Italcementi launches new brand strategy based on innovation

Through its French subsidiary 1607 Ciments Calcia, 726 Italcementi (€4.50 billion in turnover for 2012) is launching a new brand strategy to highlight the place of innovation in its offer.

The strategy is also expected to improve coherence and provide better visibility for the group's offer as a whole.

The 'i.nova' strategy is being deployed in 22 countries where the Italian cement group is present. The different products have been regrouped into new categories such as i.work, i.design, i.pro and i.speed, among others.

Ciments Calcia won the ArchiDesignClub Jury Prize in the Innovative Materials category for i.light, which is made of a mix of cement and resins to create transparent prefabricated concrete panels. Buyers can scan a QR code on each package to obtain more information on a product.

The group hopes to boost the portion of turnover from innovative products from 2.6% in 2013 to 5% in 2018.

In addition, Italcementi is placing a focus on customer service. Its subsidiary 3673 Unibéton is launching a CD-ROM called Bat'Expert to help companies with their building projects. There will also be a remote metering service put in place to receive real time information regarding cement inventory at factories.