New heights for Lo-Carbon
Vent-Axia is the UK’s leading ventilation company.
In Summer 2007, the company re-launched its existing low-watt, energy-efficient ventilation range. By re-naming the range as Lo-Carbon, Vent-Axia sought to promote its environmental vision and capitalise on the Government’s drive to reduce the nation’s carbon footprint.
Wildwood’s campaign targeted building services contractors and social housing specifiers with this initiative. It aimed to educate the target audience about how to reduce their carbon footprint, increase sales and position Vent-Axia as a forward-thinking, environmentally-friendly company.
The campaign linked the Lo-Carbon transition to Vent-Axia’s authority and experience under the banner of the VA “Knowledge Bank” using media relations and three key events – Ecobuild, the H&V News Awards and the No. I Lower Carbon Drive initiative.
Measures were put in place to assess the achievements of the campaign. These involved volume and messaging success of media coverage arising from the campaign, alongside an assessment of impact through sales tracking and event visitor attendance.
The PR effort initially focused on setting the low-carbon agenda with a series of 10 high-level, one-to-one briefings between senior Vent-Axia spokespeople and key editors in the contractor and social housing sector press.
The company’s leaders were able to communicate Vent-Axia’s authority, experience and understanding of ventilation and its role in meeting the requirements of carbon-reducing legislation. This added considerable weight to its specific Lo-Carbon product messaging and was followed up by strategically placed feature articles by-lined by VA experts.
At February’s Ecobuild trade exhibition Vent-Axia provided an interactive portal to the VA Knowledge Bank using touch-panel screens. Editors were also invited to test the Knowledge Bank while press packs were provided on Vent-Axia branded Lo-Carbon memory sticks. Vent-Axia also hosted a seminar for visitors on Energy Efficient Ventilation Systems and teamed up with carbonmanagers.com in a tree-planting / carbon-offset initiative.
The PR campaign also capitalised on Vent-Axia’s involvement in the No.1 Lower Carbon Drive project to raise awareness of green issues. A Vent-Axia Lo-Carbon heat recovery unit is one of the technologies on show in this special eco-house, constructed by the London Development Agency to launch its Green Homes Service. No. 1 Lower Carbon Drive made its debut appearance in Trafalgar Square, and has since been open to visitors at The Ideal Home Show and Grand Designs Live exhibition. Journalists were invited to visit the house and the story provided a newsworthy hook for relevant business media.
Vent-Axia entered its Lo-Carbon re-branding project into the Marketing Initiative of the Year category at the H&V News Awards for Excellence – the most prestigious awards event for contractors.
The campaign succeeded in creating high impact visibility to re-assert Vent-Axia’s position and credibility at the forefront of low carbon ventilation technology and capitalised on growing interest in the subject. Setting the re-branding initiative in the context of Vent-Axia’s expertise, and bringing the VA Knowledge Bank to the fore, helped achieve this objective.
The Lo-Carbon campaign generated 63 pieces of high quality media coverage, reaching a total circulation of 1,046,596 to claim the largest share of voice on carbon reducing ventilation in the sector.
This included 38 pieces specifically in the contractor media, with by-lined leadership articles in all the top titles, including H&V News, Heating & Ventilating Review and Electrical & Mechanical Contractor. In the social housing sector authoritative by-lined features were secured in Housing Association magazine, Local Authority Building & Maintenance, Local Government News and others.
82% of pieces reference Vent-Axia’s Lo-Carbon range, with 78% positioning this information in the context of Vent-Axia’s Knowledge Bank or expertise in low-carbon ventilation. The company’s participation at Ecobuild attracted 316 visitors to its Stand whilst 65 delegates attended its Lo-Carbon seminar at the event.
The company also triumphed in the H&V News Awards for Excellence. Vent-Axia received its award in front of 1200 industry guests at an event held at the Grosvenor House Hotel, with its success providing further opportunities for media coverage.
Vent-Axia’s participation in No. 1 Lower Carbon Drive also received extensive media attention. According to the LDA, over 30,000 visitors have seen the house – over 70 per cent of whom said they would make changes to their behaviour as a result of the visit.
The ROI is also hugely impressive. Vent-Axia’s Lo-Carbon™ initiative has resulted in a significant 25% sales volume increase over the equivalent period in 2006. The company also reported 15 local authorities switching to use Vent-Axia Lo-Carbon ventilation products during this period.