Episode Transcript
[00:00:00] Speaker A: Foreign.
[00:00:09] Speaker B: Welcome to the Clear Impact Podcast, brought to you by Mitre Brands University. Thanks for joining us today. My name is Sheri Conner and I am your host.
[00:00:19] Speaker C: And this icon, specifically, the line that goes diagonal in the middle is really representative of this third space, our product that blends the outside and the inside.
So not only does it have this really unique look and feel for Western, but it has this embedded meaning of what we have, what our products are, and how we widen your horizon for anyone that's either putting it in or living with the space.
[00:00:46] Speaker B: Good afternoon. We are here on the Clear Impact podcast and virtually I have Anita Holman and Crystal Perez with me. Welcome.
[00:00:56] Speaker C: Thank you.
[00:00:56] Speaker A: Thank you.
[00:00:57] Speaker B: So we are going to be talking about Western architectural openings today, but before we jump into that, would you each just take a brief minute and tell us a little bit about yourselves, your background, your tenure, and your role and responsibilities here at Mitre Brands. So, Anita, we'll start with you.
[00:01:14] Speaker C: Sure, no problem.
So, Anita Holman, I am the VP of Brand and channel marketing here at Mitre Brands. I am fairly new to the organization officially. It's been about eight months that I've been here. However, I was with an agency interrupt for about 16 years and I worked of those 16 years, 11 years doing the branding for Miter Brands. So I'm well versed in the products and the brand.
So my role is overseeing all of the brand and marketing that's going out across all brands here within Mitre Brands.
[00:01:47] Speaker B: Excellent. So, Crystal, tell us about you.
[00:01:50] Speaker A: Hi, Crystal Perez. I've been a part of Western for about eight years now. I'm a brand manager, have played many roles within the marketing team here. I started as a marketing coordinator and moved my way up. So, really excited to be a part of this brand and the growth of this brand.
[00:02:09] Speaker B: Yeah. Excellent. So just a little recap. Western Window Systems was actually founded in 1959 and has really risen to become a preferred choice of architects, builders and homeowners throughout the country.
And we're gonna be chatting today about the recent brand change and to Western architectural openings.
And so, Anita, I know you had your hand in this prior to even the eight months that you've been with Mitre Brands. How did this rebrand come about?
[00:02:40] Speaker C: Yeah, so any rebrand is a long process that starts with research and customer feedback, and that's where this started. So over a year ago, while I was at the agency, leadership was talking to us about the opportunity that Western had in a luxury space, a space that we felt there was opportunity for a brand that really lived that luxury approach. And there were some gaps that we could fill.
So going through some different research, qualitative, quantitative, with our key stakeholders in the market. So this is dealers and architects, contractors, builders. We really understood where the pain points were and what we could do to really change the game for a luxury window and door brand.
And one of the things that we did during that exercise is look at, at successful luxury brands outside the category and really understanding what are those brand attributes around service and creativity and support and technology? What are the attributes that we have to include in this new western brand to really claim the luxury space? So we identified six different areas. We identified the importance of those areas, some of them being service as a key area that was a gap in this category and, and probably one of the biggest ways that we could differentiate and really create loyalty with our customers.
So as part of that research, we did a cross functional workshop with every aspect throughout the business. Sales, service products, architectural reps, marketing.
And we did some pretty in depth exercises to understand, okay, what does elevated service mean or what does sales call? How does it look different in this new luxury space? And we came up with this really defined plan that not only better serves our customers, makes it easier for us to work with them, makes it easier for homeowners when they have a question to give them an answer immediately, but it also positions us as a luxury brand in a space that there definitely was room to move.
[00:04:55] Speaker B: Yeah, excellent. I did hear through a couple of other podcast recordings that I've been doing around this topic about some of those roundtables and some of those dealer conversations. So I had no idea that all that goes into a rebrand.
So I find that super interesting.
Why do you think a rebrand was necessary? Like, why does a company in general decide to do a rebrand?
[00:05:17] Speaker C: You know, from my perspective and my background as a brand strategist came in as part of this, I feel really strongly that a brand or rebrand should be attached to a strategic change.
There are companies that just change for change sake, and it kind of falls flat when it's not attached to a strategic vision.
So in this case, from a leadership and a research, we saw the opportunity to become this luxury brand and then this rebrand positioning, the look, the way we move into the market, that should be aligned to that. So in my mind, a strategic vision should drive a rebrand and then all marketing materials coming after that should align to that vision.
