Neil is the Vice President of Marketing for Universal Furniture in High Point, North Carolina. Neil is responsible for the strategic and creative direction of Universal Furniture brands, which include Universal Furniture and To The Trade. He also manages the company’s licensing programs with current partners, Coastal Living Magazine and Miranda Kerr, the supermodel! Neil has over 20 years of marketing experience working with B2B and B2C clients. His specialties include strategy and branding, advertising, planning, website development and analysis, social corporate identity, and media planning.
Be motivated as Neil will share some knowledge about how their company works that you could also practice being successful.
Neil is also inviting us to join the upcoming events at Universal’s Learning Center, where we can experience designer-focused panels and discussions and meet known personalities.
The vision of the business has to be connected to your brand ethos. Doing so will make your business more solid. Neil stated they want their customers to have an easy transaction with them.
Universal is great to do business with, no matter the size of your design firm. They are easy to transact with! Universal is a good resource for all-size designers.
Examine everything you do, accept every firm that could do business with us, and build a recognizable brand. It eliminates a lot of conversation and guarantees everyone is on the same page. In general, the more you communicate, the better your execution. These methods Neil uses.
Universal has a broad range of product lines like Coastal Living, Miranda Kerr, and Modern Farmhouse. Customers are getting a lot of value. You receive more looks for less without sacrificing anything.
“Our vision is just kind of at our ethos, and we want to be easy to do business.”
Neil MacKenzie
Their team is always attempting to comprehend and learn from what they see from the analytic perspective regarding how people engage and interact with the website to things they can change to make it simpler to interact and, eventually, transact on.
In 2020, when Covid was still rampant, they shot everything in advance. They were rolling out their second collection with Coastal Living Magazine called Getaway and had already been on location. They hosted a virtual market and did showrooms virtually.
FALL MARKET AT UNIVERSAL
Neil invites us to join Universal’s Learning Center for market events where they have designer-focused panels & discussions on October 21-25, 2022. They are excited to have folks return, in person, to fall market. The following are the things you may see.
“The showroom is thanks to Janine, and her team who do an amazing job. It’s 115,000 square feet. So it’s a massive building. Inside that space, we have some amazing opportunities for designers to connect, learn, and be inspired. “
“One of the areas we call the Learning Center is going to be stocked and filled with several events throughout the week, Friday through Tuesday.”
“We try to get as many people as possible. It comfortably seats 105 people. We do record all of these. That’s a question we get a lot of. We had been broadcasting them live, but we’re going to change this year. We’re just going to record them and then make the recordings available after the fact. If somebody can’t make it or must leave early, we record them.”
Neil MacKenzie
You can visit Universal Furniture.com/marketevents to see them or know more about the event.
Be sure to follow #HPMKT on Instagram!
Shalena Smith is on the Panel, Leslie Carothers is doing some events on a space, and LuAnn Nigara will be hosting and moderating. These are some of the well-known personalities coming to the event.
Until next time, take one new action that lifts up your brand!
Tune in for Branding, Marketing, and Business
IMPORTANT LINKS
Universal Explore Home Learning Center Market Events Friday – Tuesday, October 21-25, 2022
Tori Sikkema speaking on Friday, October 21 @ 4:00 pm, Telling your Design Story Visually
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