Here’s a project we’ve been working on for Kraftmaid Cabinetry. We have been converting products from their catalog into Google SketchUp files. Designers can now download these files for free from the Google 3D Warehouse.
Connecting with more Designers
When we first spoke with the Kraftmaid trade marketing team, they were asking themselves the following question: “Who can we reach with our product offerings and how can we connect with them?” Targeting the Kitchen & Bath design space, Kraftmaid had done an incredible job of reaching Kitchen & Bath dealers with educational training and product information. And by providing their entire catalog in 20-20 file format, they were also effectively reaching dealers and designers who use that 20-20 software.
In addition to these efforts, Kraftmaid wanted to reach designers who were not using 20-20. They realized that a large piece of their target market needed certain tools to help with the design process.
Don’t market products – Give away tools
After surveying the marketplace, it was clear to Kraftmaid that Google SketchUp was a great way to reach the designers they wanted to target. SketchUp is widely adopted; there are over 1.3 million unique activations of the program each week, and over 1B visits to the Google 3D Warehouse have been logged since it was launched in April 2006. SketchUp is free, and so is access to the Google 3D Warehouse (note: there is a $495 Pro version of SketchUp as well, but even this cost is minor compared to other comparable software). Finally, many other design software can use SketchUp files.
Kraftmaid began by asking us to experiment with the types of SketchUp files they can offer designers. Below, I identify types of Kraftmaid models found in the 3D Warehouse and describe why each of these collections exists:
Results
In the last 8 months, over 700,000 Kraftmaid cabinets have been downloaded as either individual SketchUp files or entire cabinet suites within a kitchen design. This tremendous success reflects their efforts to reach a larger part of the design community by offering tools and education for SketchUp users. We’re happy to be developing a ton of innovative new content for this initiative. We can’t say what’s coming next just yet, but we’re sure you’ll be excited about what’s on the horizon!