How did a $500 Vancouver startup become a million dollar enterprise? This case study reveals that the right marketing tools and ingenuity can change a business.
Men In Kilts is all about window and gutter cleaning—with a kilted twist. Started by Nicholas Brand in 2002, the local startup is now franchising across North America. A loyal Speedpro client, we talked to Co-Founder & Chief Brand Architect, Brent Hohlweg about the decision to expand Men In Kilts through vehicle wraps.
Men In Kilts
The idea for kilt-clad window cleaners roaring forth in tartan trucks first came to founder Nicholas Brand while sitting on his back patio, enjoying an afternoon beer with his mates. The idea arose from his Scottish heritage, and some remarkable branding chops. “The deeper he looked into this, the more he realized this was one of those A-HA! moments. It’s so simple an idea, yet so powerful. “ said CBA Brent Hohlweg. “We’ve created a million dollar plus business out of it; focusing on positioning the brand (and that includes our tartan trucks) with a remarkable service experience, that our customers have loved talking about”.
But why vehicle wraps over any other marketing tool?
Brent says “Vehicle wrapping is probably the number one way to get your brand out into the marketplace because it ensures your business is being talked about. It takes 9 times for people to see your brand before they remember who you are and what you’re offering. Having a vehicle driving around a targeted local marketplace increases your exposure and builds business.” “Small business owners may be hesitant to spend a little more on this type of marketing, but it’s seriously the best investment they can make. If you look at it over the 4-5 years that the vehicle wrap is going to be in place, it’s actually very low cost and significantly contributes to new lead generation.”
Men In Kilts went from wrapping one vehicle to wrapping a fleet of over ten because “Our first vehicle literally doubled our business once we had it ‘tartan-ed’ and ‘graphic-ed’.”
How do you use the vehicle wraps to their full advantage?
“We use ‘parketing’, which is parking the vehicles (esp. the larger tartan cube trucks) in highly visible locations, or using them as mobile billboards travelling around the city. We drive a significant portion of our business just by having the vehicle in a certain neighborhood. The ‘graphic-ed’ vehicles are a really huge part of our marketing.”
Why Speedpro?
Men In Kilts Founder, Nicholas Brand and Co-Founder Brent Hohlweg, initially chose a different company to do their first wrap. “We went with one of the larger suppliers that had done a lot of high level stuff; at that point they had done work for BC Ferries I believe.” However, Brent and Nicholas weren’t too pleased with the end product. “The vehicle wrap was done in such a way that it started bubbling and wrinkling within the 1st year, and the company never lived up to the warranty promises.” Nicholas and Brent missed the personalization of service, “Nobody seemed to care enough to follow up with any of the problems. We’ve learned finding a great installer is a huge component of vehicle wraps, as well as receiving the right level of follow-up service.”
“At the end of the day, Speedpro was chosen because of the personalization of service and their honest, trustworthy, caring team. Speedpro is hands-on and perfect for small businesses because they are a small business themselves. They know where you’re coming from, and give you the attention to detail you deserve.” We couldn’t have said it any better ourselves. Many thanks to Brent and Nicholas from Men In Kilts Window & Exterior Cleaning for their time in creating this case study.
[...] concrete results from vehicle wrapping, check out the case study we did for our client Men In Kilts here. Categories : [...]