Tucson, Ariz.—Coming together from all across North America at the beautiful, new JW Marriott Starr Pass Resort & Spa here, more than 80% of Flooring America/Canada members—which represent over 575 storefronts—gathered to learn about the new products and programs the group has to offer, network with each other and promote and support its national branding initiatives.

Among the summer event’s high-lights were the debut of Resista, an advanced-generation, stain-resistant polyester exclusive to Flooring America/Canada and its parent, CCA Global Partners; additions and updates to Flooring America/ Flooring Canada’s Naturcor, Floor Trends and Wood Trends displays, an entirely new marketing campaign for the first half of 2006 and Global Direct, the group’s distribution network program.

Members were also given an update on Revelations, the group’s computerized marketing system, which is currently being tested in a pilot program at Flooring America’s company-owned stores and is slated to be rolled out to its membership this October. A re-launch of Flooring America’s Complete Training Program (CTP) was also announced, and the Member Performance Report, a benchmarking program that provides members with an in depth analysis of their businesses, was unveiled.

More than 500 people attended the convention, which also focused on Flooring America/Flooring Canada’s new direction toward personalized advertising and marketing efforts which continue their push to build a national brand. The group discussed several “New Vistas,” or different ways members could enjoy higher profitability.

As the group’s second convention of 2005, New Vistas incorporated Flooring America and Flooring Canada’s goals for their membership in 2006. During the event, noted Vinnie Virga, Flooring America’s president, “we’ve woven in three inspiring sub-themes: heritage, adventure and momentum.

Heritage addresses the power of each store’s local ownership, their entrepreneurial spirit; adventure captures the constantly evolving world of retail and the challenge of overcoming our competitors, and momentum represents the driving force behind Flooring America/Flooring Canada to continue securing double-digit increases with innovative products and programs.”

“2005 has been an exciting year for our Canadian membership, a year filled with firsts,” Jim Duff, CEO of Flooring Canada, addressed the general session. “In January, we became a wholly-owned subsidiary of CCA Global Partners, and began to erase that geographic border between us. A number of initiatives have been undertaken and completed, as we have become one.”

Capitalizing on extensive training, research and the latest technology, Resista incorporates revolutionary stain-resistance, long-term durability, rich color clarity, silky softness and affordability, noted Virga. “This is truly a water-shed event. Not only have we created a more compelling product, but we are also heightening customers’ expectations about their flooring and simplifying their daily routines.”

Touted as a carpet that “Repels Stains Like Water Off a Duck’s Back,” the Resista collection includes 16 loop-pile, precision cut/ uncut, casual texture, and textured saxony styles featuring enhanced warranties, including a full, 10-year non pro-rated food and beverage stain warranty, a no questions asked, 60-day replacement warranty, a lifetime installation warranty, a 15-year limited wear warranty, and a five-year limited texture retention warranty. It also features three- and four-star ratings within the Flooring America five-star system selection guide.

“So far, Resista seems to be creating quite a buzz at the convention,” Virga said. “I believe the members are really excited to have an exclusive, proprietary product, a fiber that is their own. That ‘s just tremendous. It gives us a huge advantage, especially having the value price points. They are just a terrific price to be at with that story to tell.”

Flooring America and Flooring Canada unveiled an entirely new marketing campaign for the first half of 2006, which will address the heritage of each store’s local ownership, highlight their entrepreneurial spirit, and create an increased presence in their communities through personally customized print, direct mail, television and radio advertising.

“Many of our members have been rooted in their communities for years, passing the store down from generation to generation,” said Deb Binder, vice president of marketing. “Through this campaign, we’re helping customers recognize Flooring America and Flooring Canada as their trusted friend.”

For the campaign, each member can customize their advertisements by adding their image, voice, and personality to amplify local recognition within their communities. Print ads, circulars and direct mail pieces can now cost-effectively include individual store histories, staff photos and quotes.

Customizable radio scripts have been developed, giving members the option of using their own voice or a pre-recorded announcer voice. In addition, she noted, Flooring America and Flooring Canada will hold five video shoots throughout the United States, in order to create seven promotional and two image television commercials featuring owners as spokespeople, while maintaining the consistent quality, look and feel of the national brand.

The campaign’s printed materials also received a color and design makeover. After researching home interior fashion trends, equally eclectic colors were combined to create a more contemporary, sophisticated color palette. Plus, a more streamlined layout was chosen with modern, idea-generating room scenes and floor covering photography. As part of national advertising, Flooring America and Flooring Canada have created shorter versions of their 30-minute infomercial.

