I’ve been going to trade shows for more than 35 years, and it never ceases to amaze me how many suppliers I’ve never heard of. While there are always well-known brands on display, like Kohler and
Whirlpool, marketing strategies for most suppliers typically view the general public as an afterthought.
The relevance of brand recognition has always been debatable in the B2B universe. With notable exceptions like BASF, few manufacturers or industry groups see value in generating top-of-mind awareness for their products and services with consumers. It’s far more advantageous, their thinking goes, to aim at municipalities, developers, and their AEC partners.
“It’s not in their organizational DNA” to market to the public, observes Kimberly Jones, President of Butler/Till, a media planning firm.
But the public isn’t a passive bystander anymore. It is an avid stakeholder insisting that its input be factored into the design and construction of all kinds of projects: schools, offices, hospitals, multifamily housing, even sports arenas. Marketing that relegates the public to the sidelines misses an opportunity to influence—even tangentially—these influencers.
I was thinking about branding while standing on the periphery of the International WELL Building Institute’s booth at last month’s Greenbuild convention in Los Angeles, watching one of a steady stream of interviews with company execs and partners, presented to Greenbuild attendees. IWBI, which launched in 2013, is striving to create a brand. But for whom, I wondered?
Its WELL Building Standard stems from a larger wellness movement being spurred by a public that is demanding healthier home and work environments. But certification programs that measure and grade buildings and products have been mostly indifferent about propagating their brands.
The EPA’s Energy Star program, which has been around for 24 years, gained purchase as energy rates rose. But EPA’s WaterSense labeling program, which celebrates its 10th anniversary this year, has yet to muster that level of brand awareness, in part, because water is relatively inexpensive in most markets.
The WaterSense label is on 16,000+ product models. Through 2015, it has helped consumers reduce energy and water costs by $32.6 billion. Yet, fewer than one-quarter of Americans are aware of the brand, according to a GfK survey.
My guess is that the same is true, to a greater or lesser degree, of LEED, Green Globes, Cradle to Cradle, and other regimens that hold buildings and products accountable for their efficiency, sustainability, or healthiness. Imagine the marketing boost for manufacturers and builders if these certification programs more broadly impacted consumers’ decisions about what to buy or where to live and work?
The Cradle to Cradle label is on nearly 6,000 products under 400-plus corporate certificates. Those products include many consumer brands, from Shaw Industries (flooring) to Method (soap). The Cradle to Cradle organization is confident that the brand means something to “knowledgeable consumers” (read: Millennials), says Stacy Glass, the group’s VP of Built Environment.
But any consumer branding campaign would be futile without critical mass. “What I’d like to see is our label on one million products under 10,000 certificates across the built environment,” says Glass.
Related Stories
K-12 Schools | Mar 18, 2024
New study shows connections between K-12 school modernizations, improved test scores, graduation rates
Conducted by Drexel University in conjunction with Perkins Eastman, the research study reveals K-12 school modernizations significantly impact key educational indicators, including test scores, graduation rates, and enrollment over time.
MFPRO+ News | Mar 16, 2024
Multifamily rents stable heading into spring 2024
National asking multifamily rents posted their first increase in over seven months in February. The average U.S. asking rent rose $1 to $1,713 in February 2024, up 0.6% year-over-year.
Market Data | Mar 14, 2024
Download BD+C's March 2024 Market Intelligence Report
U.S. construction spending on buildings-related work rose 1.4% in January, but project teams continue to face headwinds related to inflation, interest rates, and supply chain issues, according to Building Design+Construction's March 2024 Market Intelligence Report (free PDF download).
Contractors | Mar 12, 2024
The average U.S. contractor has 8.1 months worth of construction work in the pipeline, as of February 2024
Associated Builders and Contractors reported that its Construction Backlog Indicator declined to 8.1 months in February, according to an ABC member survey conducted Feb. 20 to March 5. The reading is down 1.1 months from February 2023.
Market Data | Mar 6, 2024
Nonresidential construction spending slips 0.4% in January
National nonresidential construction spending decreased 0.4% in January, according to an Associated Builders and Contractors analysis of data published today by the U.S. Census Bureau. On a seasonally adjusted annualized basis, nonresidential spending totaled $1.190 trillion.
Multifamily Housing | Mar 4, 2024
Single-family rentals continue to grow in BTR communities
Single-family rentals are continuing to grow in built-to-rent communities. Both rent and occupancy growth have been strong in recent months while remaining a financially viable option for renters.
MFPRO+ News | Mar 2, 2024
Job gains boost Yardi Matrix National Rent Forecast for 2024
Multifamily asking rents broke the five-month streak of sequential average declines in January, rising 0.07 percent, shows a new special report from Yardi Matrix.
K-12 Schools | Feb 29, 2024
Average age of U.S. school buildings is just under 50 years
The average age of a main instructional school building in the United States is 49 years, according to a survey by the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES). About 38% of schools were built before 1970. Roughly half of the schools surveyed have undergone a major building renovation or addition.
MFPRO+ Research | Feb 27, 2024
Most competitive rental markets of early 2024
The U.S. rental market in early 2024 is moderately competitive, with apartments taking an average of 41 days to find tenants, according to the latest RentCafe Market Competitivity Report.
Construction Costs | Feb 22, 2024
K-12 school construction costs for 2024
Data from Gordian breaks down the average cost per square foot for four different types of K-12 school buildings (elementary schools, junior high schools, high schools, and vocational schools) across 10 U.S. cities.