Integrated campaign - Sto brand awareness & loyalty

By improving brand awareness, loyalty and preference amongst architects, Sto sought to generate project leads via increased specification and sales of its high quality building materials and systems.

THE CONTEXT & MARKET RESEARCH

"If you aren't present at a project's conception stage, it's unlikely you'll be there for the delivery"

In a B2B marketing context, architects are an important stakeholder in the construction ecosystem. However despite being highly influential, it is very rare that they are actually the final decision-maker or 'paying customer'. This is why Sto undertook a global initiative to ensure customer journey mapping of this unique segment - the 'Architect's Journey' - was the blueprint to guide a global communications strategy, designed to generate greater awareness and preference. If more architects include Sto into their clients' projects, the more possibilities arise for sales via the complex specification and construction phases of a building's lifecycle.

As a brand that is positioned at the higher end of its category, projects are likely to be lost through being 'switched out' for a cheaper alternative. This also means the possibility of being 'switched in' over an alternative is also very unlikely. This is what makes it more strategically important to ensure Sto's product & system features are 'designed in' from a project's concept stage, and increase the possibility of it making it through to specification, order and installation.

Inspiring ideas at the beginning of the 'Architect's Journey' - the concept stage

Research showed that Sto's powerful global heritage and broad spectrum of building projects are the most valuable resource for inspiration when an architect is actively or passively exploring ideas to include in their initial proposals. Aesthetics and performance are by far the most important considerations, underpinned by proven past projects. Enhancing the creation and communication of these projects became the central feature of this strategic initiative to develop stronger brand loyalty with architects.

More generally, a broader appreciation for a material's potential and performance would in theory add to an architect's base knowledge and perceptions, which would nudge them to search for a particular component in their wider vision. Making sure this pre-existing attitude is in the right place will also contribute to stronger acceptance of inspiration when it is found - in a sense, a form of confirmation bias. At times, such as render facades, can require perceptions to be shifted away from 'render is high maintenance and cracks', to instead make it a highly desirable, versatile and sustainable facade option for a building.

INTEGRATED COMMUNICATIONS STRATEGY

Owned media: Sto.com UX, SEO, content & structure improvements

With a fragmented web presence across the world, Sto needed a more general and comprehensive global digital presence to act as a central information point for architects. To meet this need, the following changes were integrated into the existing website:

new menu structure with better SEO titles
products grouped in logical, user-friendly, market-agnostic categories
cross-linking between products and case studies
much expanded case study library with user-friendly product details
new case studies collated from multiple sources and markets, featuring more details and project information that an architect would be interested in
extensive calls-to-actions incorporated such as 'request a sample'

Paid media: Sto on ArchDaily.com

Sto's profile on the world's largest architectural website, archdaily.com generates a huge amount of brand exposure and project leads. To optimise the value generated from this annual subscription, the following initiatives were undertaken:

collaboration with Sto's global marketing network and distributors to ensure as many projects featured on ArchDaily are linked to Sto's brand profile and relevant product pages
improved product page structure and content
sponsored articles and 'monthly topics' to drive extra traffic via email marketing, social media and display advertising - including "Energetic Retrofitting: A Solution for Environmental Obsolescence in Architecture"

Owned / earned media: Sto on Pinterest.com

Research indicated that architects use Google searches and Pinterest when searching for ideas and inspiration when compiling initial proposals. From here, they may go onto a manufacturer's website to investigate further details and product options.

This new global Pinterest channel was created to bring together global projects, and categorise them in a format that would be easy to navigate and familiar to the target audience.

boards created to reflect the strategic priorities of aesthetics and refurbishment, with a particular focus on colour in architecture and material types
each country represented with their own boards to encourage participation internally, navigate diverse language needs, and showcase Sto's global reach
each project features a short summary text of the project brief, which Sto product and system was used, and why.
each post is linked back to its country of origin, and quickly began driving traffic to respective subsidiary websites
this initiative also generated a lot of imagery and project information for subsequent addition to the sto.com case study library
images featured subtle sto.com watermark to help traceability for users

Content marketing & in-person events: "Building in Colour" & London Design Festival 2023

Launched in September 2023 alongside a photography exhibition at the Sto Werkstatt in London, this film was produced to celebrate the legacy of renowned British architect and Stirling Prize winner Michael Wilford, who had passed away earlier in the year. His work included Sto's most recognisable building at its German headquarters, part of an incredible legacy that included a distinctive use of colour.

This film was designed to showcase the role of colour, how it can be used, its cultural significance, and its materiality. Informative and educational, the video was rolled out with subtitles to Sto's audiences across the world. Translated languages include German, French, Spanish, Italian, Croatian, Finnish, Czech and Romanian. These subtitles were translated using DeepL AI and proofread by colleagues.

Both the exhibition and the film were used to generate PR and organic traffic both to the physical showroom, and to the website.

Aesthetica Magazine, "5 Projects to Know: London Design Festival", 12 September 2023
Dezeen.com festival guide, "Michael Wilford: A Legacy in Colour"
.Cent Magazine, "London Design Festival, From the Design Captial of the World"
The Furniture Practice, "Top Picks for LDF 2023", 11 September 2023

Owned (print) media - [ark] Magazine

Produced on behalf of Sto by an external publisher, [ark] magazine - the StoJournal for Architects since 2003 - is a well-established favourite amongst its distribution base of 10,000 architectural practices all over the world. Featuring a wide range of global projects and other content relevant for architects, this print publication was evolved to be enhanced with digital content marketing. A source of legacy case studies, the magazine also evolved to showcase new content produced in-house and via sponsored activities with ArchDaily.com.

Find out more at www.sto.com

BUSINESS IMPACT & RESULTS

The results of this campaign have varied between channels and regions, depending on how the content and resources have been adapted and rolled out in line with local marketing strategies. Some examples include:

ArchDaily.com increased traffic & lead generation by 20%
By analysing ArchDaily's statistics, it was seen that the vast majority of traffic to the Sto profile came via the projects that used Sto products. By increasing the number of project attributions with a link to Sto, traffic to the profile and subsequent enquiries generated were increased by approximately 20%.

Sponsored articles and monthly topics "Color in Architecture" and "Refurbishment" resulted in huge spikes in traffic, generated by editorial articles featuring Sto products, enhanced email marketing and social media activity through ArchDaily's extensive global audience.
Sto.com website traffic & enquiries increase +15%
New product pages and case studies quickly started appearing in Google search results, evidenced by rapid growth in traffic to these pages.
Pinterest engagement growth - >40k monthly views
The new @Sto_global Pinterest profile steadily grew monthly views, and started generating traffic to local pages such as sto.dk who contributed significant numbers of high quality imagery for their case studies. This resulted in other countries such as Belgium, New Zealand, Austria and Switzerland becoming motivated to submit their images to drive traffic to their local sites.

About Sto

Sto's pioneering products & systems for building facades, external wall insulation, interior walls and ceilings, acoustics, industrial floor coatings, and concrete restoration set the benchmark for quality and innovation. Established in Germany in 1835, the company manufactures and distributes its products globally where they are incorporated into new build and refurbishment projects, including on some of the world's most iconic buildings.

Find out more: www.sto.com

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