The company plans to create point-of-purchase displays for use in as many as 300 specialty distributor locations throughout the United States.
“This idea was a direct offshoot of a lot of the big box stores and Home Depots and Lowe’s increasing having quite a purchase display for regular customers,” said Mary Ruth Austin, an internal media specialist at Sonoco. “As other concrete stores and other home improvement stores are adopting that approach, the thinking was that this was a unique way to market this, and to help these folks as they turn what used to be a warehouse environment into a retail environment.”
Products included in the promotion are the Sonotube round, Sonotube Finish Free, Sonotube square, Sonotube Commercial and Sonotube TubeBase forms.
The displays feature textured vac-form 3-D column simulations, sectioned product samples and a raised letter logo panel on a 28-inch tube base and support tube. The 3-D simulations show contractors what finished columns will look like before they buy or pour anything. The displays also are designed so that the riser can be easily hung on walls for distributors that may not have the floor space for the entire unit.
“The thinking was that, for the contractors and the subs would be purchasing this, it would make the environment more welcoming and it would put our product out front, rather than people just saying, ‘Do you have any Sonoco forms?’”