Masonry Magazine December 1996 Page. 9
What do our Customers Really See?
their own products attributes with no regard for the relationship that their product has with another masonry product.
Although, the total amount of money spent by the masonry industry on national promotion is difficult to determine, best estimates are that roughly $3.5 million is spent annually by all national masonry associations combined. Add to that the estimated $2.5 million spent by industry suppliers and local promotion you get a formulating picture that the masonry industry nationally spends a tremendous amount of resources promoting the industry's attributes.
Although, still promoting heavily in the national market, the Brick Institute of America is focusing more on regional markets in an effort to gain back market share lost in both residential and commercial markets. According to a Ducker Research Company study commissioned by BIA, brick went from being the dominant product in commercial construction in 1989 to second place in 1995 with EIFS taking first place with twenty percent of the market compared to bricks 16 percent share. Precast increased its share from three percent to nine percent in the six year period. After experiencing a one percent per year loss of brick market share over a twenty year period, residential brick share has increased during the last six years. Continued problems with EIFS and loss of confidence from the insurance and mortgage firms could attribute to a rapid escalation in residential brick sales for the balance of this century.
The Association of National Brick Distributors is attempting to impact the residential brick market with unique promotional program such as their sponsorship of the Brick Yard 500 NASCAR race which is a relatively new race held at the Indy 500 Raceway. This event targets both home buyers through the television coverage of the race as well as home builders who are invited to attend the race by NABD.
The National Concrete Masonry Association has long been involved in the promotion of masonry in the commercial market. Recently, they have been targeting the use of concrete masonry in residential in other than underground foundation use. NCMA sponsors the design and building of an all concrete home at the National Home Builders Show. This coupled with their landscape products has spearheaded their effort to get builders to build with masonry in place of more traditional non-masonry products.
The Expanded Shale Clay Slate Institute has focused its efforts at educating the design community on the benefits of masonry over competitive methods. Based on a recent study with architects, ESCSI has stepped up their efforts to convince architects to build with masonry. Specifically, they are attempting to get the design community to specify high performce light weight masonry. Past efforts to get mason contractors to switch to high performance block failed because contractors were not convinced that they would make up the difference in a higher priced light weight block with increased productivity. Now ESCSI is attempting to educate masonry customers on the benefits of building with this product. "The bottom line for the 90's and beyond is that we are being judged by a higher standard. Quality masonry will remain a successful building material provided we continually improve and make our products easier to specify, easy to install and insist on customer satisfaction," said ESCSI Executive Director John Ries.
The International Masonry Institute, the promotion arm of the bricklayers union, has long been active in masonry promotion. Although primarily limited to promoting masonry in traditional union