Window Fashions Leader Captures Top Prize and Much More
PEARL RIVER, N.Y., July 8, 2014 – For the 19th consecutive year, Hunter Douglas has won more awards than any other company in the Window Covering Manufacturers Association (WCMA) Product Awards, the benchmark of industry excellence. This year the window fashions leader once again outdid itself, capturing 30 honors out of the 56 conferred and earning the coveted Product of the Year for the 14th year.
In addition, Hunter Douglas swept three product categories: "Green Products: Energy Efficiency," "Green Products: Sustainability," and "Verticals and Panel Tracks" and won 10 out of 12 Merchandising Awards.
"We’re delighted with the very strong endorsement that we received from the Window Covering Manufacturers Association’s independent panel of judges," said Marv Hopkins, Hunter Douglas North America Chairman and CEO. "We will continue to work hard to serve our many loyal customers throughout the U.S. and Canada with the best and most innovative products and programs in the industry."
Product of the Year went to the 2014 Heritance® Hardwood Shutters Collection. The collection was also named Best New Style Concept in the Shutters Category. These shutters re-energize the timeless beauty of hardwood in big ways. They now feature a refreshed color offering, as well as new and updated frames designed to complement popular window trim styling. The exclusive Handcrafted Series was developed to feature techniques found today in high-end wood floors, cabinetry and furniture by offering six custom techniques including: Glazed, Glazed & Burnished, Classic Distressed, Heirloom Distressed, Rustic and Textured.
In the Shadings and Sheers Category, Silhouette® window shadings, unrivalled in the industry for its beauty and performance, garnered two important awards, Best New Style Concept for New Fabrics for Alustra® Silhouette® and Silhouette® window shadings and Honorable Mention, Best New Technical Innovation for the UltraGlide® Click and Walk Away™ operating system. The new fabrics include Alustra Myst™ with a soft metallic vane and a colored front sheer; Alustra French Linen, which offers a soft, subtle textured front sheer; Mystere™, featuring a rich, horizontal-textured vane coupled with colored sheers to intensify pattern at window; and Monaco™, a casual, cross-textured vane with a colored front sheer.
UltraGlide 2 Click and Walk Away™ offers convenient retractable cord operation that will lower and open the shading with just one click. Raising the shading is easier than ever with a 50 percent reduction in pull force from the prior UltraGlide system.
In another exciting win, Silhouette® A Deux™ shadings was named Best Style Concept in the Specialty Applications Category. Silhouette A Deux shadings combines an independently operating room-darkening roller shade with a translucent Silhouette shading in one headrail. This option will now allow any translucent fabric to be offered in room-darkening.
Vignette® Traditional™ Modern Roman Shades with the LiteRise® cordless operating system was honored with Best Style Concept in the Green Products: Health and Environmental Safety Category. Providing enhanced child safety, this is a 100 percent cordless manual operating system on the line’s rolling shade option. Like all Vignette shades, the product also has no exposed rear cords for enhanced child safety.
Innovation was awarded to Designer Roller Shades with the UltraGlide® lifting system. This exclusive lifting system now available on Roller Shades features a revolutionary retractable cord, providing a constant cord length for enhanced safety.
Applause® Vintage™ fabric earned Best Style Concept in the Green Products: Sustainability Category. Made from over 40 percent recycled materials, this popular and refined honeycomb fabric offers an updated palette with two new fashion-forward colors.
Making it a clean sweep in the Sustainability Category, the 2014 Modern Precious Metals® Collection received an Honorable Mention, Best Style Concept. Constructed from 95 percent recycled aluminum, Modern Precious Metals® aluminum blinds are durable, practical and sustainable. The aluminum material is gathered from Hunter Douglas facilities worldwide and is melted down and reused for new slat material. The only winner in the Green Products: Energy Efficiency Category, T Screen with KOOLBLACK™ Technology from solar fabric leader Mermet, a Hunter Douglas company, walked away with Best New Style Concept. This dual-sided high-performance shade fabric combines the superior heat reflectivity of a white fabric with the glare control of a dark fabric, offering preeminent solar protection as well as crisp views.
