Building Product Marketing: December 2009

"I Promise Not to Blow It Again"

This graph, from McGraw Hill, reminds me of Oklahoma in the 1980s. When I moved to the state at the beginning of the decade, crude oil was selling for up to $80 per barrel, fueling a frenzy of economic activity and real estate speculation. When I left the state a decade later, the price was under $20. That tumble wrecked careers, homes, families, and fortunes.

Acknowledging that the crash was, in large part, the result of excesses that had preceded the fall, I saw the following bumper sticker on the back of a beat-up pick-up truck:

God, Please Send Another Oil Boom.
I Promise not to Blow it Again Next Time.

By asking for a boom, however, the truck owner was probably admitting his inability to resist the temptation for another wave of excess.

Perhaps I am in a pensive mood today, on the eve of a new year. I am grateful that Chusid Associates has bucked the general trend and has actually expanded our staff and services this past year. Yet I am sensitive to all the shuttered storefronts on my street. To the plight of my architect buddies who have had to lay off their staffs and turn out the lights. And to my clients who have had to postponed the launch of new products -- products that could help make buildings safer and greener.

In my prayers for the coming decade, I do not wish for another oil boom, or even for a solar boom. Instead, what I hope for is progress towards a more sustainable economy. A time of retooling industries to lower the CO2 footprint of construction. Investment in infrastructure to protect water resources and make neighborhoods more livable. An end to wanton militarism. Oh, yes, I have a long list.

But having survived at least four economic cycles of boom and bust since I entered the construction industry, I know that idealism must be tempered by realism. So let's hope that during the next boom, when it occurs, we all remember to set aside savings, to invest in sustainable projects, and to be generous to those in need. If we are smart, perhaps we can build businesses and communities that can avoid the worst pain of the next recession.

From all of us at Chusid Associates, I bless you for a good, healthy, and prosperous 2010.

Anti-Microbial Treatments for Building Products

"Using disinfectants could cause bacteria to become resistant to antibiotics as well as the disinfectant itself, according to research published in the January issue of Microbiology. The findings could have important implications for how the spread of infection is managed in hospital settings." See www.ScienceDaily.com.

This is another piece of evidence that should warn against the use of antimicrobial compounds in building products. Many companies promote building products that claim disinfectant properties, promoting them especially for schools and hospitals.

Unfortunately, the antimicrobials have not been proven to have beneficial properties, and many scientist point that they may be promoting to the growth of "superbugs".

Green Musings from Steven Winter

I first heard about Steven Winter neary 40 years ago when I was in Architecture School. His early research on energy efficiency and more efficient building systems was exciting and inspiring then. It still is. He recently received an Evergreen Award from Eco-Structure Magazine. Some of his remarks in the October 2009 issue of the magazine will provide building product manufacturers with food for thought:

"The world has been practicing sustainability and green design practices for perhaps 15 years. It's a fairly new endeavor... What we don't know yet are the results and ramifications of all this greenness we're producing. The long-term effects, both good and bad, of green building decisions have not yet been realized."

"The big missing component in much of the green building world is measurement and verification... Go back a year later and see if they're as healthy as they're supposed to be. Go back two years later and see if the equipment is operating the way it is supposed to be. We need to measure and verify all projects and claims."

"What has really changed now is no architect can practice without being green, and no building gets built without it being green... Builders, developers, consumers, lenders, and insurers now get it."

"[Green building has] become institutionalized in everything, from financing to codes to understanding and appreciating green concepts... There will be green buildings or no buildings."

"Can we expand sustainability beyond a singular building or a group of buildings to an entire community? When an entire city is sustainable, we can make real impact on its inhabitants and on the environment."

"[This movement] is going to have to be driven by the financial and political decision makers and then executed by the architecture and design community. New York has just introduced legislation requiring all buildings-- all of them-- to undergo energy audits every 10 years. When the entire city of New York becomes green, that has a huge impact."

"In the future, these buildings and homes that utilize net zero energy on an annual basis are going to be what really provide a major impact. Putting up a building that produces more energy than it utilizes-- that's pretty exciting stuff. This movement is getting stronger and more incentives are appearing for it."

China's Building Products Market

Many building product manufacturers are mesmerized by China. The land of cheap manufacturing. The largest construction market. Boundless potential.

Of course, it is also a land of boundless risks. But the more you know about China, the better you can assess the opportunities and risks. Recently published, The China Greentech Report 2009 report offers insight into the nascent but growing market for environmental products in China.

One of the industry sectors covered by the report is the nascent but growing market for green buildings. The complete report can be downloaded at http://www.china-greentech.com/.

