Penguin Windows may be a new name in the window-replacement industry, but the company behind the name is not.
In February, Mukilteo-based Statewide Windows made the name change after more than two decades in business with the goal of creating a brand that would be top-of-mind for the residential market, “so that if you’re thinking about windows, you’re thinking about Penguin,” said Vaughn McCourt, director of operations.
“In our business, the key is getting leads; the classic way that people used to get leads was cold calling,” he said. But then came the Do Not Call Implementation Act of 2003, which created the National Do Not Call Registry, limiting the sales reach of telemarketers.
“It really changed the complexion of cold-call marketing,” McCourt said. In the face of these new restrictions, the company began placing product demonstrators in Kmart stores within its territories to generate leads and also began the practice of door-to-door canvassing.
In recent years, however, “do not knock” registries have begun popping up across the country, putting a squeeze on canvassing. Statewide Windows founder and President Dean Laue decided it was time to create a memorable brand that would generate its own leads.
“We’d get more people calling us instead of us calling them,” McCourt said of the 550-employee company, which has branch offices in the Tacoma area and Vancouver, Wash., as well as in Danvers, Mass., to serve much of New England.
So the company consulted with Mountlake Terrace-based Destination Marketing, which has worked with such companies as Selden’s Home Furnishings, Magnolia Audio Video and Dinners Ready!, to develop a branding campaign.
“They said we were a strong company and we do great work,” McCourt said, but the name Statewide already was being used by a number of companies within its markets.
The Penguin moniker wasn’t. And besides the recent surge in penguin popularity (think “March of the Penguins” and “Happy Feet”), cold-weather penguins happen to be well-insulated creatures able to endure the subzero temperatures of Antarctica, he said.
What better mascot for a company that uses window systems featuring well-insulated three-pane windows filled with krypton gas, which is 190 percent denser than air?
Company officials were sold on the idea, McCourt said. “We have a five-year plan with (Destination Marketing) leading us.”
Part of that plan can be seen on the road, where three-person installation crews drive fleet trucks carrying the white silhouette of a penguin; at trade shows, where marketing staff members don tuxedos with tails; and on television and radio commercials touting 40 percent savings in energy bills.
“All indicators are pointing up with how it’s being received. Everybody’s seeing the commercials,” McCourt said, adding that the company’s new Web site, www.penguinwindows.com, is geared to receive and generate customer leads and that the company’s new phone number, “1-800-PENGUIN,” is an easy one to remember.
“We began seeing significant results 30 to 60 days after the name change and the launch of our aggressive advertising/marketing campaign,” added Gordon Williams, chief financial officer of Penguin Windows, in a prepared statement. “Customers are telling us that they called Penguin Windows first because they saw our commercials and liked what they saw.”
McCourt said Penguin Windows is tracking toward $55 million in revenue for this year, up from $47 million in 2006.
“We’re very excited by our future and where we’re going to go,” he said.
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