Six Trade Brands, One Conversation, No Scripts

When we decided to commission primary research into the role of creativity in construction marketing, we always knew the report was only part of the story.

Data tells you what. A room full of people who live and breathe this sector every day tells you why and more importantly, what to do about it.

So when Built for the Trade launched in Birmingham last week, we didn't just publish a report. We gathered thirteen senior marketing leaders from across the trade and built environment sector, sat them down together, and asked them to be honest.

The guest list mattered

We were joined by representatives from some of the most respected brands operating in the trade sector right now; Crown Paints, Wavin, Mitsubishi Electric, City Plumbing, Clifton Trade Bathrooms, and Tradesman Saver. Between them, the attendees represented decades of experience marketing to tradespeople across plumbing, heating, decorating, bathrooms, drainage, insurance and beyond.

A structured conversation guided by the research findings about what's working, what isn't, and what the trade sector needs to do differently when it comes to creative marketing.

We'd been having this conversation in private for too long

The honest answer is that we've been having versions of this conversation with clients and prospects for years in meeting rooms, at trade shows, over coffee. The question of whether creativity genuinely moves trade audiences, or whether this sector is too rational and too loyalty-driven for marketing to make a real difference, comes up constantly.

Bringing competitors and peers into the same room, people who rarely get the chance to compare notes honestly felt like the right way to take the conversation somewhere more useful than a white paper ever could on its own.

We were deliberate about the timing

Hosting the roundtable alongside one of the sector's biggest annual gatherings in the InstallerSHOW wasn't accidental. It meant the people in the room had already spent the day (or were just about to) immersed in the trade, seeing products demonstrated, talking to suppliers, watching the industry do what it does. That context kept the conversation grounded. We weren't theorising about tradespeople from a conference room. The audience we were discussing was, quite literally, just outside the door.

We're not done yet

We'll be publishing a full write-up of the discussion, the themes that emerged, the points of tension, and the practical conclusions the room landed on in the coming weeks. It goes well beyond the research findings and into territory that we think will be genuinely useful for anyone responsible for marketing to trades.

In the meantime, the Built for the Trade report itself is available to download now here. If it raises questions you'd like to explore further, about your own brand, your creative strategy, or how you're currently showing up for your trade audience, we'd love to hear from you.