The Art of Explanation Explained

Every product has a story, the story of why it’s the best choice for the job. That story is most difficult to tell when it involves new or advanced technology, because often a wealth of new information has to be conveyed in order to make the case. But those are the cases where explanation is most crucial.

We recently got word that a professor of Engineering requested permission to use an article we wrote in his course. The article concerned Hydrogen Assisted Stress Corrosion Cracking – a serious and dangerous problem that most people don’t know they have – and fasteners that resist it. (The Construction Specifier, Aug. 2008, page 64) Explaining HASCC was especially tricky, because it is a byproduct of another slightly better-known process, galvanic corrosion, but only occurs under certain circumstances and only affects certain types of fasteners. There was a great deal of ‘informational foundation’ to be laid before the real subject could be discussed.

When approaching the most complex stories, we apply a simple rule:

“You can explain anything to anybody
if you can figure out what they don’t know.”

How far back into basics do you need to go for a specific audience? What knowledge can you safely assume? Building an explanation becomes a bit like constructing a building, and you start by examining the soil to determine what foundation you have to lay.

It is worth the effort, too. The more unfamiliar or novel a technology, the more it will benefit from being explained, demystified. One of the key factors in getting products specified or purchased by contractors is confidence in the product. Understanding how something works enhances confidence in it.

Once you know where to start explaining, you just build the informational blocks. I once explained quantum physics to a six-year-old, but I spent the first half of the explanation figuring out what he knew and didn’t know.

In the case of HASCC, we had to explain galvanic corrosion, fastener fabrication, case hardening, hydrogen embrittlement, and HASCC before we could get to the solution to the problem that was the subject of the article. It seemed like a very long journey. We were keenly aware that holding our audience meant keeping all the pieces tied together as we went along, and keeping alive the reader’s hope that we would reach the goal.

Apparently we succeeded. Shortly after the article was published, we got the aforementioned request from a professor of engineering at Florida International University. He said it was the best explanation of galvanic corrosion that he’d come across. That’s our idea of “news you can use.”

How NOT to Advertise a Green Product

How NOT to Advertise a "green" building product.

1. Use a jumbo size envelope to mail two pieces of paper:

2. Enclude a fullsize piece of paper for a cover letter so dull that not even a specifier will read it (no offense meant towards specifiers):

3. And then tell your prospect how GREEN your product is:

4. For good measure, make sure it is printed with bleeds (requiring the paper to be trimmed to generate waste), varnished (more chemicals), and without using paper and printing certified by an environmental rating group such as FSC.

In advertising, the medium must fit the message. If your message is about the environmental benefits of your product, make sure the advertising "talks the walk."

This unsolicited direct mail would have been greener (and possibly more effective) if it was sent in a standard #10 business envelope, the cover letter was more to the point and printed on a half sized sheet, and greater sensitivity used to the production values of the flyer.

P.S. - Less cluttered graphic design would help, too.

High Hopes For The Green Button

Try this: Look up a product category on www.4specs.com. (Make it a big one, like Steel Doors and Frames.) Now, scroll to the bottom of the page. There’s a green button there that says “Show these listings in Zip Code Order.” Click it.

Now, scroll to the part of the page nearest your zip code. See how the companies whose headquarters are closest to you are clumped near your zip code? If you looked up your own product category, does your headquarters location appear in the right place?

How might this function help you? Perhaps it will help design professionals in your area find you. Perhaps it will help you find fabricators who are interested in working with your raw material, or a company you can co-market your product with.

There’s an important thing to know about this button: what it wishes it could do. It can’t find manufacturers who can fulfill the LEED credit for products sourced and manufactured within 500 miles of the job site. Publisher Colin Gilboy’s disclaimer at the top of the page warns that it’s only a first step in a complex discovery process.

The bottom line lesson goes beyond the green button, though. It’s about transparency of information, and it’s about finding companies to form lasting relationships with. Design professionals are looking for companies that share information, like where their raw materials come from and where they manufacture their products. They also are looking for companies who speak their language, answer the phone in their time zones, and who can send someone to their job sites if problems arise.

These are high hopes for one little green button, but there are people out there pushing it. Do you show up?

Decision-Ready Information

What information do you bring to a meeting? Does it help drive design and construction decisions?

I heard architect Scott Simpson speak several years ago, and he described a concept that has stuck with me ever since. He was speaking on HyperTracking, which The Stubbins Associates (now KlingStubbins) called a team structure we now call Integrated Project Delivery (IPD). The concept is key for this collaborative project approach, but its importance is more universal. The phrase that stuck with me was “decision-ready information”. Decision-ready information consists of the key facts required for a meaningful, final decision about a subject to be decided.

