You've spent years building a brand position based upon a street scene that all your competitors are copying. It's turned into a creative cul de sac. You tell your agency to think outside the box - and that's what they do. How brave will you be? One of the UK's major builders has just been very brave indeed.
Imagine the scene. You are group marketing director of one of the UK's biggest homebuilders. It's 14 December and you are stranded on a Virgin Express train. You while away the hours contemplating with some satisfaction the groundbreaking TV ad campaign that you have been working on since August. In just two weeks, on Boxing Day to be precise, the campaign will break to an audience of millions and to your peers.

But there is a potential sting in the tail. The news has just broken that your company is merging with an equally large homebuilder, one Beazer Homes, under the rather curious name of Domus.

You desperately want to get back to the office to find out more. Now fast forward to 15 December, Domus Day plus one, and the office of Lorraine Morrissey, Bryant group marketing director. I am reliving with her the emotional rollercoaster ride she has experienced in the past 24 hours.

I had been invited to hear about the new TV campaign so I was relieved to learn that it was still on schedule.

Bryant chief executive Peter Long, who briefly joined us, made it clear that the development and positioning of the Bryant brand under Domus is more important than ever. The TV campaign is seen as a major plank in the Bryant brand strategy.

It was last August that the marketing press announced Bryant Homes had appointed M&C Saatchi to handle its branding work. The move followed a strategic review by Long and Morrissey.

M&C managing director Tim Duffy was quoted at the time as saying, "Bryant Homes means business and intends to shake things up. Our campaign will reflect the company's new dynamic approach."

My objective was to find if things really have been shaken up, but from Morrissey's opening salvo the answer is clear. "I'm afraid that the glorious Bryant street scenes have gone forever. Bryant was a leader with this approach. We had the best photography and the best ad positions but now everyone has caught up with us. Every housebuilder ad looks the same. Everyone is saying the same thing. We've taught people that the full frontal is the only way to look at a house"

This rethinking was formed during the strategic review. The company employed a brand positioning specialist whose brief was to think outside the box to help Bryant Homes recapture the high ground and develop a strong corporate reputation with all its stakeholders including customers, investors, staff and partners.

At the same time consumer research was undertaken to really dig deep into the homebuyer psyche.

The conclusions formed part of the brief of the campaign. The main points were:

  • the current Bryant brand according to investors, estate agents and suppliers was seen as safe, solid yet boring;
  • Bryant has a multiplicity of skills within its workforce, skills that go almost unnoticed to the outside world; and
  • people are beginning to think differently about their homes. Environment and neighbourhood issues are becoming much more important. However there is a need to teach people more about these issues, to change their perceptions. The full frontal house pic has got in the way.

    From a shortlist of agencies M&C Saatchi got the job of defining and delivering the new Bryant brand message. The agency was chosen as much for its personality as for its creative skills and client understanding.

    M&C Saatchi set out to find a compelling way to reframe the way customers feel about new homes. It came up with some key ideas that have all found their place in the new campaign:

  • the enjoyment of life at home is much more than just about the bricks and mortar;
  • Bryant uses its skills to create total living environments. It plans from the outside in, creating the spaces first; and
  • after Bryant anything else is just a house.

    The concepts researched well. Well enough for Bryant to commit to the final ad production. The end result is the most un-Bryant ad imaginable. It opens with a shot of what to me looks like a Sixties apartment building. I would imagine this to be a most unappealing place to the typical Bryant buyer. But it is not a house that is the hero of the ad, it is the message that Bryant thinks differently and so should you the homebuyer.

    By now, unless you live in a non-Sky home, you will have probably seen and judged the advertisement for yourself. My guess is the first time you saw it you were left slightly perplexed. Is this really a Bryant ad? Is this trying to build a brand? These were my own reactions, but after the fourth showing I was totally on board.

    Morrissey agrees that the ad takes a few viewings to sink in and admits some Bryant folk were concerned at first with the radical approach. But this is what repositioning is about. The ad is attempting to change views about the brand - and most people initially resist change.

    The choice of Sky as the exclusive TV medium is also interesting. According to Morrissey, Sky was chosen as it offers national coverage and if the programmes are chosen wisely the audience fits the Bryant profile extremely well. The schedule is heavily biased towards Sky News, Sky One, the movie channels and Sky Sports.

    Bryant's experience is that the best response and conversion rates come from ads during football matches. A high proportion of responders are women which leads us to ponder whether this is due to more women watching football or whether responding to an ad is seen by many women as better than watching the game?

    The advertisement response mechanism is Bryant's website. Not surprising when you have a site that currently achieves nearly one million hits a month (up from 200 000 hits per month a year ago). Web visitors really ramped up when Bryant used Sky last year. The 0500 number will still operate but its use is in decline.

    The website will change shortly to reflect the new style and there are four colour press ads - none of which shows a house. Instead they use a food recipe to highlight the essential ingredients required to create new living environments.

    I also notice a subtle toning down of the Bryant Homes logo which I always felt to be a bit harsh.

    The new Bryant campaign is brave and mould breaking. Like Berkeley Homes' recent campaign it makes you think differently about your living space and what new homes should really be about. But this campaign takes this particular concept much further.

    All credit then to Bryant for thinking outside of the box. Morrissey and team have created something new but Morrissey herself is quick to acknowledge the support of Peter Long, a leader she describes as someone who is pro change and who clearly understands the importance of marketing.

    • Source

    Building Homes

    Postscript

    Malcolm Pitcher is a director of PCL and In-house Research. He specialises in marketing strategy, brand strategy, culture change, change management, marketing research and customer satisfaction monitoring. He has been marketing director for Wimpey Homes and held senior posts with Volkswagen and Honda. He can be contacted on 01793 848455, e-mail: info@pitcherco.com