Masonry paint brand Sandtex, which achieved a 20 per cent sales increase last year after its first social media-based promotion, is placing Facebook at the centre of its marketing drive again this summer.
With only €120,000 to spend on advertising, it decided to go for a combination of PR, outdoor ads and social media. It worked for Pembroke for PR, Bloom for advertising and Radical for social media on a campaign on the theme of the weather, and the prospects (or not) for a sunny summer.
The campaign struck a chord and became a significant success on Facebook, where the brand amassed more than 10,000active Irish fans over the four month long campaign, second only to Guinness. It was also a hit on Twitter.
The campaign has been used as a case study at numerous social networking discussion, was discussed on radio shows, and was blogged and written about extensively.
Sandtex ended the year with a 20 per cent lift in sales, despite Ireland having the wettest summer since record began. It is now available in B&Q stores.
This year, Sandtex still has a modest advertising - £150,000 – and it is taking a similar approach to last year.
It has just launched this year’s Ireland Deserves Sun campaign, including sponsorship of the Newstalk weather slot, voiced by broadcaster Laura Wood.
“We were extremely happy with how it went last year because it was a very new venture for us,” said Crown Paints marketing controller Kevin Whelan. “For us, the key was the networking element of it, getting people to our blog and the Facebook site. We’ve moved it on a little bit but we’re running a similar campaign this year.
“Our aim is really just to maintain our brand awareness. We haven’t hidden the fact that when we say that Ireland deserves sun, we know that’s goingto improve our sales.”
of its marketing drive again this summer.
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