Our Pilkington Activ™ television advertising may have finished but that’s not the last you’ll hear about our self-cleaning glass. We have two new advertising campaigns that will be launched in May, both aimed at the trade. Our first Pilkington Activ™ national radio campaign debuts on 12th May and will run for two weeks on talkSPORT MW 1053 & 1089. Airing between 7am and 6pm Monday to Friday, and on Saturday mornings. We are raising awareness of the product amongst trade customers, particularly installers and sales people who are out and about during the day, plus male listeners who are ultimately influential in the decision making process of new window purchases.

The first Pilkington energiKare™ TV advertising campaign finished on 12th April and we were back again the following week appearing in 3.8 million copies of local papers. Newspapers across the UK carried our Featurelink campaign where a half page advert is supported by a half page of editorial. This enabled us to advise on where to buy Pilkington energiKare™ as well as highlighting its benefits to the planet and energy saving tips for the home. The whole campaign has been a tremendous success with awareness up and more than a thousand homeowners visiting our Partners websites to find a local supplier! 

The UK glazing industry’s leading trade show, Glassex, hit the NEC in April and we were present in force this year. The event, in conjunction with the Glass Processing &Technology show, ran over three days with a late night opening on the Wednesday to give those at work a chance to visit after office hours. We certainly caused a scrum on the second day when two Saints players Lee Gilmour and Nick Fozzard, sponsored by Pilkington Activ™, paid a visit to the stand to sign rugby balls for customers and display the fantastic Challenge Cup which they won bearing our name last year. David Stoker gives us his thoughts about our participation.

There's always lots going on across the country providing new or improved support. We'll keep you updated on some of the key information and projects.

Signs are that, despite the downturn in the market in the second half of the year, 2007/08 ended up being a good year in terms of profit, cash and safety performance. Health and Safety has been given a high profile in the Commercial function during the year with new guidelines concerning driving and visiting customer premises. Likewise Quality has been emphasised with respect to both product and service with improvement projects in place, revitalising Standards for Excellence and Site Visit training being rolled out. Service from the call centre has been improved with direct phone and email lines available for customers to get priority help on 0870 111 0077 or direct@pilkington.com . Make sure your customers know about these alternative methods of contact.

We take a trip back in time this month and head to Norwich to rediscover Dragon Hall, a recent project incorporating Pilkington Planar™. The glazing is part of a £1.8 million Heritage Lottery restoration of the Grade 1 listed building that has now been transformed into a museum. We are always on the look out for new case studies for photography to promote our products and our customer's successes in the press. So if you know of a project that you think would be of interest to others, whatever the product,  please contact Anne Quayle in head office.

In last month’s Window Industries we profiled long-standing customer Safestyle UK, one of the first companies to partner with us to supply Pilkington energiKare™. Established in 1992, Safestyle UK has grown to become the UK’s premier supplier of windows and doors to the domestic market. In the last year alone the company installed more than £100million of replacement windows and doors in homes the length and breadth of the country. With their multi-million pound advertising campaign on television and in the press, their support to our launch TV campaign for Pilkington energiKare™ couldn't have been more welcome. However its lots of good, small customers all around the country that will add to our message so we need their success stories as well. Let us know how your customer is getting on and we will be delighted to promote them.  

Our Product Knowledge courses, PK1 and PK2 have an excellent reputation so places are snapped up pretty rapidly. Designed to give you and your customers technical information about all our products, they are held four times each a year. PK1 provides an introduction to glass including tours of our factories which really bring the product to life, whilst PK2 is a more detailed course for those who are responsible for glass specifications. From May, bookings and arrangements for both will be managed by the call centre at DMS. Information about both courses including prices, dates and availability can be seen at www.pilkington.co.uk/productknowledge .