Austin, Texas—Mohawk in 2023 is bringing back one of the most successful marketing campaigns in company history—only this time it is enhanced with sustainability and causal elements designed to resonate with a new, younger consumer.
Back in 2009 and 2016, Mohawk tapped rhinos Ricko and Max, respectively, from the Birmingham Zoo to demonstrate the durability and cleanability of its revolutionary SmartStrand carpet. Another seven years has passed, and Mohawk is going the rhino route once more, partnering with Rhinory in Austin, Texas, where Blake becomes the latest poster child for SmartStrand’s unmatched attributes along with a campaign to bring awareness to the world’s diminishing rhino population. Rhinory, a 55-acre ranch located here, is dedicated to conservation and preservation of the species. It funds that preservation by serving wine and light bites.
The response to the new campaign, directly tied to the launch of the new SmartStrand Color Wall, has been fantastic, according to Kelli Widdifield, senior vice president of marketing. “The retailers are excited about the campaign and the storytelling elements around it,” she said. “For years there was the question around whether we would bring back the rhino after the previous two successful campaigns, which truly resonated with consumers. It was the perfect demonstration of performance, durability, cleanability and the All Pet Protection & Warranty. The fundamental element that made it compelling was an over-the-top depiction of how much our SmartStrand product can take and still perform.”
With the Surfaces launch of the SmartStrand Color Wall, Widdifield said Mohawk wanted a marketing campaign that would amplify its reach. “We did a lot of work around what could that be,” she explained. “We kept coming back to the rhino.”
That was the easy part. The hard part was making the concept relevant present day. “There is a new audience today vs. 2016 that’s purchasing products for their homes,” Widdifield noted. “We needed something authentic that would appeal to this new generation of consumers. This includes causal elements and sustainability, not just product itself. So we saw an opportunity to take the campaign in a different direction. We still did the demo and have this great side-by-side comparison of before and after—which is a call to action for performance. But our partnership with the Rhinory gives a different feel and purpose from past campaigns and makes it more relevant to millennials.”
Putting SmartStrand to the test
As with the prior SmartStrand challenges, after Surfaces Mohawk installed a light cream carpet—this time white linen from the Luxuriant Life collection—in Blake’s living quarters (where he sleeps and plays when he is inside) for 14 days at the Rhinory. “We then had it professionally cleaned, first using water, then three passes with eco-friendly soap,” Widdifield explained. “This is the standard cleaning process for consumers. This clearly showcases the cleanability and durability of the product. The carpet looks pretty close to new.”
Now that the rhino challenge has been completed, Mohawk is developing in-store and out-of-store assets. “We are in development on many POP materials,” she said. A full launch kit will first make its way into stores that have the Color Wall, then stores that don’t have it yet. Then it will connect to online content. “We will tell the story as to where rhinos are from an extinction standpoint. There were 11,000 rhinos poached in Africa over the last 14 years. They are nearing extinction.”
Mohawk is also supporting the campaign with advertising assets—both print and online—that retailers can download in their efforts toward driving awareness and traffic into the store. “We are working through Edge Local Advertising campaigns and then we are updating B2B and B2C sites, all our Omnify and Omnify + plus sites to call attention to this campaign. We will talk about rhino conservation and how consumers can get involved through all these assets.”
Early returns from customers on the Color Wall have been positive. “Our customers say that color wall is a magnet for consumers,” she said. “The Color Wall is unique in that it gives the consumer different ways to shop and streamlines that shopping experience. We also had new product launches tied to the Color Wall. The rhino campaign leverages the color wall and product.”
Dealers chime in
Mohawk recently took 20 of its largest SmartStrand dealers to Rhinory, where they got a first-hand look at Blake the rhino, learn more about the rhinos’ global plight and to see the results of the SmartStrand demo challenge after being installed in Blake’s living quarters for 14 days.
Many in attendance at the Rhinory, including Bruce Odette, president and CEO of Carpet Exchange and Mohawk’s 2022 Retailer of the Year, were impressed. In fact, he is so excited about the Color Wall that he took it on in all 19 of his Colorado locations. “I think they did an excellent job of integrating both textures—Silk and Ultra,” he said. “So if someone wants less shading you have that available in the Ultra yarn, and for those who softer they have the Silk yarn—and it displays both side by side. Also, it’s available in multiple weights so you have a lot of options with the wall.”
