Fence

Description:
Tuff-Bilt® is a plastic lattice product that was designed to compete directly with wood lattice even though a 4’ x 8’ sheet was 4 to 5 times more expensive upon introduction in the mid 1990’s.

Objective:
Establishing a market for the product by branding it against generic lattice products.

Program:
First it was necessary to obtain buyer input to determine product potential for acceptance. Secondly, a brand name and strong POP, merchandising efforts had to be developed to support the branding effort. Then direct mail efforts to sell the offering to buyers had to be implemented. All phases were put in place almost simultaneously and within a six-week span for maximum product excitement. This helped in sales appointments and orders the first week of the campaign.

During the four and half years of developing this brand, the company, Plastics Research Corporation went from $5 million to $38 million in revenues. Product lines were expanded to include two different privacy lattice and six different color offerings. Direct Response and advertising on HGTV and Home and Garden annuals was used to leverage greater brand awareness and "Big Box" support for the brand.

Other new plastic products were also introduced successfully. One of the biggest accomplishments was getting plastic lattice moved from the plastic products category to the wood lattice category within The Home Depot, Lowe’s and Menard’s, placing plastic lattice in a position of being directly competitive to wood lattice. Over the first year of introduction the price point was able to be reduced from 4 to 5 times greater than wood to 2 to 2-1/2 times greater. Demand for this product came from as far as Europe, the Middle East and Pacific Rim countries. Materials and tactics were adjusted to meet the languages and cultures of five different geographical areas.

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