XIM Products Company, Inc.

Client Background

Since 1935 XIM Products, Inc. continues to manufacture and market specialty primers, sealers, coatings, additives and surface preparation products. XIM is known for its strong adhesive primers or "Bonders" that provide superior adhesion to tough-to-paint surfaces. XIM products are used by professional painting contractors when ordinary primers are not enough. Peel Bond and Tile Doc Aerosol are XIM's first products to cross-over and also meet the needs of the DIYer.

"The Secret Agent for Priming Perfection" was adopted as the new
promotional theme. The Caler&Company design team created the
"James Bond" inspired theme, which helps professional painting
contractors strongly consider "What's Under Your Topcoat?"
The new "bug" was applied to every campaign element to drive
home the new XIM message.

Another ad agency was being
considered to help XIM launch
its new bonding primer.
Caler&Company hired a
painting contractor to use the
new PEEL BOND product in
order to assess it's marketable
characteristics and advantages.

The building was spot-primed with
PEEL BOND, even though the
contractor would not guarantee
favorable topcoat results.

The results of priming the 100
-year-old building ended with
the contractor changing his
opinion and learning that alkyd
primers are no longer the
preferred priming solution.
Caler&Company was hired
once the firm understood the
challenge of getting professional
painters to consider new
priming methods.

The Caler&Company Jump Start
process was the first step of
internal conditioning for all
departments at XIM.

The sales force examined every
feature and benefit as well as
comparitive analysis with
competitive products. Carving
out a marketable niche was
paramount for a successful
product launch.

Caler&Company led XIM
Products Company through a
series of Jump Start sessions
in order to determine XIM's
costumer service, sales and
manufacturing perceptions
of launching the new
PEEL BOND.

Caler&Company created a detailed roadmap outlining each step of the product launch. A comprehensive media plan and media audit led to recommendations resulting in remarkable sales numbers for XIM.

The Challenge

After a successful engineered formulation, XIM faced a new product launch and required an image and identity to make the professional painting industry aware of Peel Bond. This new, proprietary high-build bonding primer transforms surfaces and reduces labor during pre-painting surface preparation. XIM sought a comprehensive marketing campaign specifically targeting commercial painting contractors.

Full-page, full-color ads running
in national trade publications
kicked-off the campaign and
introduced the new PEEL BOND
"Secret Agent" in a provocative
but educational context.

The success of the campaign led
to an extended campaign in the
second year. Note the photo of
the family of products designed
and labeled by Caler&Company
in contrast to the old line of
packaging from the previous ad.

Caler&Company recommended
a new painting contractor
newsletter, "Under The Topcoat",
loaded with tips to help
professional painters gain a
competitive advantage when
using PEEL BOND as their
primary primer.

The family of PEEL BOND products featured the
new five-gallon pail. Every inch of real estate on
the new yellow bucket was used to educate the
contractor and promote PEEL BOND on the
jod site.

Sherwin-Williams plan-o-grammed PEEL BOND into all 2,400 of its retail stores, nationwide. This shelf-talker helped promote the product at the point-of-purchase.

The Outcome

With a strategic marketing communications plan and targeted, memorable ad campaign, Caler&Company reached the painting contractor with the suggestive question "What's Under Your Topcoat?" Featuring an attractive secret agent wearing a topcoat, the ads not only grabbed attention, but made painting contractors ask themselves, "What am I using under my topcoat?" Caler&Company also developed the "secret agent" product logo, positioning XIM's Peel Bond as the Secret Agent for Priming Perfection.

Caler&Company created the
newPEEL BOND Web site.
Click here to view the site and
see how the product was
promoted to painting
contractors.

Caler&Company created a video
demonstrating the salient
features and value-added
benefits of PEEL BOND. Click
here to see it and hear what
contractors have to say about
this amazing bonding-primer.

Caler&Company also provided
Power Point presentations for
regional sales managers to
use as a tool to get PEEL
BOND into various channels
of distribution.

In its second year with the marketing communications strategy, Caler&Company launched an aggressive ad campaign to substantially increase awareness of Peel Bond and strengthen XIM's brand equity. During the prime painting season, March-August, full-page and half page ads populated national publications including, American Painting Contractor, Paint & Decorating Retailer, Paint Dealer, DECO Magazine, Jobsite Magazine and Paint & Wallcovering Contractor, reaching a total of 170k within the target market.

The Caler Team pitched
editorial content to trade
and consumer publications.
Many of the stories were
picked-up verbatim giving
XIM even more exposure
throughout every inch of the
sales channels.

"The Paint Dealer" featured
PEEL BOND as a new
up-and-comer. The "Secret
Agent" logo found its way on
the cover of the summer
issue, in the "prime" of
painting season.

An interview with XIM customer and PEEL
BOND advocate, Brian Minerd, was
orchestrated by the Caler PR Team.
Photos, contractor quotes and industry
questions were fed to news sources.
"No call backs," was one of the primary
reasons Minerd uses PEEL BOND on all
his commercial painting projects.

Caler&Company also directed, wrote and produced Peel Bond's commercial and "How To" video for XIM's new product web site, peelbond.com. Caler&Company provided additional marketing support with packaging, product labels, an editorial in DECO Magazine, direct mail, professional painting contractor testimonials and point-of-sale displays, all reinforcing XIM's position and brand promise, when ordinary primers are not enough, Stick With XIM.

"A-Team" painting contractors
were provided with promotional
PEEL BOND t-shirts to help get
awareness and recognition on
job sites. Contractors were
beginning to see the commercial
advantages of using PEEL BOND.

The Caler&Company Team
designed this P.O.P. display,
which photographically
represents the tough challenges
the professional painter faces.
The Caler Team also produced
the Trim Magic literature found
in the display holder.

The display illustrates the
alligatored surface, the
application of Trim Magic
and the great results achieved
once the high-build bonding
primer is topcoated with latex
paint. The P.O.P. was part of
the new product launch retail
support.

"Our sales numbers continue to climb in this new category. The Caler team led us through some internal exercises and created a campaign that has really gotten noticed. Double digit sales growth for Peel Bond has also pulled other XIM product families through our distribution channels. Our sales are up over 14 percent through the first four months of the year."

Richard Hardy
President
XIM Products

The Caler Team recommended a host of spifs, premiums, reminders, job site tools and contractor gifts, all designed to drive awreness of PEEL BOND and Web traffic.