The Wallpaper industry was facing flat sales and bare walls!  Over the past two decades, paint had successfully displaced wallpaper as an easier, more cost-effective do-it-yourself decorating solution. York Wallcoverings the oldest wallcovering manufacturer in the US, needed to create a resurgence of interest. The Kotchen Group was retained to publicize paper over paint and totally redecorate the wallpaper message.

To enhance visibility and sales, The Kotchen Group would utilize a multifaceted strategy: 

• Promote the “return of wallpaper” to paint users and the media
• Utilize new product launches to reposition wallpaper as an easy and affordable decorating solution
• Partner with nationally recognized decorating experts to promote wallpaper as a designer trend

For the Wallpaper is Back Campaign, desk-side presentations were scheduled with magazines to showcase the range of York’s collections and introduce Surestrip, a new pre-pasted wallpaper and Sample Squares, wallpaper’s answer to paint chips. To target consumers on a widespread level, print efforts focused on the top 100 newspaper dailies to achieve multiple placements in Home & Garden sections.

For the Designer Campaign, decorating experts and authors were pitched to showcase York wallpaper in TV “How-To” segments and in a Kids’ Rooms Satellite Media Tour produced by the Wallcoverings Association. 

Magazines such as Woman’s World, Home, Woman’s Day, Better Homes & Gardens and over 350 newspapers featured wallpaper trend stories as well as Surestrip, kids rooms, and syndicated stories on the new Sample Squares.  As print efforts reached more than 24 million consumers, distributors and retailers reported an increase in requests for publicized York wallpapers.   The designer experts appeared live in major TV markets introducing Sure Strip and promoting it as today’s simple to use decorating trend,  for a total reach of 18 million.  The PR revival opened doors and decorated walls for consumers, the media and York!