In early 2024, a year shy of the home improvement business reaching its 40th anniversary, Hazlemere’s leadership team set us a stiff challenge.
We were tasked with devising a dynamic brand growth strategy that would boost their Lead Share and Market Share for Window & Door products, build brand awareness and make Hazlemere top-of-mind for consumers when they’re in a buying situation.
Nothing too complicated on the face of it then. However, this objective was to be accomplished whilst reducing the amount of marketing spend allocated to paid channels such as Google and Facebook.
To realise their ambitious goals, we took the bold decision to shift 28% of sales activation spend into targeted and focused brand awareness activity.
The Leadology™
Seizing the challenge, our creative teams endeavoured to construct a brand device for Hazlemere that would embody the company’s brand DNA and its family-run aspect.
Out of that collaborative exercise, the fictional character of ‘Hazle Mere’ was born.
Hazle is a magical salesperson, someone you wholeheartedly trust, instantly warm to and who oozes impeccable customer service.
She’s the kind of person who reminds you of your old Granny and who do you most trust when they tell you something? Your old Granny!
Alive to every dodgy sales tactic in the book from her 40 years of industry experience, her mission is to uphold the integrity of the industry she loves, much like Hazlemere’s original founder, George Braham.
Hazle serves to outline how Hazlemere is different in service, product and care, in what they sell, how they sell it and how they see their customer compared to other companies.
Providing the brand with a distinctive brand asset over time, she personifies the key category entry points of being honest and pleasant to buy from.
The campaign, centred on her, was executed across the following channels, with investment in sales activation channels sustained but reduced:
- A 99-second YouTube advert.
- A 40-second Radio advert.
- A Facebook campaign.
- An Instagram campaign.
- An Out-of-Home campaign.
- Representation across the Hazlemere website.
The Result
Our approach has yielded huge returns for Hazlemere, amplifying the brand’s visibility and stimulating a 24.1% rise in revenue (£782,677) for the period 1st August 2024 to 31st July 2025.
Not only that, but there is a succession of other positive statistics amassed over the same stretch of time that substantiate the effectiveness of this strategy shift:
- 21.8% increase in sales, with a market penetration increase from 0.9% to 1.1% (even 0.1% of market penetration is fiercely competed for in this market and difficult to come by).
- Appointments grew 11.2% year-on-year, with cost-per-appointment for marketing channels reduced by 35.5%.
- 5.4% uplift in leads.
- Cost-per sale reduced by 41%.
- Overall market share increase of 0.3% to 1.9%.
- A 28% reduction in sales activation spend means that the cost-per-lead for marketing channels reduced dramatically by 31.8%.
And this is just the beginning.
We know the true benefit of this brand building campaign will be felt over a much longer period – it’s an investment for the future and sustainable growth of Hazlemere – which makes these initial outcomes even more impressive.
So, watch this space as we continue to grow Hazlemere’s lead and market share for today and tomorrow…
