Initials and Dulux Trade set off on skills tour

Initials is taking Dulux Trade, the AkzoNobel brand, on the road this week with a national roadshow as part of the brand’s most important trade campaign to date. The ‘Skills Tour’ activity forms part of a wider integrated campaign from Dulux Trade called ‘The Ultimate Professionals’.

The concept, created by Initials in collaboration with Dulux Trade, aims to demonstrate the paint brand’s commitment to decorating professionals in the UK. The campaign is devised of three elements entitled; Supporting, Rewarding and Celebrating, each of which features a different piece of activity. The ‘Skills Tour’, which represents ‘Supporting’, will visit 40 locations across five weeks and five regions kicking off in the South East from 22nd September.

The tour will offer masterclasses to the trade aimed at arming decorators with new skills and knowledge about Dulux Trade products. Masterclasses will be held in the Skills Tour rig, a converted and refurbished 7.5 tonne lorry transformed using Dulux Trade products to create the ultimate showroom and a living example of the brand’s products in action. The sessions will be held for 10 people at a time, lasting 45 minutes each. Decorators can book their place online via www.ultimateprofessionals.co.uk.

Each masterclass will breakdown into three parts kicked off with a demonstration of the new Dulux Visualizer app on the lower deck which enables decorators to see and show clients what a wall would look like in a particular colour. Upstairs, the trade will be able to learn more about wood care from seeing examples of how Dulux Trade products look on different kinds of wood to having the chance to get involved and practice applying the product.

The final session will discuss quick dry trim products, and the benefits of Dulux Trade water based products against solvent based, further demonstrated with a short video. At the end of their masterclass, decorators will receive a goody bag filled with a branded woolly beanie, gloves, product samples and a newspaper. Leaflets will also be available to take.

The Skills Tour roadshow is being supported by promotional activity which falls under the second Ultimate Professional campaign element ‘Rewarding’. Decorators purchasing 10 litres of more of Dulux Trade paint or woodcare product in participating trade outlets will receive a scratch card for the chance to win one of 25,000 prizes including £10,000, an iPad, SatNav or van tyres among other items to support decorators or their business. Users simply scratch the card to reveal if they have won. A unique code then enables them to redeem their prize in-store or online via:http://www.duluxtradepaintexpert.co.uk/ultimate/scratch. The competition is live until 31stOctober. The third and final element of the campaign ‘Celebrating’ will see Dulux Trade launch its ‘Ultimate Professional Awards’ scheme for 2014 to find the UK’s Ultimate Professional Decorator or Ultimate Professional Painting Contractor of the year.

Initials is responsible for the instore creative, delivering the experiential and promotional elements of the campaign, collaboratively delivering the overarching campaign concept ‘The Ultimate Professionals’, and devising the three elements; Support, Reward and Celebrate.

Samantha Balloch, Dulux trade marketing manager, said: “The Ultimate Professionals campaign is about demonstrating the Dulux Trade commitment to supporting professional decorators and their businesses, to create a brighter future for decorators and the trade as a whole.  Each element of the campaign is aimed at arming the trade with the right tools and celebrating the fantastic job they do.”

Richard Barrett, managing director at Initials, added: “Through the Skills Tour we wanted to create an engaging experience that that would provide the opportunity for the trade to enhance the skills they have. More than that, we wanted to show them that what they do is pure craftsmanship – that decorating is about more than just putting paint on a wall. We specifically redesigned the lorry using Dulux Trade products to showcase the paints and stains attendees learnt about during the masterclasses. It’s been great to be a part of such an important push for the Dulux Trade brand.”