In the Cellular Shades Category, the 2014 Applause® Honeycomb Shades Collection captured Best Style Concept. The collection includes beautiful new fabrics like Venue™ with MicroShield™ and operating systems as well as refreshed colors. The UltraGlide® operating system is now offered with all Applause fabrics to provide enhanced child safety and convenience. Also new to Applause is Skylift™, a skylight shade available in two operating systems, manual and battery-operated.
The 2014 Alustra® Woven Textures Collection was honored with Best Style Concept in the Roman, Roller and Pleated Shades Category. An inviting alternative to woven woods or solar screens and available as Roman shades, roller shades or Skyline® Gliding Window Panels, the collection now offers five new beautifully textured fabrics:
Retreat, Entwine, Primitive, Zen and Urban as well as new colors for its best-selling Origins and Folio fabrics. Also new, the UltraGlide® retractable cord lifting system on roller shades and a Dual Roller bracket option with a light-filtering or room-darkening roller liner shade that creates two independently operated shades.
Most Innovative Concept in the category went to Vignette® Modern Roman Shade Enhancements. Enhancements include the Traditional™ with LiteRise® cordless system and the EveScape™ room-darkening fabric for the popular Tiered™ stackable style option. This proprietary back liner fabric stacks neatly for a clean, exterior appearance free of grommets and external cords. Also new for the Tiered option, PowerRise® with Platinum™ Technology Two-on-One Headrail, where two fabric panels share the same low-profile headrail and operate independently.
In the Motorization Category, Enhancements to the Platinum™ App for Hunter Douglas Motorized Window Treatments received Honorable Mentions, Best Technical Innovation and Best New Style Concept. Among the recent innovations, a timer feature that uses GPS data to calculate location-specific times for automatically operating window coverings based on sunrise and sunset and the Platinum Gateway that easily integrates with home automation systems to wirelessly control Hunter Douglas motorized products.
The 2014 Roller Shades + Skyline® Panels Collection was the only honoree in the Verticals and Panel Tracks Category, garnering Best New Style Enhancement. This unmatched program capitalizes on the demand for modern, versatile window shades. With proven and proprietary operating systems, a new Blockout System for Roller Shades, extensive design options combined with the largest and most versatile fabric collection on the market with 82 fabric styles in four opacities, Hunter Douglas remains the innovator in the industry. Ninety-nine percent of fabrics are available in both Roller Shades and Skyline Panels.
In the Horizontal Blinds Category, the 2014 Modern Precious Metals® Collection walked away with Best New Style Concept. Metal is back to make its mark on windows with this aluminum blind line where fresh, solid colors update the palette to reflect current, on-trend styles and the new Icon™ and Marble finish categories incorporate unique textures and patterns. Exciting new wood tones in the Natural Elements™ program provide more ways to match wood accents to popular home décor styles. The 2-inch offering has also expanded, and all 2-inch colors are available in Macro, Reveal® and Natural Elements.
Last but not least for product awards, Parkland™ wood blinds with the UltraGlide® operating system was named Best New Technical Innovation in the Wood Blinds and Faux- Wood Blinds Category. Featuring smooth operating and enhanced child safety, the new operating system, comes standard with ergonomically designed wands and tassels available in 13 designer finishes that complement everything from furniture and fixtures to kitchen appliances, for a sleek and custom look.
HUNTER DOUGLAS SWEEPS MERCHANDISING CATEGORY WITH 10 OUT OF 12 AWARDS
Hunter Douglas swept the Merchandising Category with 10 out of the 12 awards bestowed going to the window fashions leader. The redesigned www.hunterdouglas.com scored Best Marketing Technology. Consumer-focused, design-led and optimized for a range of devices, information is presented in layers, with details a click away. Large photos with bold headings entice visitors, who can go directly to Products; a "Design Your Own" space to explore fabrics, materials, colors and see them in their own rooms; a Workbook for retaining product and design ideas; and a section that explains Hunter Douglas advantages. The Sign-In feature lets consumers create accounts. Social media shares and dealer contact are encouraged throughout. Consumers can bookmark a dealer and their information will remain accessible on every page.
