Together with our retail partners, we have been able to gain new customers and tap into further opportunities for growth with NO TOOLS, JUST HANDS through our convincing brand management”, says Michael Geiszbühl, Managing Director Sales and Marketing fixing systems at fischer. “We are delighted to have received the German Brand Award as a symbol of acknowledgment and honour for our employees”.

In 2018 fischer expanded its core range of plastic plugs, steel anchors, chemical fixing systems, screws and much more with the NO TOOLS, JUST HANDS products for tool-free DIY projects. Together with the accompanying communication the company succeeded in targeting the DIY solutions at new users who lacked the experience and the tools required for fixings, repairs and improvements around the home. “We built on the name recognition and image of our umbrella brand while simultaneously emphasising the individuality of the new concept and product range”, emphasises Volker Amann, Division Manager International Marketing. This involved communicating the essence of the products’ benefits.

“We are communicating the advantages of our products to the user with the same simplicity our new DIY range has to offer”, explains Jan Dienst, NO TOOLS, JUST HANDS Product Manager. This set the tone for the uniform and authentic appearance of the product range, starting with the signet – hands that are placing tools – to self-explanatory product names such as PICTURE CLAW and FURNITURE SAVER. The blister packaging was also designed to be differentiated from the fischer plugs and anchors while simultaneously belonging to the fischer range.

“We market the NO TOOLS, JUST HANDS range through social media campaigns in particular, for example by using video clips”, Volker Amann highlights. “The reasons for this include the good accessibility of the young target group, quickly generating reach, targeting opportunities and the targeted forwarding of traffic to further information as well as to the online stores of our retail partners as the final stage of the customer journey”. fischer is also guaranteeing comprehensive and all-encompassing retail distribution and availability with a Point of Sale image that works as a stand-alone feature or together with fischer’s standard range. The eye-catching PoS display features an embedded screen showing application videos and comes fully supplied with 550 products. All the retail partners need to do to start generating turnover is unpack the display. Original and attention-grabbing campaigns such as the smart NO TOOLS, JUST HANDS consultant robot INGO have repeatedly proved to be popular at DIY stores. A promotional tour lasting several months is being planned for this year and will feature a boxer arcade machine with the motto “your hands are stronger than you think!”. Further classic points of contact include the LED strips with fischer’s football sponsoring.

This forms a consistent overall concept through which the NO TOOLS, JUST HANDS range has already found success at over 1,100 sales points in Germany while also being available in Austria, Spain, Great Britain, France, Italy and Brazil.

The German Brand Award honours excellent brand leadership performances and is organised by the “absatzwirtschaft” magazine in cooperation with the German Marketing Association (Deutscher Marketing Verband, DMV). A panel of experts from the worlds of management, marketing, media and agencies selects the winners. Due to Covid-19 the finalists will be presenting their submissions via video presentations on 28th May. There were eight finalists in four categories from a total of 25 participants in this year’s award, among them fischer, who came out as the winner in the “brand expansion” category with NO TOOLS, JUST HANDS.