Product category:
Hardware
News Release from: NBAT | Subject: 2006 Barbour Report
Edited by the Buildingtalk Editorial
Team on 24 November 2006
Delivering product information online
Dr Richard Thomas from NBAT looks at how the 2006 Barbour Report shows the growing importance of the Internet as a source of information about construction products.
Barbour Report 2006: Delivering Product Information Online Useful Technical Information for Construction - presentation by: Dr Richard Thomas B Arch (Hons), Ph D Managing Director NBAT
This article was originally published on Buildingtalk on 22 Nov 2006 at 8.00am (UK)
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The 2006 Barbour Report has shown the growing importance of the Internet as a source of information about construction products.
Yet hard copy remains influential, well-liked and regularly-used.
Significant numbers of specifying practices continue to support hard copy libraries and even librarians to manage them.
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NBAT has worked for 25 years in the field of information communication within the construction industry.
We were formed before the Internet existed and have seen its evolution and growing influence as a medium for communicating information.
Today, NBAT specialises in the communication of technical information through various media - printed literature, the web and multimedia presentations, and also through PR and advertising.
Popular culture often seeks to impose general certainties that in reality do not exist, with a tendency to view everything in terms of conflicting competitive forces - for example, of one method of information communication outdoing and displacing another.
But (despite predictions of paperless offices) our experience indicates the essentially complementary nature of the different and evolving forms of information communication of construction.
The web has revolutionised fast searching and rapid initial identification of products and systems; printed manuals have reassuring handle-ability, are easily scanned for comparison and conveniently browsable.
There is more that is complementary than conflicting.
Users of construction websites like to download PDFs of technical brochures - a combination of the immediacy of web access and the reality of a hard copy publication.
All this is borne out by the findings of the 2006 Barbour Report.
In one very significant sense, the medium is not the most important issue.
More significant is the quality and usefulness of the content - be it on a web screen or on a page from a brochure.
Above all, what all those involved in the selection and specification of construction products want is clear and helpful information, without unnecessary distractions and diversions.
And this requirement for clear technical information is an important factor differentiating the marketing of construction products from consumer goods and retail services.
The process of designing a building involves the selection and detailed specification of many different products.
Designers of buildings have responsibility for:.
- planning the building, both functionally and aesthetically.
- working out the constructional details.
- producing drawings.
as well as dealing with many associated administrative and organisational tasks, such as dealing with planners, getting Building Regulations approvals, client meetings, etc, etc The better the information available to the specifier, the more likely it is that the resulting specification will be explicit and the less likely it is to be broken.
The designer's original intentions are thus preserved and the product manufacturer protected.
Whether it is hard copy literature or a website, the critical factors affecting information for successful marketing are useful and well organised content, and ease of accessibility.
Whether accessed online or on the printed page, the same essential principles apply.
Product information must be presented in a form that is:.
- Easy to navigate.
- Comprehensive.
- Clearly written and well illustrated.
- Focused on relevant considerations while avoiding the superfluous.
and which:.
- Provides essential technical data.
- Does not confuse information with a sales pitch.
- Provides a basis for easy product selection.
- Gives clear guidance on constructional detailing.
- Anticipates and answers questions, helping to make specification easier and more explicit.
In many respects, printed literature and the web are less different than one might think.
After all they have essentially the same objective - ie, the communication of effective technical information for construction.
NBAT was founded on the principle of assisting construction product manufacturers to promote their products through information.
So, let's look at some examples of this approach.
WEB AND MULTIMEDIA.
Websites can be phenomenally powerful tools for accessing essential construction information.
But beware the pitfalls.
Gimmickry and distracting moving images, which have no legitimate information communication function, are to be avoided.
Sir John Hunt and his team launched the first successful assault on Mt Everest 'because it was there.' Today we know about the almost irresistible temptation to cram websites with all manner of irrelevant gimmickry, simply 'because one can.' Web screens dominated by pulsing logos, animated copy lines that rush past like telegraph poles viewed through the window of a fast-moving train, 'hilarious' cartoon characters patronising sophisticated information seekers _ the list appears endless.