In an IPD project, major decision-makers are expected to attend every meeting, so that decisions made in the meeting have meaningful buy-in and closure. These meetings can be intense, not to mention very expensive. It’s the responsibility, therefore, of each team member to bring decision-ready information for the decisions on the agenda. If the owner, lead design professional, and contractor are all present and ready to make a decision between two systems, and no one has brought a cost comparison of the two systems in contention, the decision can’t be closed until the information can be found. Team members all have to do their homework, before the meeting, so that the meeting is effective and the project can stay on schedule.

This concept contains a lesson for product representatives, as well as the rest of project teams, regardless of the team structure. Before a meeting, try to anticipate the decisions that should or could be made. (Can you ask? Ask.) What key facts will be required to complete these decisions? Prepare that information well, and bring it to the table.

Even if the key players aren’t at the table, well-presented information can be carried up the chain of command by the people in the room. These key facts will become the decision-ready information in the next meeting, where you may not be present. Clearly stated, decision-ready information helps your teammates look good to their teammates. Design professionals love representatives who help them look good. (This is also the old-fashioned way information "goes viral": good information gets carried along.)

And manufacturers, are you arming your representatives with decision-ready information? Think about what information about your product might drive project decisions, and make sure it's available in an easy format for your representatives to bring to the table.

How to Write & Design Holiday Greeting Cards or Gifts for Your Clients

It's that time of year when holiday greeting cards are arriving in full force. If you haven't already sent them, you're probably in crunch mode trying to get them out the door. Today I received a very well designed greeting card from an architect associate of ours which inspired me.

If you're going to the extent of sending holiday greeting cards or gifts to your clients, make sure you tailor your cards or gifts to your company's promotional message (without being blatantly commercial).

Here are some examples of holiday greeting cards and gifts our clients have sent (or we have received):

1. Our client used several thousand square feet of his product in the Our Lady of the Angels Cathedral in Los Angeles, so they made a holiday greeting card with the photo of the angel statue (with light shining onto it through a halo-shaped cutout in the ceiling). The caption below the photo stated that they used X number of square feet of concrete pigment in the Cathedral project. The inside included a typical "Happy Holidays" greeting.

2. Another one of our clients is a ceiling manufacturer, so for their holiday gift giveaway, they used their sheet metal machines and punched perforations into the shape of Christmas trees and shooting stars onto a 4-sided red luminaria candle holder.
3. Our architect associate sent us a greeting card that arrived today. Since he incorporates ecological design elements in his work, he customized a greeting card (which also shows his creativity). The front of the card has about 20 ornaments hanging and each ornament is something that could be recycled so it has a recycling symbol on it. In the inside of the card, he has 10 New Years Resolutions for becoming Greener. The greeting card is printed on recycled paper. He also personalized the card by saying it was from his family and then he signed each of his family members' names. This was a great greeting card in that it combined business, New Years goals, and a personal touch.

Happy Holidays From Chusid Associates! (<---Our way of sending a paperless Holiday Greeting Card :) )

Classic Viral: "You Have A Very Bad Hotel"

A colleague sent this to me today; it's one of the classic examples of what a few unhappy customers with a web connection can do.

You Have A Very Bad Hotel (Use Internet Explorer to view)

I found an interview with the writers, and found a few of their answers very insightful:

Q: Why did you spread it all over the Internet?

In truth, we sent it initially to the hotel; two clients/friends in downtown Houston, and Shane's mother-in-law. That was it. Yes, the last screen says: "And we hope they send it to THEIR friends!" Call us naïve, but we figured that meant perhaps twenty or thirty people. We never dreamed it would get passed around like this. Trust us. We had NO IDEA. The website postings, including the one at urban legend clearinghouse snopes.com, was done by others without our permission or approval.

Q: How far has it gone?

Well, we've heard from five continents. Most hospitality professionals seem amused and sympathetic (though one former hotel manager suggested we get psychological counseling). We have had a couple of stern lectures from fellow road warriors/"civilians", though, who explain how out of line we were to expect our "guaranteed" rooms held for us. About 2 percent of correspondents call us jerks and worse.

Q: So... what's it all mean?

Hopefully, that while $#!@& happens, service matters — and hand-to-hand email has power...Perhaps, now that "Yours Is a Very Bad Hotel" has attracted attention in corporate offices of many hospitality providers, managers and customers alike will be a little more aware of the power customers wield.

