• by Larissa Faw , February 25, 2016

Azek, which manufactures decking, railing, trim, molding, porches, pavers, and siding, is introducing a new female-targeted campaign launching during New York's Fashion Week. 

Developed by Y&R NY, the ads are designed to make Azek look like a high-end fashion brand, a first for any building products company, say agency executives. Although interior design has a fashion element, building products usually have a more masculine tilt in the advertising industry. 

But Y&R took a classic fashion photography approach and meticulously built a miniature home that models could carry like a purse.  

The ads carry the tagline: ‘The best-dressed homes wear AZEK.’ 

The campaign consists of three print ads, a 30-second film and digital banners. The print ads will appear in consumer design, entertaining and home improvement publications, such as Real Simple, Better Homes and Gardens and Food & Wine Magazine. Film and digital banners will run online and through CPG Building Products’ social channels. 

The campaign signals two shifts in the brand’s marketing strategy, according to Azek CMO Julia Fitzgerald. First, the new ads offer a “whole house” message – decking, trim, porch, pavers, siding,  versus the previous strategy of investing in discrete campaigns to address each one of the categories. 

And there’s a shift in targeting. "Our research reveals that the female head of household heavily influences the decision for the exterior décor of her home,” Fitzgerald said. “So as we are taking our premium brand directly to her with messaging and in media that will reach her." 

Y&R NY won the Azek account nearly two years ago.