How do you celebrate a brand anniversary alongside the trade?
A campaign that celebrates the brand by talking about others
The brand anniversary: a booby-trapped exercise
On paper, a brand anniversary ticks every box: a milestone to celebrate, a story to tell, legitimacy to reassert. In reality, the exercise often produces corporate films nobody watches and self-congratulation nobody asked for. The risk is all the greater in a construction market under pressure: when customers are managing their day-to-day in a sector in crisis, talking about yourself strikes the wrong note.
It is against this backdrop that Nicoll, a historic brand of the Aliaxis group and leader in plastic solutions for the construction industry, asked us to bring its 70th anniversary to life, celebrated throughout 2026. The brief: make this anniversary a business and relationship lever, not an exercise in corporate communications.
We opted for a radical stance: rather than talking about Nicoll, talk about its unique bond with those who have kept the brand alive for 70 years. Plumbers, heating engineers, distributors, specifiers, apprentices, employees: the brand owes its longevity to an ecosystem of professionals who choose it, specify it, manufacture it and champion it. It was this ecosystem that deserved the spotlight.
In a single sentence, the campaign's repositioning: celebrating not 70 years OF Nicoll, but 70 years WITH the trade.
The creative concept: « Nicoll & Moi »
From this insight came « Nicoll & Moi » (“Nicoll and Me”), a concept that celebrates the unique relationship between the brand and every professional who uses it daily. At the heart of the programme: 9 portraits of trade professionals, each embodying a facet of the trade and of the bond with the brand.
- Emmanuel, plumbing and heating tradesman
- Cindy, installer and content creator
- Patrick, Fabrice and Corentin, three generations of tradespeople
- Charlotte, building materials distributor
- Frédéric, technical manager at a healthcare facility
- Sébastien, design office engineer
- Victor, apprentice roofer
- Antoine, Alexis and Mathieu, Nicoll sales team
- Kévin, Jordan and Mélanie, Nicoll employees
Each portrait reveals a career path, a favourite product and a personal reason for choosing Nicoll. All under a signature that turns the brand name into a familiar first name.
A radically authentic execution
The creative stance was carried right through to production. No actors, no advertising casting, no styling. Two days of shooting at Nicoll's head office, transformed into a studio for the occasion, brought together nine real professionals who agreed to lend their faces and their stories to the campaign. On the dedicated web space, a “Behind the scenes” page documents the shoot and openly owns the stance: real pros, real moments.
“It wasn't a photo shoot, it was a meeting of passionate professionals”
An anniversary that boils down to a one-off stunt misses its target. The programme lives throughout 2026.
A dedicated web space carries the whole campaign. A 4-episode web series extends the format with an immersion alongside installers and specifiers. Some thirty pieces of snackable content feed social media and the anniversary newsletter at a rate of three per month – short portraits, historical anecdotes, trade tips, key figures.
A press and SEA media plan ensures targeted visibility in the leading trade media. And personalised “First name & Nicoll” t-shirts turn the pros themselves into visible ambassadors for the campaign on the worksite.
The campaign is also relayed across all the year's events: trade show, technical morning, etc.
When the field takes ownership of the concept
The best proof that a concept works is when the client takes it further than what was delivered. Nicoll continued the roll-out internally with two initiatives that naturally extend the « Nicoll & Moi » spirit: the Trophées Nicoll, which reward professionals embodying the values shared with the brand, and the Cocorico Birth'Days, a special 70th-anniversary edition of the annual trade marketing operation. Two extensions that show the concept has found its place in the brand's ecosystem.
The entire programme is carried by a dedicated anniversary identity, designed to bring visual and editorial unity to every communication throughout the year. The « DÉJÀ 70 ANS » (“70 years already”) logo picks up the ribbon motif as a nod to the brand's historic logo, and comes with a modular signature – « Déjà 70 ans qu'on partage + phrase » (“already 70 years of sharing + phrase”) – which adapts to the context and the profile in the spotlight: a passion for a job well done, metres of pipes and kilometres of worksites, the same taste for innovation, the pride of building for the long term...
A genuine editorial programme that turns the anniversary into a living common thread throughout 2026.
RESULTS
A campaign that builds connection
At the halfway mark, the campaign has already delivered on its qualitative promises: strong engagement from Nicoll teams proud to see their colleagues and customers in the spotlight, enthusiastic feedback from distributors and installers, and an editorial presence that keeps the brand alive throughout the year.
For our communications agency specialising in the construction industry and housing, this project illustrates a deep-seated conviction: the most effective communication for a brand built to last is never the one that talks about itself, but the one that talks to its customers about their own story.
Would you like to activate a brand milestone with construction trade professionals?
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