A “heart and soul” approach to building a concrete product brand

CEMEX’s new-generation Concept™ range of coloured, textured products takes concrete to an exciting level … and a whole new market. Whilst you might think love and emotion have little relevance to concrete, CEMEX and DDG found that, with the Concept™ brochure development, love conquers all.

Fred Thompson, DDG’s Creative Director, explained, “Traditionally, concrete products have been marketed with a highly-technical pitch, aimed at the contractors rather than the end-users. In this case, the brochure brief was seeking a very different approach.”

CEMEX National Market Development Manager, Jeff Moss, worked with DDG to communicate what was required. “We did some research and found that when decorative concrete products were being used as a finishing element, final purchase decisions were more likely to be made by the female end-users,” explained Jeff. “We decided to move away from the technical concept to something with more emotional content to appeal to this particular customer demographic.”

“I can recall saying to Fred at our briefing meeting that we wanted to recreate the feeling that women have when they’re getting dressed up to go out for a big occasion … that they want to have the matching shoes and handbag, the finishing touches to their outfit that make them feel good. People invest a lot of money in their dream homes and having the right decorator concrete product to finish off that dream is an important part of it.”

The DDG creative team interpreted the brief into a solution that gave the already well established Concept brand some freshening up. The headline brochure was centred on an unashamedly emotional concept – “It’s simply love at first sight”. It combined relaxed lifestyle-focussed photography and feature-filled copy to communicate the “feel-good” experience of having a premium concrete product.

Fred explained, “The technical specifications gave way to the pleasure and satisfaction a quality, fashionable concrete product brings – the emotional aspiration that is recognised as a powerful cue to purchase decisions. We replaced data around setting times and strength ratios with colour and texture choices, and really communicated that this product was not only liveable, but very lovable. We’ve actually made concrete sexy. It was a brave but well-considered creative translation of the brief that has proven to be spot-on.”

The original brochure was created with the Victorian marketplace in its sights, but according to Jeff, the concept was too good to limit to the one market. “The Victorian campaign was very successful and keenly watched with interest by our interstate teams. It has now been rolled-out in both Queensland and Western Australia.”

“Although the Concept™ brochure is just one part of the marketing mix, it has been deemed to be central to a very successful campaign,” continued Jeff. “Our sales volumes have increased significantly in the Melbourne and surrounding areas since the campaign was launched and there is certainly an increased awareness of the Concept™ product with high inquiry volumes being measured through the campaign channels, including a dedicated 1300 number and email.”

The original brochure creative has since been distilled into a range of collateral including point-of-sale, flyers, pull-up banners and print advertising. It seems, when it comes to branding, a little love does go a long way.


“Once again, the DDG team have delivered an outstanding result for our business.

DDG have played a key role in the development of our revised range of branded products. Their involvement in the process was holistic – from formulation of overall brand strategy through to new product launch. The process included product logo development, creative strategy and delivery of a full range of supporting marketing collateral including brochures, posters, banners, flyers, and press ads. As a result, our branded products now have a clear position and our message is conveyed in a consistent and integrated manner which ‘cuts through the clutter’. Lastly, and perhaps most importantly, our range of promotional material looks great!

I would be very happy to personally recommend DDG to any potential client seeking a dedicated, capable and professional company to undertake brand strategy and collateral development works.

I look forward to continuing our relationship into the future.”

Jeff Moss, National Market Development Manager, CEMEX Australia