The News Tribune (Lite) - Wood products company steps out of the shadows

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Section: Dan Voelpel

Wood products company steps out of the shadows

DAN VOELPEL; THE NEWS TRIBUNE
Watch the Seattle Mariners game on FSN this afternoon against the Chicago White Sox and you’ll see a commercial for the largest inter-national corporation headquartered in Tacoma that you probably know the least about.

But the marketing gurus behind McFarland Cascade, the 91-year-old wood products company, aim to change that with a steal and a new pitch.

They swiped a successful strategy from America’s pharmaceutical manufacturers that has made Lipitor, Zocor and Nexium the top 3 best-selling drugs in the country.

You can’t go to a Pfizer Store to buy Lipitor for your high blood pressure – you have to ask your doctor for it. And you can’t go to a McFarland Cascade Store to buy treated lumber, composite decking or tropical hardwoods – you have to ask your hardware store for it.

So, like the drug makers, McFarland Cascade has taken its message direct to you and me with a $1 million campaign – hoping that when we build that new deck, outdoor kitchen or porch, or hire a contractor to do it, we’ll use Edeck, Xtendex, StoneDeck or a host of other McFarland Cascade products.

“The Outdoor Projects People” at McFarland Cascade don’t want you to think of that other forest products powerhouse from Federal Way that begins with a “W” and used to call itself “the tree-growing company.”

Until this baseball season started, McFarland Cascade operated in relative anonymity to us consumers. It started as LD McFarland Co. in Sandpoint, Idaho, in 1916 as a manufacturer of utility poles. If you visited the company’s 43-acre spread on Tacoma’s Tideflats today, you’d see acres of stacked poles and workers with chain saws carving mounting slots into them for shipment all over the world.

But the company’s sawn products division has become the rookie with big-league potential. You already can find a few of its products around here in big-box stores such as Lowe’s, Home Depot and Lumberman’s. But those products – pressure treated wood is the bread-and-butter – sell only in six Western states. Some of its more exotic tropical hardwoods such as tigerwood and angelim pedra you’ll stumble across only if your contractor suggests them.

Until now.

Part of the new campaign involves driving consumers to mcfarlandcas cade.com, for details on all the products and easy ways to order samples, locate a retailer, find a company-certified contractor, download a catalog and access free software to help design your outdoor project.

“Retailers we worked with told us they weren’t very good at introducing new products to consumers,” said Gary Maulin, product manager for the sawn products division. “We needed to look at new ways to get into the market.”

And research showed Seattle Mariners’ fans fit the McFarland Cascade demographic – generally well-to-do outdoor lovers who love to entertain. Since baseball gets played during the same season that outdoor projects get built, choosing to attach the McFarland Cascade brand to baseball made sense, said Scott Bailey, a North End Tacoma freelance advertising executive hired by the company.

It doesn’t hurt that more people watch the games when the team wins.

“The Web site is our storefront,” Bailey said. “This is how we educate and direct people to contractors. Our plan is to continue to develop the content in the Web site that adds value that supports McFarland Cascade’s basic strategy – and that is to build that brand image.”

And the early signs indicate you and I have started to get the message.

Statistics released by the company this week show June-July Web site hits of more than 1 million – up 33 percent over last year. In January, first-time visitors to the McFarland Cascade Web site numbered 5,176. In July, that number topped 17,700.

The best news, Maulin said, comes on the sales front. On average, sales of the company’s advertised products has risen 25 percent this summer.

Some of those specialty products have done better. Tropical hardwood sales growth has topped 250 percent. And sales of StoneDeck, real stone tiles that install on top of regular deck joists for barbecue pads or outdoor kitchens, have risen 800 percent.

If only first baseman Richie Sexson hit a third that well, imagine where the Mariners would be in the standings.

Dan Voelpel: 253-597-8785

dan.voelpel@thenewstribune.com

McFarland Cascade Holdings Inc.

Founded: 1916 in Sandpoint, Idaho, as LD McFarland Co., a producer of utility poles

Corporate headquarters: 1640 E. Marc St., Tacoma, since 1982

Ownership: Private – third-generation, family-owned

Leadership: B. Corry McFarland, president and CEO; Greg McFarland, executive vice president

Annual Sales: More than $200 million

Employees: Approximately 400

Pole Division: Produces and sells utility poles in all 50 U.S. states, plus Canada, the Far East, the Middle East and the Pacific Rim.

Sawn Products Division: Produces and supplies retailers and contractors in western states with pressure treated lumber, hardwoods, composite products and accessories. Taglines: Currently, “The best site for your outdoor project.” Formerly, “The Outdoor Projects People.”

Web Site: www.mcfarlandcascade.com

Sources: Hoovers.com, McFarland Cascade Holdings, ldm.com, Tacoma-Pierce County Chamber of Commerce