‘Sorry’ is the hardest word to say... but not for Kingfisher

Posted by Chris Wright, Planning Director, RLA Group

A year 2 re–launch in the middle of a building crisis targeting small traders seemed like turning a tap on, only to find the water supply wasn’t hooked up. Trade Depot, owned by Kingfisher, set us the task of communicating a price and quality message to developers, and kitchen and bathroom professionals. These guys are rational, price focused and knowledgeable. And they all have their trusted suppliers at the end of a phone giving them the best price in the land (honest).

Our team identified early that we needed to implement an aggressive supplier switching strategy in a market renowned for personal relationships and loyalty. So, how do you affect a brand switching strategy amongst a group of B2B customers who quite like the people they currently do business with?

You make a big bold apology, that’s how. You say sorry to the other suppliers for getting their customers to walk. Sassy, tongue–in–cheek messages but with very strong and damning undertones. The stuff great British tradesmen are made of.

We created a fictitious current supplier called Jim who was about to lose business to Trade Depot. The casting didn’t take long as George (our New Business Director, incidentally) shuffled down the office looking like the very man who would knock 20% off a ton of building sand. The next minute, the creative department stripped him of his jacket, shirt and tie and had him wearing a high–vis jacket "borrowed" from some nearby labourers. Jim was born, and photographed from every angle and ridiculed.

Local areas were mapped via geodemographics for brochure drops, competitive outlets found posters opposite their front door, and print and radio campaigns began. E–DM invitations went out to new sign–ups to join the annual incentive schemes. The 28% response rate broke category norms 8 fold. That meant we had to then help them set up the Sage CRM system. Then we facilitated some co–marketing getting Volkswagen to supply them with the annual prizes in return for a database sharing scheme.

A 61% rise in the customer base coupled with a 22% increase in average spend generated millions at increased margins. Oh, and the competition started ripping down the posters. Bad luck Jim!