How Marshalls reminded the industry who sets the standard
For more than a century, Marshalls has been one of the UK's most respected names in landscaping, building and roofing products. As the company behind some of the country's most innovative solutions, its influence can be seen in streets, public spaces and developments nationwide. Yet despite its market-leading position, Marshalls recognised a growing challenge.
- Campaign
THE DECISION
The business had spent years focusing on delivering excellence rather than talking about it. As a result, many audiences knew Marshalls for individual products but not for the breadth of its expertise, innovation and specialist services. As competition intensified, the risk wasn't losing leadership through capability. It was losing leadership through perception.
The turning point came when Marshalls recognised that being the industry leader was no longer enough. It needed to reclaim that position in the minds of commercial audiences by showcasing not only the quality of its products, but the innovation, engineering expertise and design thinking behind them. The decision was simple: stop underselling its strengths and start communicating with the confidence of a category leader.
OUR RECOMMENDATION
Our view was that Marshalls didn't need a louder campaign. It needed a more authoritative one. The opportunity wasn't to explain what Marshalls does, but to elevate how people perceive the business.
Commercial audiences make decisions based on confidence and credibility as much as specification. Marshalls already had the strongest proof points in the category: exceptional products, industry-leading innovation, specialist engineering expertise and MaDE, Marshalls Design & Engineering team. The challenge was bringing them together under a single, compelling narrative.
We recommended a campaign built around craftsmanship, innovation and design excellence. Rather than focusing on individual products, we positioned Marshalls as a business shaping tomorrow's built environment.
The strategic commercial proposition was presented to us as ‘Landscapes Designed & Engineered As One’, a strategy centred on demonstrating how Marshalls brings surfaces, detailing, drainage, street furniture and engineering together as one coordinated landscape solution. From this we evolved a simple but powerful platform - ‘It's Got To Be Marshalls’ - to act as the brand confidence device and call to action across the campaign. More than a strapline, it became a statement of confidence, reinforcing the idea that when quality, innovation and performance matter, Marshalls is the obvious choice
THE WORK
Creative Spark developed a premium campaign platform designed to relaunch Marshalls to commercial audiences with renewed confidence and authority. At its heart was a suite of photoreal CGI visuals and films, showcasing how Marshalls combines products, engineering expertise and design thinking to deliver integrated landscape solutions.
Through a seamless visual narrative, we revealed how MaDE works alongside customers to connect products, engineering expertise and design thinking into practical, buildable solutions. These striking visuals were paired with a confident voiceover and powerful soundtrack to create a hero film designed to command attention and reinforce leadership.
The campaign was then rolled out across shorter films, digital advertising and social content, creating a fully integrated commercial launch.
WHAT CHANGED
The campaign reinforced Marshalls’ position as a trusted product manufacturer, engineering partner and landscape solutions provider, bringing the full breadth of its expertise to commercial audiences. It also highlighted the value of bringing Marshalls and the MaDE team into projects earlier, where design and engineering expertise can have the greatest impact on buildability, specification and project outcomes
By elevating perception and showcasing previously overlooked strengths, Marshalls gained a stronger platform from which to compete, differentiate and lead. The campaign demonstrated how paving, drainage, street furniture and engineering can be designed and engineered as one coordinated landscape system, aligning external perception with internal reality. Most importantly, it gave the business a confident, contemporary voice that reflects the quality, innovation and ambition that have always defined the brand.
SO WHAT?
Market leadership isn't just earned through capability. It's maintained through perception. As well as elevating the customer experience and improving understanding, the campaign created a clearer, more compelling way for customers to engage with Marshalls’ expertise earlier in the project lifecycle.
The Marshalls commercial campaign shows that sometimes the most powerful move a category leader can make is to start telling the world what makes them exceptional.
