‘thunk’ – sounds like a great idea for a TV ad
Danny Williams, managing director of Pioneer Trading says it’s time to work ‘harder and smarter’ and reveals a new TV advertising campaign for the Gerda UK brand.
As I dip my proverbial quill we are approaching the Budget and of course, my editor wants me to offer a view of what the Budget might bring. But by the time this column is read, the actual Budget will have been announced and actually, the dust that it will undoubtedly kick up, will be settling.
I can forecast that this Budget will be another joyless act of screwing everyone, but whatever the outcome there is little that any of us can do about it, until the next election.
I am therefore more determined than ever to plough my own furrow, to do my best to work around and even ignore whatever comes out of Rachel from Accounts’ Red Box by shoring up what assets I have, working even harder but also, by working smarter….
Although I do my best to avoid gratuitous puffs and selfies in my scribblings (I accept that the ego comes through nonetheless) now and again I will use my own example of how I am tackling something. And my experiences with the premium entrance door brand Gerda is one that others might benefit from, (though not enough for my competitors to do so, such as they are).
In case it’s passed you by, Gerda is the Polish-manufactured resi door brand that impressed me so much around four years ago, that I decided to put my experience to marketing and selling these most impressively engineered and built doors throughout the UK and Ireland. They are designed and manufactured to extraordinary standards and at a price point that I quite literally could not find anything to match in the UK.
Gerda doors have found a market in these fair Isles amongst homeowners who, upon visiting showrooms seeking a regular composite door and wandering around opening and closing the wares on show, eventually stumble across Gerda. And, after opening and closing the Gerda door, they discover a key difference: in the sheer heft of the door, in its feel, its operation and actually, the noise it makes when being closed.
Our retailers tell us that around 40% of buyers are impressed enough to pay more for the Gerda door; once they have seen it, but more importantly touched it and tried it. Its price point is of course higher than the standard composites on show, but not so high as buyers can’t stretch to it, simply because they then cannot choose an obviously inferior product.
Nice one. But we need more people visiting showrooms. And actually, seeking out our products, rather than discovering them by chance…
But how do we communicate these qualities?
We set out initially to try and communicate the noise of the door closing without being able to communicate the noise itself. And our creative geniuses came up with the ‘thunk.
It has therefore been the year of the ‘thunk’ for Gerda – a solid, reassuring message that reflects the quality, precision and engineering superiority behind our steel and aluminium-faced doors. And more importantly, to create an emotion around the door which was stronger than the standard box tickers around performance and energy efficiency…which of course, every door must offer to minimal standards anyway, which the majority of homeowners understand.
In the way that the VW Golf ads of a generation ago established the sheer quality of the vehicle over other makes, we believe that ‘thunk’ encapsulates everything that the homeowner needs to know about a Gerda door. It demonstrates its solid core insulation by communicating that the door is solid, whatever is inside it. It communicates the precise engineering by which Gerda doors are designed and built, because of the weight and feel of the door. It literally feels safe, that it will provide the ultimate in security and protection for those inside.
We have utilised ‘thunk’ in display advertisements published through conventional print media and through numerous digital and social platforms. It has been highly successful. We have more dealers who report that punters are coming through their doors asking for Gerda by name.
It has been so successful in fact, that we are taking this message to a wider audience in 2026 with the launch of a brand new TV commercial, breaking on GB News early in the New Year. And whilst the channel we have chosen might not surprise my reader who understands my political leanings, actually GB News reaches middle class, upper middle-aged punters who have money in their pockets and who demand the better things in life. That our political views may align is purely coincidental. Business is business.
But whilst I have dipped into politics, this is also part of my effort to resist the efforts of this hopeless government to take everything away from me that has taken 40 years to build. I – and my friends and acquaintances who have worked bloody hard to achieve something in their lives and for their families – am fighting to beat anything and everything these latest idiots running the country throw at us.
And when they lose the next election, I will be standing proud and thanking the ‘thunk’ for being able to survive them.