Neolith

2020 was supposed to be a big year for sintered stone surfacing pioneers, Neolith. Exciting new product launches and two key pillars of its Corporate Social Responsibility strategy (sustainability and community) were on the agenda. As had been so successful in the past, the brand were going to push these messages through the tried and tested scheduling of events, exhibitions and press factory visits.

Then COVID-19 changed everything. With events cancelled and business travel suspended, Neolith needed new ideas quickly.

It turned to its long-time PR partner, The Think Tank, to deliver a new communications approach that would achieve maximum impact for these two stories. The audience was global, including: architects, specifiers, fabricators, luxury property developers, interior & garden designers, kitchen & bathroom firms, construction firms and consumers.

The Think Tank knew a standalone campaign with its own PR and messaging strategy was needed. With six new surfaces to be launched, The Think Tank developed a campaign identity and approach: ‘Neolith Six-S’. This moniker allowed a degree of flexibility and opportunity to explore all Neolith’s key themes, including sustainability and community, whilst humanising the sales message and providing vital context for each of the new surface designs.

Campaign delivery was split into 2 phases. Phase 1 involved weaving our messages (the surfaces’ performance and aesthetic, as well as the community and sustainability themes) around Neolith’s day-to-day PR activity.

Phase 2 was more intricate. To gain maximum traction, there was a staggered launch for all 6 of the Six-S products throughout the summer followed up by a summary of the collection in the Autumn. These releases were punctuated with CSR activity and investment focussing on 100% carbon-neutral manufacturing, donations to hospitals fighting the pandemic and Neolith’s support of global foodbanks.

In order to maintain consistency across all brand touch points, The Think Tank also produced marketing and website content which helped to tie everything together.

The results were fantastic.

To Date, The Think Tank has achieved 108 pieces of campaign-related coverage, with further opportunities confirmed for the latter end of 2020 and the start of 2021. 

• Online readership: 4.68 Million
• Estimated coverage views: 109K
• Social media shares: 6.3K
• Print circulation: 252K

Hend Aburamadan, marketing manager for Neolith said: “The Think Tank is not just our PR agency, they are considered a major part of our team… Planning and launching a new collection amidst a pandemic is surely not an easy thing, however The Think Tank made it easy by their level of creativity, dedication and timely response… If there was a rating then it´s a perfect 10!”