HARDWARE & SECURITY
WINKHAUS UK EXPANDS MARKETING SUPPORT FOR CUSTOMERS
Leading window and door specialist , Winkhaus UK , is delighted to have received two awards at this year ’ s National Fenestration Awards , including the Digital Marketing Campaign of the Year for the company ’ s newest innovation , the AV4 multi-point autoLocking solution .
» BUILDING ON THIS , WINKHAUS have now released a series of shorts that capture end user testimony of the benefits they have seen AV4 provides , content that has been created for fabricators and installers to use as part of their sales and marketing activity .
Marketing Support
Andrew Wilkins Head of Marketing at Winkhaus UK , “ Our company Vision is Guaranteeing our customers success , so for marketing , our focus is to provide engaging content that customers can use in their own marketing and sales activities and provide them with a competitive edge . As a company and marketing team we were delighted with the recognition the AV4 campaign has received , but knew there was more to capture and share .” Initial testing with autoLock AV4 highlighted the importance of low operational forces , from which we highlighted the benefits this has for fabricators and installers . For the next phase of the campaign , we set ourselves the challenge of understanding how AV4 would benefit end users , and any advantages low operational force would provide .
Testing against real world conditions
Working with an independent research company , groups of end users were invited to test autoLock AV4 against competitor ’ s solutions . Andrew continues : “ we sort individuals who have experienced or who are experiencing the impact of thermal expansion in there . The group included homeowners and landlords , individuals with arthritis and other disabilities across a wide age range to ensure we had a representative mix . Individually , everyone
tested three identical doorsets , with packers installed at the top and bottom to simulate the increasing impact of thermal expansion . Other than door colours , the only variation between samples was the locking solutions installed . Each user was asked to unlock each door and to stop testing a doorset if it became difficult to operate . The results were conclusive with everybody choosing autoLock AV4 and being able to operate to double acceptable industry tolerances .
“ Following testing we captured the groups feedback on the testing , their experiences with doors that are difficult to operate , the benefit AV4 ’ s low force to operate gives them and any advantages this will provide them in the future .” Andrew states , “ the insight this research captures into the impact thermal expansion and sticky locks have been invaluable . Everyone involved shared negative firsthand experiences that will now be resolved by including AV4 in future specifications . Being able to provide this research and content to our customers will allow them to show their future customers the wider importance of the correct locking solution , whilst helping them succeed in a competitive market .” The completed films can be viewed on our website and are available for our customers to download from the Media Downloads section of the Winkhaus Portal , along with all the other assets already available for AV4 . Andrew added : “ The Winkhaus Portal is a real time productivity tool for our customers , allowing access to live transactional data , our full technical product catalogue , and our growing library of marketing collateral . It ’ s always up to date , with data drawn from our SAP system and can be accessed at any time . Having the information you require at your fingertips is such an advantage and it ’ s wonderful to see so many of our customers departments gaining benefit from its content .”
AV4 innovation journey and development
Designed to combat the issues with thermal expansion , AV4 is the turning point for fabricators and installers who are tired of costly call outs to make hinge and keep adjustments . The AV4 autoLock reduces the force needed to operate by 40 % compared to the market leading AV2 and up to 70 % compared to competitors ’ solutions , so when alignment issues occur , AV4 continues to operate where other solutions fail .
For further information on autoLock AV4 , the full range of multi-point locking solutions available from Winkhaus or the Winkhaus Portal , please visit winkhaus . co . uk or contact enquiries @ winkhaus . co . uk or marketing @ winkhaus . co . uk
JANUARY 2025
21 locksmithjournal . co . uk