Aftermarket Company — mid market brand

Problem:

Phil helped to “create” the SWF brand in the UK. Whilst SWF was extremely well known in most of Europe, it had had never been distributed successfully in the UK. It had a poor reputation for range, availability and service.

 

Actions:

Phil found an enthusiastic UK distributor who was willing to stock it in depth, and Phil provided the personal service that he is so good at.

There followed months of work to persuade SWF Germany to extend the range to suit the UK vehicle parc. This was doubly difficult given that IK cars drive on the “wrong” side of the road, and wiper blades have to be adapted so that they work on UK windscreens. (Spoiler blades to fly off the screen if the spoiler is fitted in the European position!)

Phil found a proactive PR agency to get the right messages over to the press, and also launched an advertising campaign to create brand awareness.

He also organized a series of presentations and workouts with key UK distributors.

Result:

SWF was approved by the IFA (UK’s largest buying group) as a Premium Wiper Blade. A lot of work went into molding SWF into a viable UK brand — stock, new catalogue, PR, advertising, personal presentations and so on — but it paid off in the end, and now SWF is recognized as the premium blade it has always been everywhere else in mainland Europe.