Mannington Floors
In the home products category, the battle may begin with consumer awareness, but the war has to be taken to the retail level.
A consumer may walk in the store with an Armstrong or Pergo ad in her hand, but she is vulnerable to brand shifting due to her limited knowledge of flooring products. She is also walking into the store with a particular look in mind, not a specific brand or collection name. Thus her trust is placed in the hands of the salesperson who better understands and wants to sell your brand.
To deal with this, we took a limited marketing budget and created awareness with consumers, but more importantly we trained distributors and retailers and developed a POS program to close the seal at the point-of-sale.
As a result, inquiries increased (at some points 200%) during communication periods. Market share increased in all categories in 1997, 1998, 1999 and 2000. The company set sales records in 1998, 1999 and 2000. And they were voted “Best Overall Flooring Supplier in the Industry” in 1999 and 2000.
