Rust-Oleum Waterfall Display Planned for Spring Introduction

Rust-Oleum is set to introduce a sidekick and a floorstand that will cross-merchandise its interior and exterior lines of rust-inhibiting paints next spring. The new units join two larger displays, introduced this year, which have proven successful at promoting the lines within paint departments."The new displays are planned to provide more exposure for the products and increase volume outside the paint department," says Neal Barry, director of marketing for the Rust-Oleum Consumer Business Group, based in Vernon Hills, Ill.The interior paint line, American Accents, comes in spray cans, half-pints and quart cans. It offers a color-coordinating system for matching decorator colors inside the home. Three families of colors, Classic, Garden and Heritage, provide a total of 26 options. The Premium Rust-Oleum line features 14 options in mostly primary colors for outdoor projects. It comes in spray cans and gallon sizes.When both lines begin their spring 1995 pushes, they will be available in corrugated counter units or floorstands in an effort to expand the products out of the paint department and into a variety of others, Barry says. "So many retailers today are emphasizing the need to sell the total project and to cross-merchandise products," he explains. "We want to focus our efforts on providing the materials they need to sell from the consumer's perspective."The corrugated counter unit, which measures 14 inches wide, 6 inches deep and 8 inches high with its header, holds 10 spray cans. This format has previously been used with a few mass merchants who cross-merchandise the products into other departments, Barry says. It has proven successful enough to extend to its primary base of home center and hardware accounts.The floorstand, which is also made of corrugated, is 17 inches wide, stands 36 inches high and is 13 inches deep with its header. Its design features a "waterfall" effect that allows 36 spray cans to be stacked on end, with only their caps showing, in a flowing row of shelves. "The idea is to knock the consumer over with an array of colors he isn't familiar with. We want to grab his attention and make him stop and think about the possibilities," Barry says.The display's base features the company's brand name. The American Accents name is the key component of the navy blue version for that line, while the company name is reversed out of the black background on the Premium line. "We are well-known to consumers, so we don't need to attract them with our name up top," he says. "We're selling customers on our colors as well as the new uses and applications. Those are the stoppers; the brand name is just the closer."Five different header cards for each of the two lines aid the cross-merchandising effort. For American Accents, the headers focus on projects for the holidays and each of the four seasons. For the Premium line, patio, grill, play equipment and fence projects are featured. Each header shows selected coordinated colors in an application photo and attaches to either the floorstand or the sidekick via tabs in its base. "The headers don't scream the name, they show the applications in attractive settings and show the possibilities," Barry says. A tear-off sheet attached to each header supplies step-by-step instructions for using the paint.Barry says it's critical for the products to move out of the paint department in order to supply customers with all the options they need. He suggests this common scenario: A customer goes into the Lawn & Garden department to look for new cushions for her metal patio furniture. She spies the new colors from Rust-Oleum on the display and decides to change the color of the furniture to match the cushions she likes best, rather than limit herself to those cushions that match the existing furniture."She wouldn't have walked into the paint department, because that's not the project she's doing," he explains. "Not only does she receive the look she wants, but the retailer makes sure she gets what she needs, and we make sales we wouldn't have otherwise."The two new displays, created by United Packaging of Schaumburg, Ill., were unveiled at the National Hardware Show in Chicago in August. They will be ready for shipping for the spring selling season. "The initial response has been very, very favorable," Barry says. "It ties in so well with their thinking and their approach to selling products today." An initial order of about 3,000 units has been placed, he adds, "But we're just beginning with it, so that's not a final number. We expect them to be well received by hardware stores, mass merchants and home centers, because they are compact." Mass merchants in particular are the target for the sidekick, he says, because "they like to get their displays up off the floor whenever they can."The units will be shipped for quick assembly, with products selected by the retailer to meet his customer needs. The company has produced four-page sell sheets that outline the series of colors that are featured in each project header and suggest a variety of related products and departments where the display could be featured to highlight those colors.The new units follow the introduction of a spin rack Decorating Center and an end rack Decorating Center for the American Accents line. Both units, created by E & H Display Co., focused on introducing the coordinated decorator look. A variety of application photos on those displays show how to coordinate paint, wallpaper, window dressing and accessories.The 2-foot-square spin rack, which stands about 5 feet tall, separates each of the three American Accent color families into its own section and offers space for about 30 colors to be showcased. The 3-foot-square end rack offers additional space for products and shows photos for a variety of accessory products needed to complete a project, including brushes and drop cloths. Both include plastic pockets for take-home brochures. "Providing information on applications and showing color chips that coordinate the paints really grabs interest in the store," Barry says. "They've proven to be very successful for us."

P2PI MEMBERS

JOIN P2PI

You May Also Like

Hall of Fame Profile: Stephen Bettencourt

Hall of Fame Profile: Pamela Velarde