Pilkington launches big consumer campaign for Activ

Breaking from the middle of February and running through to the end of April – the TV, newspaper and magazine advertising campaign will be supplemented by a special website and public relations activities that guarantee reaching Britain’s top home improvement spenders.

Half of the £2 million advertising campaign is on television advertising, featuring two 30 second commercials. The adverts will be seen on ITV 1 and 2, Channel 4, More 4, Sky, Freeview and UKTV Style. The first is broadcast on the 13th of February.

The campaign – which uses the catch phrase ‘Keep Up World’ – shows that Pilkington Activ self-cleaning glass is a remarkable, labour-saving idea that works and in fact, if everything worked as well as Pilkington Activ, the world would be a much better place. The messages and media selection clearly target more affluent UK homeowners with disposable income to spend, and who are house-proud and see home improvement as good use for this disposable income. The customers profiled also hate to spend their precious time on household chores, and resent the hassle of trying to find a new window cleaner. Research has shown that 60 per cent of this target audience would consider specifying Pilkington Activ in their homes.

ProActiv network

Advertising will drive consumers to the websites www.keepupworld.com and www.pilkington.com The latter is a product site which includes a postcode searchable list for the consumer’s local Activ supplier, and importantly, makes it clear how much of a premium consumers should pay for Activ-equipped windows.

Pilkington has created the ProActiv network of suppliers to service these leads. A four man sales team headed up by Ian Spokes will develop this further. Companies outside the network are of course free to buy and supply Activ.

We believe that we can create interest in this exciting product and therefore create a margin opportunity for the market generally

Pilkington is taking this strategy as the company adds more variants to the Pilkington Activ product family, and distribution is in place to cope with the current and anticipated take-up of the product.

‘We are embarking on this campaign now to capitalise on the recognition that already exists for our self cleaning glass, the family of Pilkington Activ products, and the wide distribution we now have for the product,’ explained Matt Buckley, Marketing Director of Pilkington Building Products UK. ‘In particular we are very ambitious for Pilkington Activ Blue which, with its self cleaning and cooling properties, is especially attractive for use in conservatory roofs,’ he added. ‘But more than anything, as Britain’s biggest glassmaker we believe that we can create interest in this exciting product – and therefore create a margin opportunity for the market generally – by promoting a product that we know captures the interest of homeowners, and adds tangible value.

‘I hope that window and conservatory manufacturers and installers will take advantage of this opportunity, and prepare for the sales boost that it will provide. I urge companies to familiarise themselves with Pilkington Activ, and equip themselves with the literature that is widely available, to prepare for what we believe will be some excellent sales opportunities.’

A wide range of literature, advertising templates and point of sale material is available to enable companies to take full advantage of the Pilkington Activ advertising campaign. ‘Ultimately our campaign will be fully successful if companies make the most of the advantage that we believe this will provide them,’ said Buckley.

Pilkington Activ features a microscopically thin coating of titanium dioxide which creates two reactions: first, a benign chemical reaction caused by ultra-violet light breaks down organic dirt particles on the surface of the glass; secondly, the coating causes rain and water to sheet rather than form beads, thus washing the surface of the glass and preventing streaking. The coating is applied during the manufacture of the glass.