J & J Industries and Invision recently merged their brands under one name: J+J/Invision. NFT spoke with Mark Clayton, the company’s vp marketing, about what this change means for the company and its customers.


What was the reasoning behind combining your brands?

We hired Fletcher Martin as our new agency about a year ago. One of the first things we did was have them conduct an anonymous series of focus groups to really investigate the marketplace and what our perception was with designers, dealers and end-users. One of the things we discovered was nothing was really broken, but we didn’t have a real clear brand position in the marketplace. People didn’t understand what we stood for, our design direction, and where we were going.


What are the strengths of the combined brands?

Traditionally we separately had the J & J commercial brand and the Invision brand, with Invision having more of the higher-end, front-office products. We decided to bring the two product lines together and market them under one sample portfolio. So now, under one name, we offer front and back office coordinates, broadloom and modular. We are viewed as being very formidable and respectable in the green area. Also we have a very diverse customs capability. We like the idea of having one rep coming through the door for all a client’s needs, instead of multiple reps and multiple points of reference. Whether corporate, education, hospitality or strategic accounts, we want to do a better job of letting people see everything we have to offer.


Does this change affect your staff?

There are no staffing changes. We were really already 90 percent of the way there with our sales force – we combined those efforts about five years ago. But, quite frankly, they would either put on their J & J hat or Invision hat. Because of that, the design community often didn’t know we had this great J & J line and dealers didn’t know we had the Invision line. Now we’re doing a better job of bringing our marketing collateral and product groups together.


How are you promoting the new branding?

The folders are also being changed over to one united brand. Also, we’ve launched a new website, at www.jj-invision.com that ocmbines all of our products on one site.