The story behind the label on the can

\/ OU'ne A SMALL. established

I but under-potential manufacturing company ready to take a big dip into a new market. Do you tiptoe to the edge and wiggle a toe in the water? Do you dive in and take your chances on what's beneath the surface?

If you're Marty Jordan at Plycap America Inc., you bonow from both approaches- some testing, some planning. then a head-first but confident leap. And, as far as Jordan's concerned, once you're committed it's best to do things right-especially in terms of marketing.

Jordan's experience in guiding the Redmond, Wa., coating producer into new marketing waters is something of a case study. It illustrates the expanding marketing sophistication of even smaller industrial companies, and especially building products firms who may be nervously eyeing the economy.

"One thing I've always believed," says Jordan, "is that a good product is a necessary beginning. If you're expansion minded or facing greater competition, however, you've got to have the marketing support that goes

Story at a Glance

beyond satisfied users and word-ofmouth."

A graduate of the University of Washington in economics, Jordan bought Plycap in 1977 after 16 years in sales & marketing positions. "We were at a crossroads," he recalls. "We were pretty well-known among the professionals for quality coatings, largely as a result of their using our products and finding they stood up to the biggest names in the industry.

"At the same time, it had become obvious that one of our coatinss-a deck coating-had a much gieater potential if it could be introduced into the retail market. In the Northwest. our climate. extensive use of wood decks and homeowner's independent traits of doing minor paint work themselves were in our favor. With the conditions for the new housing market appearing less promising, we knew the contractor business for our deck coatine misht suffer. On the other hand, w6 kneiry that such a situation generally creates a larger retail market pivoting around homeowners who devote more time to doit-yourself projects. "

"Our strategy was two-fold," Jordan explains. "We wanted to establish a consistent look, an image for the product that would carry us into the new market and also set the tone for our later advertisine efforts. We also had to create a ma-snet to attract those who would be ?istributing, stocking and selling the product."

To create the product "look," Jordan hired Spangler Leonhardt, marketing and communications design consultants, to develop a package of materials.

UISUAL ltlPACI of black container and bucket logo are used on the product and every piece of literature and marketing material to establish a str0ng identity.

The design concepts caught the eye of Palmer G. Lewis Co., Auburn, Wa., a building materials distributor with operations in Washington, Oregon, Idaho, Montana, Northem California and Alaska. whose reputation in the building products industry is almost legendary. The company distributes top products and is known for aggressive promotional and sales efforts, keyed to a "partners in selling" arrangement with dealers.

Once the marketing materials were ready, with the help of David Mauk, Palmer G. Lewis marketing coordinator, the product was introduced to PGL's regional sales force and tested at PGL's annual product fair.

A two part aridio-visual presentation emphasized the technical features that would help the product and explained the marketing program. "The response from our sales force was spontaneous enthusiasm," Mauk says. "They often get an in-depth look at the product itself, but the planning and details that go into developing the marketing tools really spurred their interest. We'd like to see more of this approach by manufacfurers. " o Water-Borne Salt . CCA Twe A