Liquid Nails Goes to the Pros

Strongsville, Ohio — AkzoNobel’s Liquid Nails is targeting construction professionals and aiming to drive brand preference with its “Tips on Tour” campaign. Beginning in May and continuing through October, a branded truck is making stops at retailers, lumberyards and job sites in Midwestern, Eastern and Southern states. Retail partners include Lowe’s, The Home Depot and Ace Hardware.“We have a rich heritage with the pro and tremendous brand awareness, but often Liquid Nails is used as a generic term.” says Mike Goldstein, Liquid Nails’ senior brand manager. “One customer commented to me that if it ‘comes out of their mouth, it should come out of their caulking gun.’”The campaign focuses solely on Liquid Nails, whereas previous campaigns have included partnerships with other brands and manufacturers. “This is a continuing effort of really trying to do some grassroots marketing to engage with key end users: residential remodelers and those in new-home construction,” says Goldstein. Heavy DIYers are a secondary audience.Working with Akron, Ohio-based marketing agency hfa, which created the campaign, AkzoNobel examined housing trends and conducted shopper research. Focus groups, one-on-ones and job-site visits showed that the brand needed to reach the pros where they were shopping and recognized that these guys don’t have much time.Resembling a catering truck (a familiar sight to on-the-job construction workers), the Tips on Tour vehicle stages brief product demonstrations and food and beverage giveaways. A pop-up tent, four large banners and the truck itself call attention to the demos, as do in-store counter cards. The displays go up a few weeks prior to the tour’s arrival on site. On the day of the event, signage is added to promote an offer for a free T-shirt with purchase of $10 in Liquid Nails product.Liquid Nails offers 60-plus construction adhesive products, but Goldstein says the focus for the event stays on the four or five that are particularly relevant for a pro. The brand adorns the truck with large product graphics of both subfloor and heavy-duty adhesives. The former was relaunched in the last few years and the latter is the brand’s top-selling SKU. Demonstrations include a strength test, a squeaky floor test and an extreme temperature test.Liquid Nails uses its website, Facebook, Twitter, direct mail, coupons, online ads and email marketing to promote the campaign. At the stops, video testimonials are being collected to be used in future marketing materials.Gina Page, senior account manager at hfa, says success will be measured in multiple ways, including the number of pros that attend, responses to an online survey, number of T-shirts distributed, retailer feedback and number of demos completed.

Liquid Nails Goes to the Pros

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