Effective Marketing Manager

Best Marketing Research

Markon SpaceMate

Markon is a privately-owned Auckland-based company that designs, develops and manufactures plumbing and bathroom related products for a worldwide client base. We’ve been working with Tim and Kathy Strickland from Markon for about 3 years now. The company has an unrelenting focus on creativity and design, which has led to a global reputation for innovation.

One of their latest – and coolest – innovations is SpaceMate™. As you’ll know, the trouble with conventional waste traps is that the pipework takes up room under your sink or basin that you could use. SpaceMate™ solves this problem to give you this space back.

We wanted to introduce SpaceMate™ to the plumbing fraternity and find out what plumbers thought. To get in front of plumbers, Plumbing World were happy for us to set up stands at their Mt Wellington, Ponsonby and New Lynn stores. Because plumbers are in store first thing in the morning, we set up early to catch the rush of plumbers coming in to get their gear for that day’s work.

We took 50 SpaceMate™ samples to each store and engaged the plumbers in conversation by giving each plumber a FREE SpaceMate™ sample and a SpaceMate™ information sheet (plus muffins and bacon and egg pie, of course!). So we could capture their details, we invited them to enter a competition draw for a $100 Prezzy Card.

We talked to more than 40 plumbers and got some awesome feedback to take back to Markon. Markon and Right Hand Man will use this valuable information to develop marketing material for SpaceMate™.

The really good outcome from this instore market research is that Plumbing World have agreed to stock SpaceMate in a trial in several of their stores. We are now at the final stages of developing a SpaceMate point-of-sale stand, promotion and gift with purchase, ready to roll into stores in January. It’s been a long process but definitely one where it’s been RHM as Tim’s Right Hand Man/Woman (lol).