistent plan of teasers through to full CGI reveal. Once interest was sparked, we launched the ultimate composite door supported by a combined brochure that has a clever reversible design. The brochure highlights the features and benefits as well as showcasing the true capabilities of collaborating these products in a unique design portfolio.

Marketing portfolio

The brochure formed part of the comprehensive suite of marketing materials available to our customers that can be adopted in their own marketing, with the aim of delivering a consistent and unified brand. We made each of the distinctive identities flexible to suit customers’ own brand requirements, whether they want to use the full identity and logo with strapline or a simple stamp that highlights that the technologies are present within the door. The portfolio also includes the CGI videos, all the images from the campaign, and physical samples.

House of brands

The work done to deliver Flip and Gripcore inspired us to look at the wider business; how DoorCo and the rest of our products are represented. We now have the DoorCo House of Brands encompassing all our products and services, sitting under the banner of a modernised company identity, which is all showcased on our new website. We’ll also be at presenting them at the FIT Show in May.