Insight

Over the past few years, SIG Roofing has adopted a more holistic marketing strategy. This includes charity partnerships that actively benefit and engage its 800 employees and roofing-contractor customers through fundraising and awareness campaigns. The strategy has meant the organisation has delivered high levels of engagement across all areas of the business, with positive feedback from staff and customers alike.

Our initial aim was to partner with charities our people could relate to, so they had to be carefully chosen. After learning about the national Sun Safe Workplace accreditation programme from the national skin cancer prevention charity, SKCIN.org, SIG Roofing decided to partner with it in 2024. The charity’s work was highly relevant to our workforce and customers, many of whom are outdoor workers exposed to solar ultraviolet radiation (UVR), which is responsible for an alarming 90% of all skin cancer cases, putting them at a significantly higher risk of developing the disease. The predominance of males raised further concerns, as statistics indicate that skin cancer incidence is increasing at twice the rate in men compared to women, and men are 69% more likely to die from this disease.

As a result, we delivered more than 150 online training courses for our employees, including staff from our 100+ branches across the UK. We then rolled out a survey that highlighted the need for customer education. Many of our customers are roofing contractors who, in the survey, admitted they were not as diligent as they should be in using sun protection measures. In response, we created in-store point-of-sale displays, placed advertising in trade publications, and provided free sunscreen stations and giveaways throughout our branches to raise awareness to all branch visitors. Our efforts were recognised with two national awards for our ‘Take a Squirt’ sun station campaign. Most importantly, internal results have been transformational; post-training, 0.9% of staff reported not protecting their skin (down from 28.2%), and 74.8% could now identify skin cancer symptoms (up from 5.8%). We are therefore continuing to support the charity for a third year, rolling out the awareness with new initiatives targeted at both our customers and staff.

Recognising the high level of mental health issues reported in construction and following the engagement received through the SKCIN initiative, we announced our partnership with the Band of Builders (BoB) in late 2024. BoB is a charity that provides practical, financial and well-being support specifically for members of the construction industry. It carries out excellent work supporting families in times of need and promoting mental health awareness. And the staff at SIG Roofing have really got behind this charity, working with suppliers to donate construction materials for a number of home renovations carried out by BoB, and in some cases working with their customers on the installation of these products too. They also hold regular ‘Big’Brew events in the branches to encourage their roofing contractor customers to pop in for a brew and a chat, and to raise funds and awareness of both mental health and the charity’s renovation initiatives.

We will certainly continue to support both causes. Not only have our teams been involved in our centrally driven fundraising initiatives, but these initiatives have also sparked their imagination, and the number of fundraising events driven by our people has continued to grow. We are delighted on the feedback we’ve had on the positivity generated by helping these charities and would encourage other businesses to try the same approach.