WHICH DOOR?
The UK’s Leading Glass & Glazing Newspaper
UNLOCKING LOCKDOWN During Lockdown #1, Apeer did spectacularly well with consumer response to its stylish videos. Then it was speculative; now it’s a known quantity and the Irish doormaker is turning up the gas. On May 23rd 2020 the UK shut up shop. Window and door factories – amongst many other industries - simply pulled the shutters down, almost in anticipation of the advice to close. It was as if the industry was ready for a collective holiday; we were all in the same boat, so suck it up and make the most of it. The rug was also pulled on marketing by most companies; whilst the furlough system was a life saver for most, cash had to be preserved…and they couldn’t deliver or install anything anyway. Hunker down and wait for the storm to pass. Asa McGillian, MD of composite door maker Apeer, decided not only to keep his consumer marketing in place as planned, but actually to increase it. But rather than making that decision based upon reams of extensive research data, he was largely following his instincts: “We were revising all of our marketing,” said Asa, “and whilst we kept our marketing department open, we were slowed down with everyone working remotely. But,” he added, “we had completed some beautiful new ‘lifestyle’ videos to be distributed through social media such as YouTube and Facebook. And whilst I would love to be able to say that we knew everyone would be glued to their laptops and iPads and smartphones throughout lockdown, we had no idea just how much so. We happened to have these beautiful videos ready, so we rolled them out as planned.” The Apeer boss is being modest to a degree: the production of seven brand new videos for Apeer doors in addition to three more for the sister window brand lumi, was driven by response to a dramatic ‘rock’ style video the firm had made and distributed for its Silka aluminium lookalike composite door: “Even before the lockdown our research showed that video produced 66%
“As we enter 2021 we are spending even more on promotion for our videos, with lead-generation for our installer partners throughout the UK and Ireland our absolute priority.” 16
Asa McGillian, Managing Director, Apeer
more qualified sales leads, whilst increasing purchases by 144%,” recalled Asa. We now know that homeowners, spending an extraordinary time with their families at home, decided to embark on an impressive drive to improve their homes, with the result that the window and door industry returned to unprecedented levels of enquiries and indeed sales when restrictions ended. Weekly leads generated through Apeer’s Doorbuilder online design facility, were consistently higher compared to prelockdown levels. “We had pushed out those seven videos at the start of lockdown and we wanted to promote them as much as possible, without being in peoples’ faces at the beginning when fear and panic about being infected and job security and finances were the most important things on peoples’ minds. But as time went on, we could see people starting to relax and doing research for doors and windows. And curiously we’ve found more of a male audience clicking through on our Lumi advertising where before it was predominantly female – perhaps because there are more bored males on furlough?” quipped Asa. Inspired by the success of the videos during March, April and May Apeer invested heavily in promotion during the autumn, to climb to a heady 300,000 plus viewings from a not-too-shabby 160,000 during May. And with that experience in mind, Apeer is further stepping up its onslaught: “As we enter 2021 we are spending even more on promotion for our videos, with lead-generation for our installer partners throughout the UK and Ireland our absolute priority,” confirmed Asa. “So we are now ideally placed to even step up our efforts, as once again we are all staring at our four walls. As despite the latest restrictions being endured rather than enjoyed, there are signs that homeowners are still committed to improving their homes. And this time we are more than ready for them.”
February 2021 | www.glassnews.co.uk