There are over 130,000 pages that mention this slide show, in several different languages. Several print articles were run in small outlets like the Wall Street Journal. It's not clear how many people have viewed it because the original site got so much traffic they had to take it down; all the current sites are fans who reposted it, articles written, and aggregation sites such as Digg or Slashdot.

This was written and published in 2001. Imagine how much bigger the response could be today.

Product Portals and Online Directories

There are more online product directories than anyone can keep track of, and new ones come online all the time. This is a small first step towards building a list of the more important directories.

AEC Daily www.aecdaily.com

Arcat www.arcat.com

ArchiExpo http://archiexpo.com

BPM Select www.bpmselect.com

This is a free building product search engine, designed for the AEC Community. BPM Select enables users to search, spec and source building products within a highly targeted database of national and regional manufacturer websites.

Like most major search engines, users can enter a keyword and BPM Select returns results. Unlike most major search engines, BPM Select returns only results specific to manufacturers of that particular product so there is less "noise" and fewer irrelevant results to sort through.

BPM Select also offers direct access to The Blue Book database, making it easy to locate the suppliers and installers of the specific products needed.

Buildcore www.buildcore.com

From Reed Construction Data, focus on Canadian market.

For Specs www.4specs.com
The product search engine of choice by many construction specifiers since it so comprehensive and is organized by CSI MasterFormat section numbers. Basic listings are free to manufacturers and expanded listings are affordable and produce measurable results.

GreenFormat www.greenformat.com
Intended to provide a source for verifiable product information about a product's sustainability. A product of CSI.

Green Thinker www.GreenThinkerNetwork.com is a networking company for the Green Building Industry and the consumers. We provide easy access to sustainable building products and service providers as well as industry news and articles. We promote building green.

Trade Only Design Library www.todl.com
Interior design products. Requires registration to use.

Rate it Green

http://www.rateitgreen.com/products

Reed Smart Building Index
www.reedconstructiondata.com/smartbuildingindex/

Sweets
http://products.construction.com

---------
Remember that many organizations that certify products also maintain online directories. For example

Energy Star
www.energystar.gov/index.cfm?fuseaction=find_a_product.

Charging for Content: Webinars

We just had an interesting debate in our office: should companies charge for webinars? I just got back from our Spĕkt for New Media seminar in Washington DC, where we helped participants find ways to build relationships with specifiers by being helpful, being experts, and creating online communities focusing on discussion of their industry, not just their products. The topic of webinars came up repeatedly throughout the two days but we never addressed this specific question, so I will examine it here.

First some background. Webinars are continuing education seminars presented via the internet. As discussed previously, they have become popular in recent years because education is one of the keys to getting new products specified, and webinars expand the reach of educational sessions without increasing travel costs. As with live presentations, some webinars are offered for free, downloadble by any visitor to the webpage, and others have a registration fee and are hosted on password protected sites.

Whether you charge for your webinar depends a lot on your goals; why are you offering a webinar in the first place? Common reasons include:

Increase brand recognition
Educate your target market
Develop a prospect list
Sales tool
Build relationship with clients
Viral marketing campaigns

Next question: what is your target market? Beyond issues like profession and specialty, consider:

How plugged-in is your audience?
Do they websurf from desktop computers or their phones?
Do they need continuing education for license renewal?
How affluent are they?
Will their office pay for the course, or is this an out-of-pocket expense?

For example, an architect who urgently needs more end-of-year credit hours will have no problem paying $150 for a quality webinar. Contractors seeking to learn more about a product mid-project will probably be less willing to shell out.

Most people use the price of an item to help determine its value; this is why companies can frequently charge more for their standard item, and increase their sales, by offering a “lower-cost” alternative. The standard option now appears more prestigious than the cheaper version, helping buyers justify the increased price (this is largely why a Lexus costs $10-15,000 more than a Toyota). Conversely, it is much harder to “waste” something if you paid for it than if you got it for free.

This was well demonstrated at a recent seminar we conducted. Attendance was much lower than the pre-registration numbers had suggested, even among registrants that had already sent payment. We did some research to figure out why, and found that while some participants registered directly for our seminar, others had admission included “for free” as part of a larger event happening nearby. Unsurprisingly, “paying” participants outnumbered “free” ones by better than five to one.

This experience suggests that charging for webinars would increase their perceived value, and help ensure attendance. When building a prospect list, this also pre-screens attendees; people are unlikely to pay for a webinar unless the topic is important to them. Do not expect this to be a profit center, though; at $150 per participant, you are unlikely to do more than cover expenses with most webinars.

