Or Dashing and Chivalrous?
One of my long time clients is a home exteriors company — family owned, 20+ years of experience. In working with them, I’ve learn volumes about roofing, siding, gutters, insulation, ventilation, you name it, I can even bore you with how ice dams form. For most people, the topic of home exteriors is dry as driveway gravel, until it needs improving, repairing or replacing.
If I left it there, my client, on the surface, looks like every other home exteriors company. The challenge in refreshing their branding is that home exteriors as a business is extremely competitive, on top of a shaky economy, a housing bust, and fly-by-night outfits that plague the industry’s reputation. With a consistent branded look and feel, messaging and tone applied to their website, marketing channels, trade show displays, plus well thought out meeting presentations, my client has the image of expert, educator, and advocate expressed with honesty and wit. This gives them the edge when it comes to approaching and landing homeowner association (HOA) exteriors projects. Having a solid brand image allows my client to go out and do what they do best — educating their customers so they can make informed decisions when it comes to their homes and providing them with expert craftsmanship and experienced know-how.
The second challenge has been to make my client stand out from the competition. Most established home exteriors companies show the typical crew on the roof, guys on scaffolding and holding a nail gun and/or poor quality photos of their projects. While this immediately says “We’re in Home Exteriors” it doesn’t say much else.
My approach has been always to tell my client’s story in a way that resonates with their target audience. It also means taking the risk of not always showing the literal imagery associated with home exteriors. Posted here are two recent print ad concepts. A play on imagery and messaging combine to make my client and what they do memorable. Who says home exteriors has to be boring?
The concept for this full page ad has a subtle wink and a nod to all those Aerosmith fans out there.
