Happy Clients, Sore Feet: K/BIS in Review
Posted on June 18, 2009
Take this photo with a grain of bath salt: There wasn’t a whole lot of relaxing going on at this year’s Kitchen & Bath Industry Show in Atlanta. Television interviews took place, prestigious awards were received and new products were unveiled. The soles of our shoes were all the angrier for it.
Recession? More like recess! Okay, not exactly, as K/BIS 2009 was a far departure from the glitz and glamour of previous years. But there was nothing subdued about the success enjoyed by two of Merlot Marketing’s clients, Eldorado Stone and Everpure. Back-to-back interviews, a Best of K/BIS award, and the securing of new customers is just a sampling of our clients’ K/BIS triumphs. Sure, the show was slower than those of previous years, but we saw the slowdown as a showdown. Our clients’ new products still generated plenty of buzz and the feedback from both the media and attendees was well worth the trip. Through diligent pre-show planning, a full interview schedule and a comprehensive media guide, these clients turned a sour situation into lucrative lemonade—made especially delicious by Everpure’s Exubera System! (Sorry, we’re still in K/BIS mode).
ELDORADO STONE
With an aggressive pre-show PR campaign and buzz surrounding the new Eldorado Stone products, Merlot Marketing put on its reflective crossing-guard gear and directed media traffic to the Eldorado Stone booth. Among the show highlights were private meetings with Food Network Magazine, Veranda, Gourmet, Garden Design, This Old House, LUXE, Dwell, and Metropolitan Home.
Eldorado Stone leveraged the exposure at the show with the unveiling of its new Eldorado Outdoor line. Outdoor kitchens and entertainment areas are a hot trend, but there’s that pesky requirement of “creating them” before the tri-tip can hit the grill. Even after days of toilsome and messy masonry work, a distinguished custom result isn’t guaranteed. For those seeking an instant transformation, meet the Eldorado Outdoor line—a collection of modular units that quickly assemble into custom barbecue islands, kitchen counters, bars, fireplaces, fire rings and more. The best part? They’re all ready to be quickly dressed with Eldorado Stone and Brick. “Eldorado Stone is providing an easier solution to create an outdoor kitchen quickly and in a more eco-friendly way,” notes Brent Spann, vice president of marketing for Eldorado Stone. “An L-shaped island that would normally take 64 hours of labor can now be done in just eight.” That equates to at least 55 extra hours to perfect your barbeque sauce recipe. Move over, Bobby Flay!
Best of K/BIS
In addition to the exclusive unveiling of Eldorado Outdoor, the Eldorado Stone Gemstone™ Walls collection received a Silver Award in the Best of K/BIS competition; bath category. With more than 90 entries, Eldorado Stone was one of 11 manufacturers to have received this award and the only architectural stone veneer manufacturer to be recognized. To see this award-winning collection for yourself click here: Eldorado Stone Transformation
(Warning: you will want to remodel your bathroom after watching).
EVERPURE
At K/BIS 2009 Everpure continued to demonstrate that water bottles are so passĂ©. They introduced two new products, including the new ViruPure™ Filtration System, which filters out even the smallest possible viruses from drinking water. If you’re interested in a whole-home system, be sure to check out Everpure’s new Protega Whole-home Ultra-filtration System. Unlike point-of-use systems installed at a single faucet, the Protega is a point-of-entry system; which means it filters all of the water that enters the home.
Between the launch of these industry-first products and the growing trend of water filtration, the media was drawn to the booth like contaminants to a water filter (science geeks will appreciate our analogy). Among the show highlights were exclusive meetings with high caliber media such as Traditional Home, Food Network Magazine, Better Homes & Gardens SIPs, Gourmet, LUXE, Fine Homebuilding, and the highly-acclaimed Veranda. A podcast with House Beautiful magazine was also filmed and is scheduled to launch in August 2009. Phew. Just thinking about it makes us tired all over again.
So, why water filtration for your home? Just check out the booth display above (Merlot’s award-winning display): “Americans used 50 billion plastic water bottles last year; and 40 billion ended up in landfills.” With each bottle taking up to 1,000 years to biodegrade and bottled water costing more than gasoline per gallon, it only makes sense that we begin to take better care of the environment and ourselves.
A TWEET SUCCESS!
But the hits didn’t stop there. Another K/BIS highlight was Merlot Marketing’s use of Social Media to promote our clients’ presence at the show. And why wouldn’t we? We’re so bloggable.
On behalf of Eldorado Stone, Merlot Marketing utilized social media tools to promote Eldorado Stone’s new Gemstone™ Walls. Merlot Marketing tweeted (if you don’t yet know about tweeting, we need to talk) about the company’s new products and YouTube video in an effort to drive traffic to the Eldorado Stone booth.
As a result of our tweeting live with media and designers from the show, we garnered increased traffic to the Eldorado Stone booth and website, as well as, increased views of the YouTube video. Through our K/BIS social media efforts, we have built stronger awareness of the Eldorado Stone brand and new product lines. See? Social media really does work (if you know how to work it).