In response to the highly talked about TV programmes which featured a couple of months ago about the problem of lock snapping, UAP have taken the initiative and launched a brand spanking new website dedicated to consumers wishing to upgrade their current insecure euro profile door cylinders: www.upgrademylocks.com. As well as this new site, UAP will be launching an extensive radio campaign promoting their Anti-Snap and Anti-Bump UAP+ Zero Lift high security cylinders.
Having seen the new website myself I can tell you that it will prove to be an effective sales tool. The layout of the site is simple, modern but not too tacky. The site even provides a facility for consumers to find their nearest UAP+ Zero Lift stockist. The website has a section which UAP customers can go to download flyers to help promote the cylinders they will be selling.
All in all, with the radio campaigns, the website launch and the new cylinder gauge, UAP are spending a hefty £500,000. Certainly putting their money where their mouth and thoughts are!
Now that the lock snapping problem is now widely known, a campaign to aid public awareness on how to resolve the issue has been necessary, and UAP have got there first – which isn’t surprising given their keen sense of innovation and drive to be where it matters first.
Here is their press release:
After seeing sales of our UAP+ Zero Lift Anti Snap cylinders soar since the Inside Out BBC airing we have decided to invest heavily in our products.
Over the past 4 years UAP have been banging the drum about offering better cylinders to the end consumer. Two years ago we developed and launched the UAP+ Anti Bump and Anti Snap Zero Lift cylinder and we have seen sales grow month on month.
I have followed the debate about Three Star cylinders, Diamond Standard cylinders etc without making comment as most of it seems a point scoring exercise to me. The fact is simple, The Diamond Standard has no relevance at all at the moment, and the only reason this was originally quoted so heavily was the cylinder in question could not achieve the 3 Star rating. For the purposes of Secured by Design the only relevant cylinders are the Kitemark TS007 cylinders.
The BBC article took me and most others by surprise, and I have made my own views on the irresponsibility of this well known on forums such as doubleglazingblogger.com. However, the cat is out of the bag, and no matter what people say the subject is now in the public domain.
I decided that now was the time to establish the UAP+ Zero Lift cylinder’s position in the market place. And the right way to do that was to support the product in the consumer arena.
We have chosen to start our campaign with Radio Advertising, and our equivalent spend in April is £100,000 across Smooth FM nationally and Tower FM. The campaign uses 2 advertisements. The first a 40 second advertisement aimed at outlining the issues and offering the UAP+ Zero Lift Cylinder as an easy and economical solution. The second 20 second advertisement is aimed at asking the consumer to demand UAP+ Zero Lift cylinders when buying replacement doors.
The April campaign on Smooth and Tower Radio is heavyweight with an OTH (opportunity to hear) of over 3 per person per week.
Why Smooth and Tower? Tower is our local station covering Bury, Bolton and the surrounding areas and we have spent a significant sum on a 6 month campaign. Our goal is to create a stronghold in the local area.
We wanted to generate as much National coverage as we could and chose Smooth FM as the ideal platform. Smooth Radio has the right audience with an average weekly adult audience of over 3.3 million listeners tuning into presenters like Simon Bates, Kid Jenson etc. Of these 3.3 million adults, approximately 2.2 million are home owners.
The first wave of advertising starts on April 9th on Smooth across their 6 FM Networks: North West, Glasgow, North East, West Midlands, East Midlands and London. National coverage is guaranteed from their Digital station and their Freeview TV stations.
We are directing all the listeners to our new site www.upgrademylocks.com where we are promoting for free, locksmiths, hardware shops, and uPVC window companies who stock UAP+ Zero Lift Cylinders.
This is now the moment in time that we have changed our marketing from strictly B2B to B2C. To add weight to that during our financial year May 2012 to April 2013 we are committing a further £400,000 to consumer focused advertising to further strengthen our UAP+ brand franchise.
So in closing, UAP have done what no one else has so far. We have put our money where our mouth is. We believe we have a superb product, backed up with great support, and sold at highly competitive prices. Time will tell if we have done the right thing, and if the industry walks with us, but the indications are that they will.
David Jennings
Managing Director
You can listen to the radio advert here. If I can get this to play embedded in this post then I shall alter it. But for now, please click the link to hear the advert!
I am not going to raise the hypocrisy of your previous posts on a regional TV programme shown specifically in an area where the issues are relevant vrs a national radio and internet campaign, but hey ho. I really dont understand why you would spend all this money on a campaign highlighting a sub standard product when you have said in the past that you have a new product coming out shortly that you claim will prevent cylinder snapping unlike the zero lift cylinder. I guess the other cylinder isnt all its cracked up to be after all !!! Its… Read more »
Our investment in our National Radio campaign is part of a major marketing initiative covering a lot of products, which also includes our new cylinder. This is called a marketing campaign Peter – perhaps you could look it up in a How To Guide.
I can also report that the first wave of the camapaign started yesterday and already our sales today have surpassed expectations.
Onwards and upwards Peter, onwards and upwards.
i had to take a double take there
i misread bullish for bullshit lol .
personally i like the avocet cylinder or the cisa product and the gege isnt to bad either . i suppose you get what you pay for
The UAP cylinder is a bottom line cylinder. When the new standard for fabricators comes out we all know the UAP product will fall short of that requirement and then you will be trying to get rid of all your stock. ABS cylinders are a great design but lack durability so I’d always opt for the Cisa. Yale’s cylinder isn’t too bad but please stay away from this cheap product. UAP are made in China for peanuts and when you pay peanuts you get monkeys. Cisa is made in Spain and the management of Avocet are looking for a manufacturer… Read more »
BTW Alex the Cisa product falls way short as well and in fact offers no more security than the UAP product (both use shear lines that dont work but the Cisa product does take an extra 10 or so seconds to break in over the UAP product due to material strength but even then sub 45 secs is easily achieved).
Would love to know where you get your durability info from and that we are looking at moving our production to Europe as that is as far off the mark as calling the cylinders you have mentioned security products.