‘Mastercrete brand revitalisation’ for Mastercrete Cement, by Lafarge Cement UK

Summary

Lafarge manufactures two mainstream cement products, ‘GPC’ and ‘Mastercrete'. Mastercrete is superior to GPC, but in the past end‐users have not perceived any significant difference between the two.

Lafarge planned to narrow the gap in the audience’s perception of Mastercrete so that the brand could command a premium price. The approach was to conduct extensive research to identify new attributes that could be incorporated into the Mastercrete brand in order to achieve a premium position. The key insight was that cement wastage through poor packaging was the main pain point.

New attributes of water resistant and tear proof plastic packaging were identified. Conjoint analysis was conducted to assess end‐user willingness to pay for the identified attribute. Conjoint analysis showed plastic packaging was a new attribute, which end‐users would pay a premium for.

Plastic packed Mastercrete was rolled out nationally in 2008, supported by marketing communications. The reach and coverage of the communications campaign was extensive, and a wide range of marketing elements were utilised.