percussion plus

Together with design agency, rhc creative strategy, I recently had the pleasure of working with Percussion Plus, who manufacture and distribute a huge range of percussion and drum instruments. 

Many of these instruments are manufactured at their Market Harborough factory - rightly, a great source of pride: to produce something of high quality and to be able to say 'Made in Britain' is some achievement.

Percussion Plus needed to find a way to stand out from the competition (much of it low-cost imports). 

We ran a Marketing Workshop with the team at Percussion Plus. This uncovered two fundamental truths.

First, the manufacturing process, in their own factory, produces products of great durability - in other words, the instruments last a long time and take a lot of punishment. This is particularly important when many of your customers are in the education business, with limited budgets and active children.  

Second, emotion is hugely important. From the love and pride that go into making the products, to the enjoyment and enthusiasm of the musicians playing them, to the enjoyment (sometimes!) of the audience (including proud parents). This emotion was shared by all stakeholders and was, I felt, the key to a more distinctive positioning. 

This led us to a communications strategy which can best be summarised by these two copy lines:

                                                     Instruments that take some beating

                                                                      and the 'strapline' -

                                                              A Passion for Percussion