Window Film Year In Review
As a window film maven and given the time of year it's just the right time for my annual window film year end review!
This is a whine free zone so I'll simply mention that the loud noises you are hearing around the USA are from dealers who have watched their profits erode based on the poor economy coupled with an abundance of low ball tint shops who they compete with on a daily basis. This is a growing trend and profitability will continue to be problematic in 2012.
Here's my TOP TEN LIST for window film events and trends of the year!
- Solutia acquires Southwall Technologies: Another feather in their cap as Solutia solidifies their global leadership position. My assumption is that their larger footprint particularly in the Pacific Rim will allow them to maintain their solid lead over their competition.
- Saint-Gobain acquires Solar Gard from Bekaert. Credibility for window film only increased with this major acquisition. How this will play out in US window film competitive circles remains to be seen.
- Madico-SunGard merger: This was a late 2010 event that played out rather tepidly in 2011. They can argue their own positives but thus far this combined organization seems top heavy in management without any appreciable improvement in the field.
- The branding strategy of Viper and 3M in their automotive films. Here we see a perfect test study of re-packaging an outside manufacturer's film in a well known brand name logo box.
The films are average at best yet the consumer is attracted to the halo effect of the branding. In both instances the suggestion is clearly implied that they make the film in their boxes. With rare exception (in 3M's case) they emphatically do not. "Caveat Emptor." - EnerLogic Low E Film. This is another case study for marketing a solution that truly out-performs all competitive films in their category. While the product benefits are certainly impressive the marketing strategy of Solutia in promoting these films has been inadequate. Consumer education is imperative and this leading edge product is virtually a secret.
My completely biased vote for product of the year is shared by the EnerLogic 70 and the Huper Optik 70 both manufactured by Solutia. - "Much ado about nothing" Here we highlight two 3M films that received a bit of attention in 2011.
The first an exterior Prestige Film that has an extremely limited market here in the USA (I'd love to see an installation of this film in say five years!) and the second; their announcement of a photovoltaic film to be introduced in 2012.
This 2012 launch date for a electricity producing film that is very unlikely to be sold through their dealer channel received gobs of attention from their "thirsty" dealers desperately seeking a glimmer of innovation.
These 3M advocates wrote blogs and board postings extolling the novelty of this incredible film, while discussing the possibilities of this film as if talking about it might ultimately convince someone to let them actually sell it.Since this is all they had to talk about in 2011; they seem more desperate than I had originally thought they were.Perhaps their angst about paying a Prestige fee creates this vaporware obsession? - The Year Of The Low Ball Bid: 2011 was certainly the year that commercial and government projects were awarded at the lowest price points in years.
There are always exceptions to the rule, but only when a government agency is ignorant of the available choices out there. If they do any shopping at all they will very quickly discover just how low some folks will go. This leads to. .
Ignore That Man Behind The Curtain! - The year of private labels: Here major window film manufacturers sell film in volume to private label companies that resell these generally low performance films to smaller distributors and dealers.
Price points are eroded and the consumer has no idea what company made the product. The private label dealers make extraordinary and unsupported claims that these films are equal to the name brand films and offer a better value for the end user.
It's similar to the way 3M re-boxes and markets SunTek Commonwealth Films or their re-boxed ceramic films while implying that they made it themselves (without ever stating that directly.)
The dealer appetite for private label films as well as SunTek is a direct result of the failure of the major window film manufacturers to create dealer focused loyalty programs or dealer-centric training and relationship building programs.
Obviously there is a cost and a talent requirement for developing dedicated dealer programs that foster loyalty and sales growth. Evidently manufacturers have tabled any investment in a long term approach. Their failure to do so makes it much easier for formerly loyal dealers to jump ship. - Social Networking: Whether one likes it or not, the internet has a huge influence on the window film business in 2011 and that will certainly grow in 2012.
Linkedin, Facebook, Twitter, and more. The "noise" on the internet will have a counter effect at some point as consumers will demand better search criteria and more effective results. - Pay-Per-Click: This Google program of paid search results is the flavor of the year for 3M and many local window tint dealers. In fact this is quite simply their entire marketing strategy. I'd love to see that GOOGLE invoice!
My assumption is that as long as pay per click continues to drive leads and impressions this trend will continue.
Posted by Mike Feldman at 12/28/2011 3:22 PM 
Categories: Commercial Window Film, Orlando window film window tinting, LLumar 2012, Consulting Coaching, Windowfilmusa.com, Madico Sunscape, Sarasota Bradenton Window Tinting, Energy Savings Window Tinting 2012, Huper Optik, EnerLogic Low E All Season Film, Armorcoat Solar Gard, Vista
Tags: Window Film Year In Review
Categories: Commercial Window Film, Orlando window film window tinting, LLumar 2012, Consulting Coaching, Windowfilmusa.com, Madico Sunscape, Sarasota Bradenton Window Tinting, Energy Savings Window Tinting 2012, Huper Optik, EnerLogic Low E All Season Film, Armorcoat Solar Gard, Vista
Tags: Window Film Year In Review
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