Masonry Magazine May 2004 Page. 18
MCAA-2004 Masonry
Convention
Masonry Systems Promotion
Campaign
The MCAA ANNUAL Member Meeting was the perfect place to introduce the new masonry promotional initiative. See the "MasonrySystems.org" sidebar at right for more details on this exciting new push to make masonry the building system of choice.
Masonry Showcase
OVER SIXTY VENDORS exhibited their masonry products for the attendees. From small hand tools to large equipment, the 2004 MCAA Masonry Showcase offered something for everyone.
MASONRYSYSTEMS.ORG
MASONRY
SYSTEMS
Some of the new items exhibited during the Masonry Showcase and other shows held this Spring can be found in our special "New Equipment Round-up" (see pages 24-27). MCAA has partnered with the Construction Specifications Institute (CSI), and next year the Masonry Showcase will co-locate with CSI's Construct America in Chicago. This joining of forces will create a show that covers virtually the entire construction lifecycle. It will also bring together over 600 exhibitors, giving attendees even more of the latest products and services available to them.
During the MCAA Annual Meeting, Ann Sullivan Wolter, Executive Director of the Rocky Mountain Masonry Institute, spoke about the Executive Director Council's recent initiative. Last summer, she began, a dozen state associations met with MCAA's Mike Adellizzi and agreed on three things: 1) the masonry industry is being eaten alive by the "turnkey" building system approach of our competitors; 2) myriad information sources are causing confusion concerning masonry; and 3) mason contractors are the natural group to bring this fractured industry together.
These rough ideas have blossomed into the 16-organization Executive Director Council's new multi-stage marketing campaign for the industry. This new marketing campaign is spearheaded by the first stage: MasonrySystems.org web site. The main focus of the site is not only to create a unified source for information on masonry, but also to engage the idea in people's minds that masonry is an entire structural system.
"The endorsement of masonry as a system includes all phases and elements of our industry," says Kyle Montgomery, Executive Director of the Texas Masonry Council and President of the Executive's Council. "With the goal of gaining market share, every mason contractor in the U.S. will benefit from these pro-masonry promotions."
The second stage of this new initiative is to distribute promotional advertising throughout more than a dozen architectural, construction and school-based magazines.
"The new print ads are different because we use humor to articulate a single thought masonry is more than an envelope, it is the entire package," says Montgomery. "Then our call to action is for readers to visit the web site for more information."
16 Masonry
May 2004
www.masoncontractors.org