Cast Iron Soil Pipe Institute
OUR CHALLENGE.
The Cast Iron Soil Pipe Institute (CISPI) is dedicated to promoting cast iron soil pipe and fittings, improving the industry’s products, and educating the plumbing industry about the benefits of cast iron.
Although cast iron pipe had been used for years, it had developed a mixed reputation in the plumbing community as substitutes and new technologies entered the market. CISPI needed to change industry perceptions about cast iron.
OUR SOLUTION.
We developed a long-term relationship with CISPI to reshape CISPI’s brand and create marketing campaigns, showcase CISPI’s expertise and promote the use of cast iron soil pipe to engineers, code officials, building owners and the larger plumbing community.
DESIGNING A BRAND EVOLUTION.
AGMK worked with CISPI and representatives of its member companies to define attributes that make the Institute unique. The “C I” shape is an evolution of CISPI’s two previous identities. Focusing on CISPI’s “Made in America” heritage, AGMK uses vibrant red and blue colors to telegraph American-made cast iron soil pipe products. The multidimensional curves in the “C I” mark tell the story of the product’s attributes and features.
USING BRAND HISTORY TO CATAPULT FORWARD.
The CISPI brand has been around since 1949, and we wanted to make sure to capitalize on the brand equity that CISPI had built up through decades of pro-American manufacturing. We created a teaser campaign that showcased CISPI’s past logo designs as a reminder of where the brand started and how far it has come.
MARKETING STRATEGY.
CISPI needed to enlarge its footprint to reach a broader audience, including not only a younger demographic – millennials – but expanding the conversation from plumbing engineers to contractors, building owners and facilities managers.
MOBILE APP CAMPAIGN.
CISPI needed a campaign to launch its mobile app with next gen plumbing engineers and specifiers to increase app downloads and accelerate adoption.
TAGLINE DEVELOPMENT.
As part of two campaigns, Agency McKenna developed two taglines that communicate what CISPI brings to the market; Cast Iron Crew® and We’ve Seen It All. We’ve Done It All®. Have been effective in differentiating the Institute and their knowledge and expertise.
INTEGRATED CAMPAIGN.
Agency McKenna was up to the task of building awareness with a broad target audience while promoting the product benefits that cast iron soil pipe provides – specifically, fire resistivity and life safety.
SOCIAL MEDIA.
Focusing on the millennial demographic, CISPI knew it was critical to build an audience and drive more engagement and interaction through social media.
VIDEO TO ENGAGE AND DELIGHT.
CISPI has been quick to adopt video as a channel of communication and means to engage its diverse audience. CISPI.com/Timeless was part of a 5-phase campaign.
“Team McKenna, amazing where we were just one year ago and now. Keep up the good work on behalf of CISPI. Thank you all.”
“This is not your father’s CISPI anymore. Agency McKenna’s marketing and the industry education we’re doing together is creating a new audience for CISPI. And it’s paying off – we had the same number of virtual meetings in July as we would have making in-person calls.”
MARKETING AUTOMATION.
CISPI recognized the value of marketing automation to drive its segmented email marketing campaign and to nurture relationships with new contacts. SharpSpring was implemented as the single CRM for all marketing-related communication and to support field representatives as they add contacts to the CRM.
MAT also has the added benefit of providing a mechanism for gated content which provides another way to understand interest and engagement for CISPI thought leadership and content.
Agency McKenna is a certified SharpSpring agency.
