Bradfords Building Supplies

Spring – and more specifically, landscaping season – represents Bradfords’ most important commercial moment of the calendar year. And after years of back to back growth, market-leading loyalty & retention schemes, game-changing commercial partnerships, category-defining sustainability initiatives and an ever broadening customer base that includes both trade and DIY audiences, Bradfords have more to say than ev

That’s why it was absolutely key that for 2022, our message in Spring was crystal clear.

To do this, we knew we’d need to look beyond the reasons we know people love Bradfords – quality, value, advice, branch network, sustainability, people – and double down on the one thing, whether trade or DIY, that we know our customers look turn to us for;

Building supplies.

Our campaign spans radio, social and branch-level activations, and for the first time in a number of years, will be led by a characterful but direct TV execution that’ll play out through targeted linear and VOD channels.

We’ll be tracking awareness & consideration through, media performance metrics vs previous campaigns and industry benchmark, and most importantly, sales and profit performance, in what’s set to be a massive quarter for one of our longest standing clients.

Bradvantage

As a business trusted by trades since 1770, and in a COVID world where, more than ever, customers expected to be rewarded for their loyalty, Bradfords’ rewards scheme was falling short. Although the commercial potential was massive, many of our hugely important and engaged base of loyal members were either not seeing enough of a benefit from their loyalty, confused by the scheme mechanics, interacting with the scheme once a year (at best), or frankly starting to see better elsewhere.

We needed to act quickly and decisively to address a fundamental shift in how we wanted our loyal customers to think.

‘From rewards I receive’ to ‘Membership I participate in and benefit from’

Bradvantage was born.

A multi-channel launch spanning social, radio, web and in-branch activations was followed by a full year’s tactical incentive work, and the results were breathtaking;

Results

38% increase in new scheme members (vs a target of 20%)

54% uplift in sales from scheme members (vs a target of 30%)

15% uplift in average spend per member (vs a target of 10%)

‘Bradvantage’ was awarded Best use of Advertising, Best Distributor Marketing Campaign, and Best Mid-Range Budget Campaign at the 2022 Construction Marketing Awards.

Men’s Health Week

As the South-West’s leading builders merchant, Bradfords has a proud 250+ year history of taking care of the customers it serves.

Research by Movember recently revealed that 47% of men find it difficult to talk about their problems, making it a massive issue for the building and construction industry.

We decided it was an issue that needed tackling head-on – and to coincide with Men’s Health Week, developed a campaign to remind people that taking care of their mates is one of the most important jobs they do.

Enlisting some of the South-West’s leading sports stars – Henry Slade of England and Exeter Chiefs RFC and Somerset County Cricket Club captain Tom Abell (plus a few faces from the trade too), we got to work sharing the message with as many people as possible. It played to sell-out crowds on match-day screens at Sandy Park and the County Ground, was posted and reposted by international sports stars, and picked up brilliant national trade coverage.

To top it all off, Bradfords had a set a target that when 50,000 people see the message, they’d make a £10,000 donation to Movember, to help them continue their work taking care of men in the South West, and up and down the country.

By the end of the week, over 185,000 people had seen the video and an estimated 500,000 online impressions were made.

Target: smashed
Donation: made
Job: done