Odette is also excited to see Mohawk put some marketing behind SmartStrand, noting it was a long time coming. “I am big on the rhino promotion because they have not promoted the SmartStrand brand in quite some time,” he told FCNews. “We were one of the first adopters of SmartStrand about 17 or 18 years ago. It’s been a real focus for us and to see them get behind a marketing campaign that will resonate with the consumer is going to be super important.”
However, at the end of the day, while rhino preservation is a feel-good story, Odette said the consumer will be more concerned about the cleanability and performance of SmartStrand. “What will resonate is having it in a rhino cage for an extended period of time and then Mohawk cleans it and it looks brand new. That’s the visual presentation I feel the consumer will gravitate to. The preservation story is a nice cherry on top.”
Odette is not alone. Michael Haley, CEO of Haley’s Flooring and Interiors, Huntsville, Ala., said he is equally excited, especially having success with color walls in the past. “This one is different,” he said. “The SmartStrand Color Wall is all about softness. If you can offer a customer two different softness levels in what they want to buy, which is a tonal and a solid, then you have a gold mine. Let’s say my customer doesn’t want to spend that much money but still wants soft; there is another option in those exact same colors. So I’ve got this big display with beautiful colors, with tonals and solids, and the customer gravitates to it like a bug in a light. It’s easy to sell by allowing our salespeople to let the customer investigate what she wants.”
Like Odette, Haley said the performance aspect of the marketing campaign is what will win the day. “No matter what, durability rules the roost,” he said. If you can show the durability and cleanability of this product along with the softness and the colors, it’s a game changer. If we can save the rhinos, great; we all love the environment. We all want to better the world, but durability is [king]. If a rhino can step on it and not mess it up, anyone can step on it.”
Craig Phillips, president of Barrington Carpet & Flooring, Akron, Ohio, and a Mohawk advisory council member, is one retailer who said he believes Mohawk cannot underestimate the impact of the ‘Save the Rhino’ campaign. “I think it has tremendous value,” he said. “Don’t underestimate it, especially with the younger population. So many people in this country will follow causes like that. That story coupled with how it performs in a rhino pen will resonate with people. It’s a great cause.”
Phillips is a big proponent of SmartStrand having embraced it in all channels of his business. “Some of the builder work we do today is with SmartStrand exclusive programs,” he noted. “Fewer claims and it does perform. We use it in multi-family as a trade-up option. No warranty claims on the builder side, and we get satisfied customers on the retail side.”
Phillips took on the color wall in all three of his locations after having success with color walls in the past. The difference here is the product,” he said. “We really believe in the fiber.”
As for the wall itself, Phillips cited the fact it is attractive, a destination, well-lit and shows the product well. “The color selection stands out in our showroom, although I would have also liked to have seen some multi-color products in there.”
USA Flooring, with five locations in North Carolina, took on the Color Wall in each store. Molly Craig Cordell, director of sales and marketing, cited the simplicity of the wall as a key selling point. “I love presenting it to clients, she said. “They have choices and you can give those samples to them at the drop of a hat. They can take the sample home, make a choice, come back and make the purchase.”
Aside from the simplicity, Cordell said she likes how Mohawk stands behind SmartStrand. “If you mess up the carpet and it can’t be cleaned, Mohawk will replace it. There is a huge warranty on this product [that provides confidence for the consumer].”
For Maryann Adams, president/CEO of Avalon Flooring, one of the largest retailers in the country with 17 locations in New Jersey, Pennsylvania and Delaware, said she likes the marketing tied to the Color Wall which targets families, which is pets and children. “It sells the SmartStrand brand and educates the sales associate to sell that product.”
And like most retailers, she likes the preservation story of rhinos, but will focus on SmartStrand’s attributes. “I think everyone wants to save the planet and likes that purchases of SmartStrand are going toward something good,” she said. “But demonstrating the cleanability and performance will go a lot farther. It’s a conversation with customers to explain the durability and cleanability of the fiber.”