The 60- and 120-second direct response ads contain completely new creative and are currently being tested on a variety of female targeted cable networks, plus Dish Network and DirectTV demographic-specific packages. Other marketing efforts continuing to create national brand recognition include:

search engine optimization for FlooringAmerica.com and FlooringKnowledge.com;

a new vertical partnership with One-SourceFlooring.com allowing visitors to find the Flooring America or Flooring Canada location nearest them by entering their zip code;

and 100% national coverage in the Yellow Pages.

Niche marketing will also become more prominent in 2006, with fashion-driven ads targeting an upscale, high-end customer and a positioning campaign designed to highlight advantages of the group’s services compared to home centers. “The feedback we’ve received on our ad program has been very positive,” said Binder.

“The members really like the combination of putting their own legacy and heritage into their ads, and felt it was a good combination of local and national [advertising] as well as being very professional. “We had a number of members sign up for the video shoot,” she explained.

“We got many more than we expected, especially on the night of the show. Those will continue to come in. That fact that we got so much right away was very positive.” Flooring America/Flooring Canada also continue to focus on the success of its Bedford Mills hardwood collection, an exclusive, upscale program.

Bedford Mills features 32 SKUs of wide width, hand-scraped, wire-brushed, exotic and distressed looks. The collection includes both solid and engineered sample packages for greater installation versatility across markets. Naturcor, a collection of fiberglass encapsulated products, had new offerings added as well as two price points.

“Naturcor is thicker than vinyl and allows for more in stallation options,” said Bill Snowdon, director of hard surface. “Customers have responded very well since Naturcor’s introduction just over a year ago.” Floor Trends received a fresh look with new, sophisticated, highend laminate designs in a larger, more convenient sample format.

Plus, the Wood Trends display was updated with a total of 40 new products with solid and engineered sample boards, featuring new styles of domestic and exotic species. Flooring America and Flooring Canada continue to accelerate new membership development with a newly realigned sales team, a comprehensive mapping system and expanded prospect symposium efforts.

“We’ve re-evaluated our membership programs—internally and externally,” explained Russ Smith, vice president of new membership. “By optimizing the effectiveness of our new development initiatives, Flooring America and Flooring Canada are on track to achieve a dramatic increase in membership for 2006.”

In order to more efficiently concentrate on an increased membership demand, the buying group has increased the size of its membership sales team by 30%. “There’s never been a better time to be a part of our proven success formula,” said Virga. The new membership sales team includes: Wanda Trammell, senior membership director; Bill Hosner, regional membership director, and Brian Dodson, regional membership director.

“Our new sales team is better prepared to give more attention to branch expansion and new membership efforts throughout North America,” said Virga. Flooring America/Flooring Canada has also launched a mapping system which will chart branch locations, expansion opportunities and potential new membership sites throughout the top market service areas by population in North America.

“Of the new items which have piqued our interest so far, we like the proprietary fiber, Resista,” said Dale Kowal of Fraser Carpets/ Flooring Canada in Chilliwack, British Columbia. “Something like that can really make a difference in our marketplace and sets us apart. “The Global Direct program, with the products the group is importing, will give us an advantage in our marketplace,” he added.

“We’re on the West coast of Canada, so we see a great deal of imported products coming in. When you know where they are coming from, sometimes the trust factor isn’t there. We can trust the Flooring America/Flooring Canada people to bring us well priced, quality products that they stand behind.” “The Resista carpet program was the main thing that I keyed in on,” said Jerry Caldwell of Tucker Carpets/Flooring America in Winter Haven, Fla.

“It’s something new, something different. If it does what they say it does, I think it will be a strong selling product in my store. I’m also beefing up my Naturcor vinyl program.” “Resista is the number one thing we’ve seen so far,” said Howard Stein of Eddy’s Carpet & Warehouse Outlet in Worcester, Mass. “It’s always intriguing when you’ve got a product no one else has. At this convention, Flooring America is also reiterating some of its programs, the direction the group wants to go. Developing the brand takes a lot of money and perseverance. It takes the whole group.

“But the greatest part of this group is, we’re independent,” he explained, “And while we may have independent views, Flooring America really listens to us. Sometimes you see some of those changes in programs that we want, more toward where we want to go.” “The national buying is a nice advantage for us, especially with the Roll Buyer’s club and the new wood program,” said John Leach of Flooring America in Woodbury, Conn.

“Resista looks like it will be a winner, as well.” “There are always new and interesting things to see here,” said Larry Michael of Michael’s Flooring Canada in Grand Prairie, Alberta. “It’s great to bump elbows with the other members and see what works for them.” “What we like so far is the solid hardwood program being offered,” said Jenney Cocuzzo, product manager for Flooring America of Franklin, Mass.

“Solid wood is in such demand in our marketplace. Everybody wants it. “We also like the advertising the group is running right now, which is more geared toward family businesses,” she added. “The majority of the Flooring America businesses are family-run, and it really wants to emphasize that, ‘We are a family business, and we want to help you every step of the way.’”