[00:05:58] Speaker B: Yeah, that's solid. That makes a lot of sense. And as I mentioned when I was talking with One of the folks, I don't remember if it was Richard or Kevin somebody. You know, we've always seen Western as a luxury brand just because of the types of homes that are using the Western product more so than just an everyday residential product. So I think it's amazing to give it what it's due. Right. Because that's how I've always seen it. So, Crystal, I have a couple of questions for you.
What does this rebrand repositioning, more strategic vision. What does this mean for our customers?
[00:06:34] Speaker A: For our customers, it means an even stronger focus and complete experience.
They'll continue to receive the design possibilities, craftsmanship, engineering, and performance they expect from Western. It's just really adding a clear commitment to the support and the service level that we want to provide our dealers, our customers, our architects. So I think that's what's really meaningful behind the rebrand and what it means for customers.
[00:07:04] Speaker B: Nice. Are there any specifics around how they're going to be supported?
[00:07:08] Speaker A: Yes. We're providing tools and support for our customers to go to market with a new brand. We've enhanced our customer portal and provided them new tools to be able to easily access materials for their showrooms, also for branded materials, literature.
And of course, we always have our territory managers and our marketing team here to give them the easy button. If they just want to reimagine their space with Western, they can work with us and we can make it happen for them. They can also just reach out to us for simple changes. They don't necessarily have to go to the portal. We've made it really easy for them to kind of decide which route do they want to go. Do they want to do it themselves or do they want a little bit more handholding? So.
[00:07:55] Speaker C: So I think one thing that we're doing that is great to see, we're redesigning our showrooms to embody this new brand.
We're then taking these asset kits to give to our dealers so that they can also rebrand parts of their showroom to embody this new brand and create this elevated space when homeowners come in to select their products.
It is this full 360 that the Western team is giving and supporting to make sure that it's not just us pushing this brand, but it's all of our partners.
[00:08:27] Speaker B: Well, we are sharing our expertise around all topics relating to the window and door industry. Whether you are a customer selling our products or a homeowner doing research, the Clear Impact podcast provides helpful content that makes an impact. Subscribe today. Wherever you listen to Podcasts.
That's amazing.
And so with that, I know when PGT had their rebrand, we established some brand pillars.
I'm assuming Western did too, right?
[00:08:56] Speaker A: Yes, we did. We have four new pillars. They're designed unconfined, a passion for precision, crafted around you and driven to defy.
[00:09:07] Speaker B: Is there context around those that you can share?
[00:09:09] Speaker A: Together, those pillars support our brand promise. Widen youn Horizon. They express a brand that gives people greater design freedom, delivers with precision, creates a highly personal experience, and continue pushing beyond what has traditionally been possible.
[00:09:26] Speaker C: Crystal, what's your favorite pillar?
[00:09:28] Speaker A: My favorite pillar Design and Confined. I think that really is to the core of what Western is. We really want to help bring those designs to life. And we are often referred to as like the yes man in our brands because we don't like to say no to architects, big visions and what they want to do. We want to make it work and we want to design around that vision. So I think that is really one of my favorite pillars that embodies the brand the most.
[00:09:58] Speaker B: Yeah, that's well said. Thank you for sharing about that. So along with the new brand pillars, there's also a core purpose which is widen your horizon. Can you talk about that?
[00:10:09] Speaker A: Widen your horizon is the expression of our brand that gives people greater design freedom, delivers with precision, creates a highly personal experience, and continues pushing beyond what has traditionally been possible.
[00:10:23] Speaker B: And that can apply to more than just the product, right?
[00:10:27] Speaker A: Yes. I think that's what is so special about our core purpose is it can be applied to other areas outside of the product. It can be applied toward, you know, growing your business, growing within the company, really imagining what's possible and going beyond it.
[00:10:46] Speaker B: That's excellent. So we didn't really talk about the name or the logo.
What are the things that would be important for our audience to understand about what went into that and what that means.
[00:10:57] Speaker A: Western has evolved so much over the past 67 year history.
We started as Western Insulated Glass, moved to Western Window Systems and had this idea of creating better ways to live and really became known for pushing the boundaries of scale, design and performance.
The new brand, Architectural Openings, gives us room to tell that bigger story. It describes not only what we manufacture, but what we help create, which is architecture that breathes, views that move you and spaces that feel connected to the landscape.
So the rebrand and renaming of our company isn't us becoming something different. It's really expressing the company we've already become with greater clarity and confidence.
[00:11:47] Speaker B: Yeah, I totally see that. Because honestly, there's more doors in the portfolio than there are windows. You know, so I was like, still Western window system. So I'm glad that you guys changed the name. Anita, did you have anything you wanted to add to that?
