The brief
Watco is the UK’s leading manufacturer and direct supplier of industrial strength paint, repair, and maintenance materials – renowned for its unrivalled knowledge and service within the sector.
In 2022, Watco tasked Refresh with creating a 12-month campaign to help modernise its content, build brand awareness and get ahead of the competition, while positioning the business as an authoritative thought leader for facilities managers.
The core objectives of the PR campaign were to:
- Position Watco as a key expert within the commercial paint and repair sector
- Increase brand awareness and engagement amongst Watco’s key audience
- Modernise the content on the Watco website and drive traffic to it
85
pieces of quality coverage
69
backlinks to Watco's website
17
pieces of content created
The campaign
Refresh developed and conducted a multi-layered campaign comprising a wide range of activities that utilised earned, owned and paid media.
The campaign’s backbone was a research-led strand, exploring the experiences of facilities management professionals regarding key industry topics including health and safety, digital innovation and broader sector challenges. The insights were packaged into visually-led digestible mini reports, hosted on Watco’s website and used to stimulate news and thought leadership pieces in key sector media – driving traffic back to the website throughout the year.
Content also formed a key consideration for this campaign, with Refresh delivering a consistent, strategic mix, including: refreshed eBooks, revitalised case studies and actionable documents for end users across the 12-month period.
A detailed and adaptable media buying calendar was built into the campaign to ensure a consistent brand presence within target media titles and facilitate further elevation of key messaging – including more commercial announcements.
Following a hugely successful first year together, with objectives met and each KPI significantly exceeded, Watco and Refresh are currently collaborating on the plans for a brand-new campaign for the year ahead – watch this space!
The results:
Over the duration of the campaign, we have delivered:
- 85 pieces of quality coverage across well-read, authoritative trade media titles for key audience groups
- 69 backlinks to Watco’s website generating consistent traffic to useful resources throughout the campaign
- 17 pieces of content generated, including case studies, eBooks, research reports and design-led one-pagers
- 10,000+ click throughs / web visits to relevant Watco pages via targeted advertising
Services provided in this campaign include:
- Strategy and planning
- Thought leadership pieces
- Press releases
- Content creation
- Market research
- Media relations
- Media buying
- Design briefing
- Consultancy and ideation
- Social media
- Measurement and evaluation
“When I look back at what we’ve achieved over the last 12 months – at the pace of the progress we’ve made and the breadth of coverage we’ve achieved, it’s really great to see. Within weeks of working together, the team at Refresh became part of our extended team. They know our market, our products, and our goals – and they’ve taken them to heart, delivering campaigns, coverage, and content at a pace that’s second-to-none. Importantly, they’ve challenged us along the way – helping us to question some of our norms. Last but by no means least, the team are fun, easy-going and enjoyable to work with - no matter who it is or what it’s about, it’s always an interesting conversation.” Group Marketing Director, Watco