Major websites are complex and may involve very sophisticated 'back end' programming.
But the real trick is to conceal all this from the site visitor and providing a truly user-friendly route to the necessary information.
Online Calculation Tools.
The web has tremendous potential for offering online tools.
As an example, NBAT has developed a calculation suite for an insulation product manufacture.
This tool enables designers to select and specify insulation solutions that meet the requirements of the New Part L of the Building Regulations.
Online Presentations and CPD.
The web can also be used most effectively for a variety of online presentation formats.
Through NBAT's own online Academy package existing PowerPoint CPD presentations can be optimised for web application.
Developed alongside the Construction CPD Certification Service, architects can therefore meet CPD requirements online from their offices or home.
Product manufacturers can save time and cost by not having to host external CPD events at difficult to reach locations.
Similarly, small practices can have immediate access to presentations which manufacturers would struggle to justify making in person.
The Academy package can incorporate a built-in mechanism for ratifying course completion, even down to the issue of certificates that can be downloaded.
Examples of smaller scale websites.
Good websites can also be tailored to meet the needs of smaller companies.
Smaller sites can still be extremely powerful and effective without complex functionality and high cost.
The Britclips website (fixings for services and cable) www.britclips.co.uk is essentially an online catalogue.
The Smith's Environmental Products website www.smiths-env.com covers energy efficient heating appliances - including 'Hydroflame', a fan assisted radiator that has the appearance of a traditional fire but runs, like a radiator from the standard central heating system.
PRINTED LITERATURE.
The Barbour Report 2006 shows the continued popularity and importance of hard copy technical literature.
Tried, tested and liked for its physical presence and browsability, printed product literature remains an important source of information.
Whether published or downloaded in PDF format from a website, it remains an established desktop reference source and a valuable 'sleeping salesman' for the manufacturer.
NBAT has designed major pieces of technical literature such as the Lafarge Plasterboard Dry lining manual that reflect the essential principles of good technical information communication.
This publication is carefully structured to provide the specifier with all he or she needs to know about drywall construction.
The content spans corporate information, aesthetics and technical detail - all clearly differentiated.
The system information, for example, is structured in a consistent way for all the drywall systems covered, to enable comparison when assessing the most suitable system for a particular application.
Well-considered and successful manuals of this nature can become established as 'technical bibles' for designers and specifiers - definitive sources of technical information, and valuable promotional entities for the product manufacturer.
Of course, good technical literature does not have to run a 300-page-plus definitive technical manual.
It can come in many forms and sizes.
Smaller scale technical publications are still widely successful in communicating useful technical messages, as a consequence of which successful specifications and sales have followed.
But, as with web-based application, clear communication can work on a much smaller scale with printed literature too.
NBAT has designed literature for products /sectors including:.
- Roofing - pitched and flat, including products such as slates, tiles and roof windows.
- Insulation.
- Dry lining.
- Cement and aggregates.
- Heating.
- Commercial fencing and security.
- Architectural Ironmongery.
- Concrete re-inforcement and connection.
- Damp-proofing and gas protection.
- Cladding.
- Ventilation.
- Floorings.
- Drainage.
- Blocks and bricks.
- Promenade Tiles.
ADVERTISING AND PR.
And finally _ useful construction communication can also be realised through advertising and PR - not in the same way as printed manuals and websites, but through raising awareness and providing information in a (sometimes very) condensed form.
Both can convey a serious technical message to designers and specifiers, not by sound bite clichandeacute;s that so often fail in construction industry media, but by informative editorial and ads which either explain the attributes and benefits of construction products and systems in application or lead an enquirer to them.
We see construction websites and printed technical literature as essentially complementary media for communication in today's marketplace.
The differences in their respective presentational formats are less significant than their common goal, which is the clear communication of product information - to assist with informed decision making by designers, and as the most effective way of getting construction products selected and specified.
In one sense, the medium is not the most important issue.
More significant is the quality, accessibility and usefulness of the content - be it on a web screen or on a printed page.
That the information is relevant, well organised, comprehensible, and therefore useful.
In the communication of product information for construction, 'God (really) is in the details'* * Mies van der Rohe.
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