Harrow, in the heart of John Betjeman's famed Metroland suburbia, seems like an appropriate place for the headquarters of DIY retail chain Wickes to be based. In the centre of town, the Wickes flags flutter proudly outside the building, the sort of edifice that could, arguably, do with a DIY job itself.
Almost immediately upon meeting Wickes' marketing director Rob Murray, however, he asks for the building to be excused, saying that the company is looking for more modern offices, which are also more representative of the brand.
These first impressions belie the quality of marketing work that is going on within. Murray has set the agenda for an aggressive three-year promotional drive intended to propel the brand to success despite the precarious economic climate.
Since joining Wickes two years ago, Murray has been responsible for introducing the 'It's got our name on it' campaign, which has used a series of TV ads, created by MWO, to emphasise the quality of its own-brand products.
Until this rolled out, Murray says that it was not widely known that Wickes sold entirely own-label DIY products. 'People either knew Wickes as an odd place for the trade, or, if they did know it sold own-label products, they knew it was cheap, but knew nothing of the quality.'
The recession and consequent decline of the property market has given the DIY retail business a hammering, with consumers reluctant to spend money on home improvements. Yet, rather than shielding Wickes from the tough economic climate by promoting product deals and discounts, a marketing strategy Murray says is typical of DIY retailers, he has continued to focus on getting the message of quality across.
While many budgets were reined in two years ago to get ready for the recession, Wickes increased its marketing spend to an unprecedented level. 'We managed to get support all the way through the business for that,' he points out, describing the decision to invest heavily in marketing as a 'huge leap of faith by (parent company) Travis Perkins and the Wickes board'.
Murray says that in 2008, 'when we were battening down the hatches and going into recession', Wickes had a record year and 'smashed' its budgeted sales and profit.
Defying expectations extends to Murray himself, who, on the surface, is not a typical marketing director. Rather than a staid suit, Murray wears his red Wickes polo shirt to work every day like all its other employees - including the managing director. Every store has a red polo shirt on display, which is signed by that branch's employees, to show they have, literally, 'put their name on it'. The shirts have, therefore, come to symbolise a shared sense of pride employees feel toward the company.
Murray is idealistic about the power of marketing and sees it not only as a way to increase sales, but also a tool to drive change, which, ultimately, benefits the staff by creating a positive working environment. There is a symmetry to the way Wickes' 'culture of pride' is integrated into its campaign, thus inspiring further pride; a result of which Murray, in turn, is proud.
In many ways, he has been lucky with the opportunities Wickes has dealt him. He was headhunted for the role just before the company underwent a pivotal restructure that was to put the marketing department at the centre of its operations. Managing director Jeremy Bird initiated the change, claiming that retailers are, in essence, marketing organisations.
'We put things on shelves and have to attract people to those shelves and hope they've selected the right things, and that's marketing, really,' says Murray, quoting Bird. 'Jeremy said "Let's change everything", so we went into unknown territory - which was very exciting. Until Wickes, I had always worked in companies where marketing is already at the heart, but here it wasn't.'
For these reasons, Murray spends more of his time managing the marketing department than fine-tuning strategy. During the restructure, he took the decision to train his 70-strong team, 80% of whom had no marketing experience, in-house, rather than recruit new staff. 'We were determined not to lose people and wanted to transform the company from within,' he says. 'It felt like the right thing to do.'
Outside the office, Murray enjoys working on his yacht and car. As a self-confessed 'practical man', he seems to have applied these skills to building brands, too. He was previously marketing director at Ryvita, where he spent seven years. 'There I took a sleepy household brand and turned it into something dynamic.' He was 'captivated' by the opportunity to do a fix-up job at Wickes and it was precisely his brand-building skills which landed him the job.
However, Murray admits that he had not been looking for another job in marketing, preferring to move into consultancy and general management. It is clear that he now integrates this passion into his role by focusing on building a strong team. 'One of the biggest challenges was to build up the marketing team's confidence and get them to realise how good Wickes is, because some of our marketing is absolutely world-class,' he says.
Murray describes the role he has played at Wickes as taking the brand on a journey. 'We've managed to start telling a story about a special business to our customers, but also step forward the motivation of our employees. That is worth getting up in the morning for,' he says.
This is not to say, though, that Murray is by any means complacent. 'I'm like a lot of marketing directors in that I'm permanently frustrated and always pushing for the next step,' he adds. He raises concerns about the economic forecast, predicting that a double-dip recession is likely to hit the DIY retail harder than other sectors.
Entering the final year of his three-year plan, Murray shows no signs of slowing the pace. Wickes has just rolled out a 'Smart value' campaign which, in a change of tack, highlights the low price of its products as well as continuing to emphasise their quality. The ads will promote discounts on Wickes products, while retaining the 'It's got our name on it' strapline.
Beyond the current push, Murray's long-term strategy for Wickes is to continue to grow the brand and spread the sense of pride he feels to its customers. He is also looking to expand his team, and hopes that the work coming out of the company is compelling enough to attract top-class marketers. What is clear is that in the short time he has been at Wickes, Murray has already gone a long way to putting his own stamp on it.
INSIDE WORK
1985-1988 - Product manager, Nestle
1988-1994 - Marketing manager, Johnson & Johnson
1995-1997 - Head of marketing, H Samuel Signet Group
1997-1998 - Development director, New Solutions
1998-2002 - Founding managing director, The Distillery
2002-2007 - Marketing director, Ryvita
2007-present - Marketing director, Wickes
OUTSIDE WORK
Family: Married, with five-month-old daughter
Lives: Marlow, Bucks
Hobbies: Sailing, restoring his classic car
Favourite brand: First Direct
Favourite tool: Wickes screwdriver with rubberised grip