Selling Stones with Emotions or:

Giving Stone a Brand as an Emotional Material

Lecture by Peter Becker from Stone-Ideas.com at the Euroroc General Assembly 2016 at Marmomacc

The photos below from „Schöner Wohnen“, a German magazine for interior decoration, are from a toruism report about the Vinschgau in South Tyrol from where come Laaser marble and a special wood (Zirbenholz).

Both photos were selected by the editors, probably from a range of pictures the local associations for both materials had provided. Interesting to see is: in the focus of the marble photo is the crane and the steel wire, in the focus of the timber photo is a craftswoman working. How can it be that the editors chose these photos: the stone picture being cold as ice without any emotional touch, the timber photo showing a friendly person with positive emotions? Yet we know: stone is an emotional material, an even HIGHLY EMOTIONAL material. See the following photo:

So how can it be that stone obviously looses all its emotions on its way from the mountain to the slab or the tile? The answer is simple: It’s the stone people themselves who cause this dilemma. Following are photos from a Chinese webpage where the pictures revolve automatically: First is shown a geometrical rock formation, designed by men.

The next photo is the same quarry yet from a different angle: It shows pure destruction with slopes of waste in a messy landscape.

First thing we learn is: Photos easily evoke emotions, but to get the right ones is not so easy. One more example from another webpage: The first photo shows pure destruction and an exploited landscape:

The second photo is even weird: Does the company get paid for promoting those wheel-loaders and excavators?

Which kind of emotions shall these machines create?

But the following photo from Scandinavia has no wheel loaders, no waste, no exploitation, but flowers, springtime, positive emotions...

... but where’s the stone? For a company specialized in roofing slate quite a funny webpage. Finally an example for a webpage where everything’s done right:

First is presented how stone embellishes a terrace...

... then we get an idea where the stone comes from...

... then comes a quarry, showing even some machinery, but also flowers, no slopes of waste..., rather a playground than a quarry... ... only the happy butterfly is lacking: :-)

... then again the stone in use: elegant, noble...

... and finally a machine in action (no stone visible):

One may say that these photos do not represent the work in a quarry or in a workshop. That is true, but the aim of a webpage is to sell stone, not to document its way from the mountain to the customer. Let’s have a look how our competitors deal with nature on their webpages. Following a photo from a Swiss timber company:

We do not see how the tree is taken from the forest. The trunks are simply there.

The next photo shows the cutting of the trunk: no sawdust, no dangerous and allmighty machine. The red line on the trunk is probably a laser; it gives the whole processing a touch a sophistication. The last photo shows the result of the process: no roots left in the forest, no branches, no transportation problems...

There’s an endless variety of options to use nature in order to create emotions for stones. An artistic way is to blend both. An example from Brazil.

Second thing we’ve learned: There is a lot of ways to create emotions using nature. And as stone is 100% natural, the stone sector should benefit from them. Unfortunately, stone companies often do it wrong: they make their presentations rather for themselves than having the target group in mind.

Third: talking about emotions also means talking about sex, of course. The following pictures show a campaign by Spanish Cosentino Group: Formula-One-pilot Fernando Alonso in kitchens with a Silestone countertop.

No doubt: women are the main target group. On the photo left, „chef“ Alonso invites the viewer for dinner (and for breakfast later, so to say). The photo on the right refers to the Judgement of Paris from Greek mythology. Note: The Silestone-countertop has the same color like the apple - she who uses such a countertop will be awarded the apple! The fact that Alonso was chosen as showgirl, reveals that the campaign is also meant to address men as he also stands for high-speed and roaring motors. An outstanding example for a campaign directed to female AND male customers was realized by the Swiss initiative „Pro Naturstein“. It only apparently uses sex. Three photos revolve on the webpage:

Female, male... ... and the third one?

The campaign does not create emotions by sex, but by family! Fourth: Stone is a family material!! * stone makes a house a home, * a kitchen countertop may accompany a family for a whole lifetime, * friends gather around the kitchen countertop. Fifth: another source for strong emotions is mythology, the land, the earth. Greek Stone Group Intl had created a campaign called „12 Mythic Marbles“. It was about a dozen stones from different regions in Greece, linked together by ancient mythology. It won Marmomacc’s Best Communicator Award in 2014.

One of those marbles is about King Midas (everything he touched turned into gold). He spent his youth at Mount Vermion where the Vermion White marble is quarried:

Worth noting is the artistic presentation that visualizes the myths. It refers to the ancient Greek vase paintings:

Sixth: other sources for emotions are: * stone is millions of years old, * natural stone is one of the earth’s jewels... Finally a video from the Italian company Stonecycle. It presents a marble quarry like a virgin piece of nature after snowfall and a young dancer who discovers this landscape full of peace: http://www.stonecycle.it/wp-content/uploads/video/stone-cycle-video-web-def.mp4