On the other hand, the internet loves free. Enough so that every content-based industry has had to change their business model or die. If the goal is brand recognition, or to increase the general knowledge level about products in your category, a free webinar will probably work better. In this case, volume, or at least the capability for volume, is more important than the perceived value. This is also likely to be a more passive strategy; the webinar may only get a few hits per month, but by staying where site visitors – and search engines – can find it, it can gain more total hits over time.

If you have the resources and bandwidth, the best approach may be to offer two webinars in the high value/low cost model. This is not an excuse to skip goal-setting, but two – or more – well-designed webinars can position you as both high-value and high-accessibility. Put the shorter, introductory-level, “low cost” webinar on the public site where anyone can get it, and offer the more intensive “high value” webinar to those seeking more information.

Client Receives Recognition Based on Chusid Associates' Work

Walls & Ceilings Magazine - Annual Excellence Awards - Ceilings

NASCAR Hall of Fame Complex Office Tower Lobby, Charlotte, N.C.

The NASCAR Hall of Fame Complex’s Office Tower lobby was built for NASCAR fans—people who love speed and spectacle. When fans enter the lobby, they’ll immediately see the excitement of a racetrack in the lobby ceiling. Ceilings Plus transformed its metal Radians panels into a ribbon-like shape with alternating convex and concave radii using unusually large 4½-foot-wide by 10-foot-long panels. These panels may be big, but were installed quickly, just the way the race enthusiasts would want it done. Sustainable panels of this size and shape are technically demanding, but Ceilings Plus adapted, resulting in a design masterpiece at the finish line.

Wrapping around the building facade, a large metal ribbon fuses the racetrack theme into the lobby. Entering the lobby, 22 feet above the floor, the curvilinear ceiling pops out at the spectator as it contrasts all of the space’s rectangular-shaped objects. The Grau-finished (anodized aluminum) convex and concave panels interweave, generating the ribbon-like sculptural device in the ceiling. The ribbon motif gives the space character and identity more so than anything else in the room.

Sprawling across the entire lobby area and hallways at 3,225 square feet, the panels mimic multiple lanes in a racetrack. Keeping in line with the building’s 5 foot module, the panels are each 10 foot long, and each panel spans two of the 5 feet wide window sections. Every 10 feet, the ceiling waves allude to motion, as in the waving checkered flag associated with racing culture.

The ceiling’s curvilinear shape, anodized aluminum finish, and lighting draw spectators’ eyes upward and onward. Lights highlight the unique ceiling design, further evoking the speed and spectacle of a racetrack. Ceilings Plus helped the designers integrate an innovative lighting system that incorporates uplighting and downlighting. The metal finish allows light from the lobby windows to reflect off the polished floor and walls to further illuminate the room. The intersection of the Radians panels’ metal finish and this lighting combination highlight the panel waves, making them the lobby’s main attraction.

The NASCAR Hall of Fame lobby designers were ahead of their time with this design, and had the environmental future in mind, too. Spectator’s eyes aren’t the only thing doing laps in this room—materials in the ceiling panels have been recycled over and over, making this ceiling an environmental triumph. By using the Radians recycled aluminum panels, other common ceiling elements were eliminated from the panels, helping preserve natural resources. The NASCAR Hall of Fame lobby is a highly sustainable project using a unique ceiling design that will keep racing for a long time. -Written by Jill Knepper

Project Details:
Contractor: Warco Construction
Architect: Pei Cobb Freed & Partners

Materials:
Ceilings Plus Radian Panels with Grau Finish

Click Here for More

World of Concrete Admission Deal

PCA offers FREE admission to
World of Concrete/World of Masonry
and a discount on technical seminars.

February 2 - 5, 2010
Seminars February 1-5
Las Vegas Convention Center
Las Vegas, Nevada

Constructive Engagement With Code Authorities

Elco Industries, manufacturers of specialty fasteners, recently received renewal of its City of Los Angeles (California) research report, allowing certain Elco products to be specified on city projects. It was a good example of how constructive engagement with code authorities can sometimes lead to a win-win solution.

At issue were certain changes in code. The city requested a new ICC report in order to renew its own research report. The manufacturer believed that since the product had not changed, and met current code requirements, perhaps a new ICC report was not necessary. On behalf of Elco, Chusid Associates researched the codes issues and worked with city authorities to determine what proofs Elco needed to provide. The city responded in a positive and cooperative manner, and the matter was resolved in a relatively short span of time. Cooperative interaction sped up the approval process, allowing the city to keep using an established product, and allowing Elco to get on with its business.

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