Mapei is a global organisation, founded in Italy in 1937. They have been established in the UK since 1989 and if you have ever tackled any home DIY projects, you’ve no doubt seen their many products on display in B&Q, Toolstation and Screwfix.
Aside from marketing and distributing their products through these resellers, what may not be as commonly known is that Mapei UK have recently launched an initiative to offer free training courses both in-person at their HQ in Halesowen and online (remotely) to those located further afield.
Amongst our other work ADAO are supporting Mapei with, one of our core campaigns has been to support with the visibility of their academy training courses. With a number of clients and contacts in the construction and trade industry, we are keen to share more about what Mapei hope to achieve from their Academy Training Program.
We spoke to Mapei’s Technical Director Jason Brunt about the training program, as well as some of the exciting developments ahead for Mapei over the coming year.
Hi Jason, please introduce yourself and your team’ function for Mapei UK
Our technical and training team work tirelessly to deliver understanding to all about Mapei products. The team support the new product development, our researching testing and after support for Mapei products across all ranges. The team have a wide variety of skills and while being experts in their own field have to have a broad overview of all things construction related.
What is the idea and drive behind the Mapei Academy, and why should tradespeople and apprentices sign up?
Mapei as an organisation reinvests 5% of its revenues in to research and development. We have a portfolio of over 5000 products. The constant development and advances in technology has to be driven through to those at the face of our industry. Those that are using the materials on a daily basis need to understand what changes are being made and why. Now, while this is important the communication in reverse is vitally important to ensure that products and services are useful to the end user and their customers should they have them. The Training Academy is one of our tools to help deliver this route for communication. The facilities are excellent with multi-faceted capabilities. We have training managers our technical team and our marketing based out of this building to fully utilise our key areas ensuring the training is delivered to a high standard. While we have our Academy building in Halesowen we fully appreciate that not everyone has the time to travel, this is why we work with many partners, retailers, distributors, colleges, private training centres and contractors to deliver the training required to utilise Mapei materials correctly.
What is Mapei’s best selling product line right now?
Our top selling products are levelling smoothing compounds but our top selling products are normally in the tile installation line for example our wide range of colours in our grouting range of Ultracolor Plus. Our fast growing sectors of the business are in our waterproofing and building products lines. At recent shows we have seen a great deal of interest in our micro cements and industrial flooring finishes for the domestic market. People are investing in their properties some people are thinking outside of the box for the finishes they want to see.
What exciting product lines do Mapei have on the horizon during 2022?
We won’t answer this one specifically, but we will have new products launching across all of our product lines. There are new ranges and products being launched by Mapei in particular in the tiling sector of construction.
Are Mapei open to hearing from building, constructing, architectural firms and how do they go about reaching out to connect specifically regarding Mapei products or potential collaboration moving forward?
We are always happy to hear from people, whether product or marketing enquiries, assistance with a project specification or to register for our training courses. We have an in house Technical Services Team and Specification Team to assist with any questions.
Email training@mapei.co.uk for any questions.
Thank you Jason! If you are keen to drive awareness and conversions for course bookings, or require support with your overall digital strategy please don’t hesitate to reach out to our team here at ADAO.