Pella Corporation is an internationally known door and window manufacturer. As a STAR client for nearly three decades, the two companies have collaborated across a variety of projects including trade show booth builds, retail installations, and corporate events.
After a decade hiatus from participating in trade shows, the Pella marketing team decided to go to the biggest industry building show in the U.S. – the NAHB International Builders’ Show (IBS)® – to introduce a revolutionary new product. The Pella Steady Set interior installation system is the industry’s first interior installation system for new construction. Instead of requiring multiple people and ladders outside, workers can install the window in new construction from inside the building. For construction firms on tight timelines and with limited staff, this product had the potential to solve crucial buyer challenges for speeding up and simplifying window installation.
For Pella, the goal was simple: maximize engagements and leads. But competing for attention at a significant industry event, particularly when they didn’t have a premium location for the show, required maximizing their space with a highly attractive, engaging, and educational installation. The strategy and creative teams worked together at STAR to develop the best possible plan.
Ultimately, by understanding Pella’s business, audience, and long-term objectives, the STAR team built an experience that would draw people in by focusing on Pella’s customers’ key challenges. Within construction, there’s a very real concern that innovative new products sound great but aren’t proven. The risks of adoption without proof can be too high.
As a result, the design was very focused on demonstration, including how the window installation system worked, as well as hands-on components that allowed contractors to try the installation process for themselves. Ultimately, the company generated three times the leads they expected at the show, and the product launch was a success. In fact, Pella Steady Set was recognized during the 2024 IBS show with the prestigious Best of IBS Awards which celebrates the most innovative and impactful products and solutions in the residential construction industry.
Building on the success of the product launch at IBS, Pella commissioned the creation of a branded Sprinter van designed to continue to support the Steady Set launch. The mobile demonstration vehicle offers the ability to train and work with builders in an on-the-go fashion to continue the innovative, streamlined marketing that the construction industry demands. Whether it’s introducing the product to new customers or providing hands-on training, the Sprinter van has created a new way to reach key customer audiences.
Pella’s marketing strategy has also extended to working with STAR on a multi-year initiative to support its private sales distribution network. Each of the corporation’s 80+ locations include a branch destination showroom. The STAR team worked with Pella to design and deploy the setups for those showrooms, including floor planning, builds, and ongoing maintenance throughout the long-term partnership.
Part of the most recent updates involved designing and deploying dynamic suspension systems that would make the most of the vertical space in showrooms to display windows. However, the locations vary and have different structural elements, ceiling heights, and even seismic requirements. STAR Creative and Engineering worked together to build a system that could deliver a uniform experience built on Pella’s vision while adapting to the realities of different showrooms.
The companies’ long history of collaboration and shared deep strategic understanding of Pella’s goals have allowed them to work together to help capture a strong ROI on both single events and ongoing initiatives. STAR looks forward to continuing to support Pella in its innovation within the construction industry for years to come.
