Creating Community

How many regional brands can say that they made guest appearances on CNN, Fox, NBC, and especially the local news outlets at scale? How many brands can hear their jingle chanted by over 6,000 fans at nightly collegiate baseball games? This is what happens when your goal is to turn an industry-favorite into community leaders, and not conquerors.

Background.

Schulte Roofing had already done the hard work. Through quality craftsmanship, outstanding customer service, and integrity, they established themselves as the top roofing company in the area. Yet, to establish brand trust within the communities where they work, not to mention the residential roofing market where distrust is the norm, Schulte Roofing partnered with us to position them as an ‘institution’ with household recognition and brand loyalty only rivaled by Texas A&M University.

It was a bold strategy, one that required a move beyond the basic standards of advertising.

Challenge.

When you’ve been on top of the roofing game for as long as Schulte Roofing, you’re bound to attract imitation. While imitation is flattering, Schulte Roofing’s competition was building a sea of sameness, copying the brand almost step-for-step. They also could not meet the same high standards of quality and integrity, chipping away at the trust Schulte Roofing had established over the years.

This meant our challenge was twofold: we had to bolster a cost-effective community presence, scaling deep relationships that last for generations with creative messaging and strategic initiatives that the competition couldn’t replicate.

Campaign.

Through the discovery process, we explored and mapped Schulte Roofing’s local community relationships and identified why the brand resonated better than the competition. From this vantage point, we could develop a campaign that tapped into these relationships through partnerships and special events.

We sought out key brand partners and micro-influencers in the Bryan-College Station area and executed a range of creative projects and fundraisers for charitable and other youth organizations. For example, we helped Schulte Roofing with a 21-foot high gingerbread house for a regional St. Joseph’s Hospital fundraiser, which earned them a place in the Guinness World Records.

We also built exclusive relationships with press and publishing partners, establishing relationships with editors and publishers who would cover these events and share the brand’s messages and local community heritage across local, regional, and nationwide channels.

Results.

With Schulte Roofing’s emotionally grabbing engagement at the community level, including over $1M raised for local organizations and projects, we earned media appearances on local news outlets as well as Reuters, Fox News, CNN, and US Today, among others. We also earned local media coverage in local news appearances every year, as well as about 20K in free media coverage annually across all channels. The Schulte Roofing brand drew a massive increase in its online engagement (upwards of 4,500%) and it continues to gain new customers and newfound interest from the community every day.

This idea of creating community, by being competition leaders and not conquerors, also earned Schulte Roofing a Best of Brazos Valley Award, a Readers’ Choice Award, and a Guinness World Record.

FIVE

The ‘Creating Community’ campaign was the fulcrum for five touchpoints designed to interact with consumers directly and deepen the relationship between Schulte Roofing and the community where they work. Whether sponsoring community events, hosting our own company events, or volunteering with local organizations, we put boots on the ground and brought the brand message directly to audiences in a relevant, uplifting manner.

Likewise, a widespread media and public relations tour, coupled with influencer reach, was paramount in our effort to connect with broader communities and create the foundations for lifelong relationships with the brand.

ONE

From the community events to influencer and media outreach, the unifying strategy behind the ‘Creating Community’ campaign was to a deep and wide presence in our community, and to ingrain the brand to multigenerational members throughout our service area. Emphasizing our local roots was key, and we made sure the community knew we were local and that members of their own community were employed at Schulte Roofing.

TWO

By tapping into the community and shaping multigenerational relationships between Schulte Roofing and consumers, we were able to achieve a 450% increase in online engagement through media partners such as CBS News, The Guardian, and CNN Business. The campaign also reached 380K views on YouTube and over 4k shares (on average) on each post through media partners. We were also able to garner nationwide media placement on Reuters, Fox News, CNN, and US Today with our special events, such as the Guinness World Record Gingerbread House. In the wake of the campaign, we also received several requests from media partners to appear as a guest contributor or subject matter expert.