[00:12:01] Speaker C: No, I think that was a really great description of that. Again, if we go back to how we want to elevate this brand, and we did find in research that architects play a big role in, in selecting the brand before going and presenting the project to the homeowner. So architectural openings is language that they use. Openings allows us to talk about every space that our products go in. Instead of limiting it previously to windows within that descriptor, it just elevates the brand that goes with this logo. And, you know, if we look at the logo, we changed it to this very elegant typeface.
We have this signature icon with it now that as we were developing it, one, we want this icon become synonymous with Western. If we go back to a luxury brand, think of a handbag or think of a car that has this emblem that when you see it, it's elevated. It means the brand.
And this icon, specifically the line that goes diagonal in the middle is really representative of this third space, our product that blends the outside and the inside. And so not only does it have this really unique look and feel for Western, but it has this embedded meaning of what we have, what our products are, and how we widen your horizon. For anyone that's either putting it in or living with the space.
[00:13:24] Speaker B: Yeah, I love it. I think it's gorgeous. Well done, you guys.
[00:13:28] Speaker C: From you personally, what is your favorite part about what we launched with this new brand?
[00:13:33] Speaker A: I think my favorite part of what we launched in this new brand is just how elevated the brand feels, and it really sets the tone for the experience that we're going to be providing our customers. It's just beautiful. And it backs up everything that we've been doing. As Sherry mentioned, you know, we've always felt that we've been a luxury brand, but this really shows that front and center. As soon as you see the brand, which I love, and then really being able to dive deep into the customer experience and keep improving upon that. So we're not just talking the talk, but we're walking the walk, I think is really special. And we have so many team members that are doing things behind the scene to make sure that this brand is walking the walk and becoming successful. So I just really love how everyone pulled together to make it happen. And in, like, record timing, I felt.
[00:14:36] Speaker C: So it was in record timing and being in brand, my Entire life, this brand and the full backing of the team, I've never seen it. You know, a lot of times people see rebrands as, oh, it's a marketing thing. It's just a new logo. And like you said, it was every person in that western organization got behind where we were going from a vision standpoint and. And figured out what part they played in really pushing this brand forward. So that was incredible to see. I have never had that with any other company that I've rebranded. It was very impressive.
[00:15:11] Speaker B: What was the time frame between. We're talking about it, we're thinking about it to launch.
[00:15:16] Speaker C: So I would say it was about six months. As we went through the brand development, the logo was not approved until the beginning of the year, so maybe late January.
And from there, from January to the launch, at the end of June, we built everything. Every aspect of this brand was changed. All the plants, the headquarters, all down to the marketing materials, the swag, the clothing. I mean, the team worked so hard, and every person went above and beyond to make sure that this brand lived through all of the pieces that were going out to the market.
[00:15:50] Speaker B: Well done. It's amazing.
All right, so we're going to get to the final question, which you each get to answer, and I'm curious to hear what your response.
So we've been asking folks lately about the Mitre DNA statements, and I would love to know which one or ones resonate the most with you.
[00:16:09] Speaker A: My favorite one is dream big, set goals and get to work.
I feel like when I'm putting together activation plans for the brand, I go really, really big and sometimes need to be pulled back. But I love that that is a part of our DNA and it really helps us have really unique experiences for the brands and gives us some really exciting goals to look forward to. And then, of course, a nice little roadmap to kind of bow tie it all together. So I love that DNA statement.
[00:16:43] Speaker B: Yeah, that is a fun one. How about you, Nita?
[00:16:46] Speaker C: So I have a sticky note on my computer with two of them or at least parts of two of the DNA. So I'll go over them. So the first is we focused on. On opportunities, not obstacles, because the only barriers that exist are the ones you choose to create my personal DNA. I don't ever feel like anything is unobtainable. I'll make it work or I'll figure out a way to make it happen. So that was just kind of who I was before I came here. So I really gravitated towards that. The next one I have is control the controllables. So in a shortened version of the DNA point. But for me, what can I control?
How can I move something forward so it gives me something to live by that I can control what comes next and I need to let things kind of go by the way I can't control. So those are the two that are on a sticky note on my computer.
[00:17:37] Speaker B: I like that. Nice. Well, I think that does it for us. I so appreciate the insight and the backstory behind the name and the brandings and the core purpose behind Western architectural openings. Anyway, ladies, have a great afternoon. Thank you for your time.
[00:17:52] Speaker A: Thanks, Sherry.
[00:17:55] Speaker B: The Clear Impact Podcast is brought to you by Mitre Brands University. We are a part of Mitre Brands, a family of leading window and door brands united by our passion for quality and relentless pursuit of 100%. At Mitre Brands, our common purpose is to deliver value by manufacturing the finest products, services and customer experience every day, everywhere. Our window and door brands deliver regionalized expertise, products and services, all backed by a national company.
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