Taglines, websites, displays refreshed
April 27/May 4, 2015; Volume 29/Number 2
By Amanda Haskin
Orlando—Leading tile manufacturer Dal-Tile saw Coverings 2015 as the perfect opportunity to unveil the relaunch of its family of brands—Daltile, American Olean, Marazzi and Ragno.
Most recently, Dal-Tile’s focus has been on the integration of the U.S. business of the Marazzi Group, which was acquired by Mohawk Industries, Dal-Tile’s parent company, in 2013. This brought together two of the strongest names in the tile and stone industry.
“When we brought Daltile and Marazzi together, we were combining two powerhouses that were very good at very different things,” said John Turner Jr., president, Dal-Tile. “Daltile was the industrial, logistics and distribution powerhouse, and Marazzi was a design powerhouse with superior capability.”
This combination has allowed the Dal-Tile umbrella to leverage these strengths across all four brands. While Daltile and Marazzi seem to provide solutions to each other’s needs, Turner also found they had many of the same core values, including “tremendous focus on the customer and a passion and love for the product. So as we began to integrate the companies, we found that it was fairly simple from a cultural perspective to do so.”
The next step was the repositioning—or “refinement” as Turner prefers to call it—of the four compatible yet unique brands. The goal was to clearly define and differentiate them, positioning them to attack the parts of the market in which they would excel.
“These brands have tremendous legacy and tremendous heritage, not just here in the United States with Daltile and American Olean, but all over the world with Marazzi and Ragno,” Turner noted. “So we really needed to play on the strengths of the heritage of those brands.”
Dal-Tile has successfully reintroduced four powerful brands that each hold a distinct place in the market. This relaunch came out of over a year of hypothesis development, customer research and stakeholder reviews. To build an emotional connection with consumers, each brand was given a brand narrative, brand character words that represent its core values, a positioning statement, and an essence board that brings together key visuals. The brands also received new taglines, updated websites, revamped displays and refreshed logos.
Daltile: ‘Confident, infinite, transformative, imaginative, beautiful’
Daltile’s new tagline is “Imagine What’s Possible,” and it is this escape into the realm of imagination that encapsulates the brand’s positioning. “We want our customers to dream as much as they want to because we feel confident that we can deliver on those dreams,” explained April Wilson, director of brand marketing.
The brand narrative illuminates the key elements that make Daltile what it is today: confidence, dependability, attention to detail and solid customer relationships. It also makes it clear that it’s not just about tile—it’s about inspiration, personalizing a space and “experiencing the extraordinary” in everyday life. With its extensive selection of quality products, Daltile delivers something for everyone.
A brand new Daltile website will be launched in September, complete with new visuals as well as performance updates. On the merchandising side, the company will introduce a new suite of displays called the Imagination Studio, with a fresh design and improved browsing and categorization capabilities based on consumer insights.
American Olean: ‘Proven, strong, hardworking, genuine, American original’
“American Olean is one of those brands with a really rich brand history,” Wilson noted. “It started out as a company called Franklin Tile and progressed and became known as one of the most innovative companies out there, especially with manufacturing processes.”
American Olean’s new tagline, “Proven In Tile,” speaks to the fact that the brand has been proving itself through quality products and exceptional service for nearly a century. The positioning plays off of its long-established reliability and steadfastness in the industry.
Turner said this brand has been given the most aggressive repositioning and will see a lot of product launches. While it’s keeping its reputation as being a tried-and-true and trusted brand, it is also adding a modern edge to its branding. The rebranding makes it clear that American Olean is more relevant today than ever, and with that comes a new bold and modern logo.
“We’re focusing on modern visuals, large sizes and that commercial crossover product that can go loft but also goes major office building,” Turner said. “That’s a unique space we’re positioning American Olean in.”
Marazzi: ‘Italian, daring, fashion-forward, captivating, global’
Marazzi has been positioned as the bold and fearless choice when it comes to captivating designs and Italian style. Its products intend to give homeowners, designers and architects the ability to bring their unique design inspirations to life.
As the Marazzi brand narrative states, “For centuries, Italy has been synonymous with design—bold, daring and occasionally over-the-top. Marazzi gives consumers the fashion-forward choices they want for transforming ordinary spaces into exciting, alluring environments.”
Marazzi’s booth artwork at Coverings (see story on page 1) was styled like a Vogue cover, full of class, sophistication and seductive appeal, encouraging customers to “dare to be bold.
“We would expect Marazzi to grow dramatically because of its ability to leverage the industrial footprint of Daltile, and that’s what we’re really trying to push,” Turner explained. “Of all the brands, we think Marazzi and Ragno will grow the fastest because we’re exposing them to different customers now and giving them life in the marketplace that formerly they didn’t have.”
Ragno: ‘Modern twist, European, timeless, new traditional, artisan’
“[Ragno] has a really special place in the market, very high-end in nature, with lots of luxurious looking tiles,” Wilson said. “We’re really proud of this brand.”
The rebranding focuses on modern, leading-edge technology fused with an Old World craftsmanship and the heritage of European traditions. Ragno’s products are created for tile aficionados and are characterized as being “authentic and visionary.”
Ragno underwent a significant logo change; it used to be very similar to the Marazzi logo but has now been given its own unique artwork. Its tagline, “Artfully reimagined,” was illustrated by the fantastical nature of its Coverings visuals, which featured whimsical figures emerging from gilded mirrors, blowing kisses to each other across the space.
The future of the company
Dal-Tile’s new manufacturing plant and distribution center in Dickson, Tenn., is projected to be fully operational by the end of this year’s fourth quarter, according to Turner. This facility will have the ability to make up to 72-inch tile, which, in addition to the doubling of its Sunnydale, Texas, plant’s porcelain plank capacity, positions Dal-Tile as the size leader in North America.
But Turner made it clear that capacity is not Dal-Tile’s sole focus. “We talk a lot about capacity, but the reality is that there’s equal focus on capability, and those are two very different things,” he said. “In the capability of our manufacturing in North America, our goal is to be the finest in the world. There’s a huge investment in capability—technical talent, adopting and finding new technology, and being the best at using it.
“If you think about NASCAR, 43 cars go out on that racecourse, but somehow or another, the same 10 always seem to be the guys in the front,” he continued. “They’re doing something different behind the scenes to make those cars better. We’re doing that in our products, so there is clear differentiation when you lay things out on a table. We want people to say, ‘I want that one.’”