SEATTLE--(BUSINESS WIRE)--March 24, 2003--It's time for America's homeowners to put away the pretenders and "get real" -- with real Western Red Cedar.
The Western Red Cedar Lumber Association (WRCLA) today launched an aggressive marketing campaign to renew Western Red Cedar's traditional place as the premier building material for decking, siding and other hallmarks of quality homes. Print advertising will feature spoofs on plastic and synthetic substitutes such as "Deckadent" and "Plastibord" that lack the beauty, durability and prestige of Western Red Cedar.
"Western Red Cedar is what every plastic, vinyl, cement and composite substitute dreams of being," said Peter Lang, WRCLA general manager. "This is their wake-up call."
WRCLA is known globally as the "voice of the cedar industry." Its members are located in both the United States and Canada and produce more than 65 percent of the world's cedar.
"The $2 million (USD) campaign will reach out to homeowners, as well as industry audiences such as builders, architects and building-material dealers," Lang said. The print advertising will hit during the spring and summer building season. Ads will appear in general-circulation newspaper inserts in major U.S. cities from New York to Chicago to Seattle and lifestyle magazines such as Sunset, Midwest Living and Cape Cod Life.
One ad will show a tacky plastic pink flamingo as "the perfect accessory for my Deckadent deck," in the words of its homeowner character. The adjacent panel, by contrast, will invite homeowners to use real Western Red Cedar to create "a deck for the decades, naturally."
The ad campaign will also introduce the new WRCLA visual image, emphasizing "Real Cedar." The new logo will appear on every Western Red Cedar product from a WRCLA member as a mark of quality backed by an association of reputable manufacturers and a lengthy heritage. A new Web portal supports the campaign at www.realcedar.org. Web sites launched at www.plastibord.com and www.deckadent.com complement the humorous themes played out in the advertising.
The Western Red Cedar campaign responds to the recent rise in use of substitute decking and siding materials made from plastic, vinyl, and composites of resin and wood fiber. "Substitutes may come with guarantees," Lang said, "but only cedar provides the time-tested assurance of centuries of real performance."
"Western Red Cedar offers the flexibility of many choices coupled with proven durability and the beauty only nature can provide," Lang added. "With routine maintenance, which all building materials need, Western Red Cedar warms the character of any home for generations."
The Western Red Cedar Lumber Association is an organization of Western Red Cedar producers in British Columbia, Washington, Oregon, Idaho, and Northern California. Founded in 1954, WRCLA is known worldwide as "the voice of the cedar industry." Its members account for more than 65 percent of the world's production of cedar and have an annual volume of nearly 1 billion board feet. WRCLA is headquartered in Vancouver, B.C., and has offices in New York, Chicago and Seattle. For information on Western Red Cedar and its uses, WRCLA can be contacted at 866/778-9096 or through its Web site at www.wrcla.org.
