Situation:
Primo Water markets three and five gallon plastic water containers through grocery retailers. Customers purchase the water through displays in the store, and return their empty bottles to another display located outside the store. Both displays were difficult and time consuming to put together, often requiring upwards of two hours installation per unit. In addition, the outdoor return displays took on an aged look too quickly due to exposure to the elements. Primo asked Tusco for a solution that would be faster and easier to install, and one that would project the vitality of their product brand via a weather-resistant display that looked good – and didn’t rust.
Ingenuity:
The solution to faster and easier installation was two-fold. First, Tusco created a new display with a rounded tube structure, incorporating components that nested together and locked in place -- without the use of fasteners. The second part of the solution was ingenious packaging. This allowed the installer to remove the components to the display from the shipping package in the exact order needed for assembly. Now a Primo display can be installed in about ten minutes.
To combat the weather, the outdoor display for empty Primo water bottles integrated unseen water channels and other measures to keep rain water and/or bottle drippings from pooling and subsequently causing rust. The base of this unit incorporated stainless steel for added rust resistance.
Results:
There are many ways to measure success. Here’s what happened when Mike Lauber, president of Tusco, phoned customer service at Primo. He explained that he was calling from a manufacturing plant in Ohio that wanted to provide bottled water for their associates, so he wanted to find a local Primo dealer. When he explained that his company produced the bottle displays and return units for Primo, the customer service rep immediately shouted, “TUSCO DISPLAY?! We LOVE you!” and proceeded to put him on speaker phone and yelled to others around her, “Hey, everybody, say hi to Tusco Display!”
You can’t make up stories like this. Primo continues to be one of Tusco’s largest clients.