Redwood faces long & short term challenges

By Xeith Lanning Executive Vice President & General Manager California Redwood Association

I ISTENING

Ibto predic- tions of yet another year with low housing starts, redwood suppliers realize they are faced with a challenge.

Though redwood sales have remained strong in comparison to many other building materials, they are of course affected by the current housing market. The redwood mills see this as a two-fold challenge. The short term challenge is to help dealers promote and sell redwood in spite of present economic conditions. The long term challenge is to prepare to meet the demands of the future construction boom when interest rates stabilize at a realistic level.

Merchants have always benefited from the industry's policy of promoting their product at a constant level whether the market was strong or weak. CRA's advertising, publicity., literature and audio/visual materials all work to create a strong product image and a consistent message.

Redwood has selling power to markets like home improvement, which has remained surprisingly strong throughout the current building slump. The do-it-yourself segment of the home improvement

Story at a Glance

Short term CRA promotes heavily to sell in a bad market long term investments in reforestation, mills and promotional areas to build for long term demand.

market is generally more faithful than professionals and for the most part made up of affluent young homebuilders who will be improving their homes and purchasing building supplies for many years.

More and more successful retailers are taking an active part in attracting the attention of the home improvement market and educating the consumer by training their sales force, passing along literature and using sales materials provided by the California Redwood Association. Do-it-yourselfers, in particular, need ideas, information and sometimes simply encouragement that they con do it themselves. Home improvement contractors need technical information as well as examples of redwood's ability to improve the home. CRA literature is designed to meet these needs.

CRA has also been exploring anew medium to transmit its message.

(Please turn to page 45)