Honorable Mention, Best Marketing Technology was awarded to the Website and iCM Interactive PDF, a menu-driven, comprehensive, interactive tool that communicates the benefits of having a Web presence and system to manage dealer databases, customer projects and automated customer marketing. Converted to electronic format to be "green," it is provided via email and by sales representatives via iBooks. As it is electronic, it can be easily updated and redistributed at any time.
Best Consumer Advertising Campaign went to "Every Window Tells a Story" 30- Second TV Commercial, which has a jazzy, upbeat persona designed to generate increased category interest and broaden the brand’s appeal to include both current prospects and the next generation of customers. It reinforces The Art of Window Dressing™ positioning, showcases proprietary styles, highlights key product benefits, promotes product diversity and incorporates bold, animated graphics.
2014 Windows To The World Incentive Travel Program for Dealers, the premiere travel incentive program in the home décor industry, won Best Trade Advertising Campaign and Promotional Program. It features top-notch destinations, exclusive hotels and cruise ships, peak-season travel, and an ideal balance of planned activities and free time. During the last 18 years, over 73,000 guests have traveled with Hunter Douglas to exciting locations around the world. The 2014 program offers dealers the opportunity to earn a four-night Caribbean Cruise or a trip to Rome, Punta Cana, Banff or New York City.
Honorable Mention, Best Trade Advertising and Promotional Program was conferred on the company’s 2013 Consumer Promotions. These fully integrated, seasonal promotions resulted in considerable sales increases for the promoted products among participating dealers.
The Platinum™ App Display Kit for Hunter Douglas Motorized Window Treatments garnered Best Point-of-Sale Display. Designed to highlight custom, creative App control, this fully-operational 8 ½" by 12" display allows customers to download the Platinum App in a showroom and operate Hunter Douglas motorized window fashions.
In another important win for Heritance shutters in a highly competitive category, the 2014 Heritance Hardwood Shutters Sample Kit was awarded Best Sampling Program. The new sophisticated design uses the combination of warm grey textured fabric, auburn leather accents and a debossed logo. The two design option boxes and the hand sample allow dealers to customize their presentations for every sale. Other features include: a "Custom Designed and Assembled in USA" tag, two photobooks in an easy-to-use format and an Arbor Day Certificate to underscore that Hunter Douglas partners with the Arbor Day Foundation® in its effort to plant and preserve trees and the rainforest. Best Consumer Education Program was awarded to the Silhouette® Window Shadings Social Media Program. In response to dealers’ requests for social media content, Silhouette window shadings provided a 21-month calendar included in the spring 2014 sample book that supplies general social media recommendations as well as Facebook and Twitter posting dates and content. Postings for these platforms is also available on my.hunterdouglas.com, as are blog posts and an "Iconic Style and Design" social media video. PremieresSM 2014 Innovation By Design captured Best Trade Education Program. Drawing over 12,000 dealers to tradeshow events across N.A., Premieres is an opportunity for dealers to touch, operate and hear about new products and enhancements and technology.
The Adventures of Small Business Marketing received Honorable Mention, Best Trade Education Program. In this animated course, learners gain an understanding of the importance of a marketing plan, reviewable marketing strategies, the 4P’s and smart budgeting techniques.
Hunter Douglas Inc., headquartered in Pearl River, N.Y, is the leading manufacturer and marketer of custom window fashions in North America and a major manufacturer of architectural products. The company is a national sponsor of Habitat for Humanity, covering windows in every Habitat home built in the U.S. and Canada.
All Hunter Douglas brand products are designed, developed and custom-crafted in the U.S.
For more information, visit www.hunterdouglas.com or call 1-800-274-2985.
These products are available at Northwest Trends Flooring America - www.nwtSpokane.com
11315 E. Montgomery Dr. Spokane, WA 99206 509.921.9677 www.WindowBlinds4u.com
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