Kidderminster, UK, Sept. 15--The UK carpet industry will launch a £1 million TV and press campaign in a bid to fight back against 'trendy' alternative floorcoverings, according to the Birmingham Post.
The campaign is being masterminded by the Kidderminster-based Carpet Foundation.
Fourteen of the UK's leading manufacturers and 1,200 independent retailers have joined forces to halt and reverse the damaging trend away from carpet and to stem the inflow of imports which now account for 65 per cent of all carpet sold in the UK.
The campaign, which starts on GMTV tomorrow, is the first time that quality carpet has been advertised on national TV screens for over 20 years and is intended to breathe new life into the carpet market. The TV campaign runs for five weeks, using a mixture of terrestrial and satellite channels with media bought by Birmingham based Smart Media.
Targeting young professionals seeking to make home improvements for the first time, those who have bought into the recent vogue for hard floors as well as those who already have carpet, the campaign will use a mix of 30 and ten second treatments.
A press campaign using 15 home interest titles kicks off in the November editions.
The TV commercial, produced by London based Great Guns, is a 'slice of life.'
Starting in black and white, it is the tense tale of a woman's journey from her workplace to the carpeted haven of her home.
The heroine is seen journeying through a faceless and overbearing rush hour before arriving home and delighting in the snug, carpeted comfort of her home. The voice over encourages consumers to 'come back to carpet'.
Rupert Anton, marketing director of The Carpet Foundation, the Kidderminster-based body behind the campaign said: "It is an 'attitude of mind' campaign that is saying it is cool to have carpet.”
