Pentair Water Pool And Spa Highlights Consumer Engagement As Key Growth Strategy For 2011

Dec. 20, 2010 - PRLog -- SANFORD, N.C.—Dec. 20, 2010—Pentair Water Pool and Spa, a division of Pentair, Inc. , a global leader in innovative products and systems used in the movement, treatment, storage and enjoyment of water today announced that end-consumer engagement will be a key growth initiative in 2011.  To accomplish this, the Company will lean on its unique Innovation Lab (www.innovationlab.pentairpool.com), a multi-faceted digital communications website built on the principals of social engagement.  The Innovation Lab brings together pool owners, dreamers and professionals to create a community of shared information that provides Pentair with valuable insights that can be leveraged to focus the Company’s ongoing product enhancement and new product development in customer-identified areas.  

“The Innovation Lab is a unique engagement approach for a company with our traditional business-to-business and independent dealer distribution model,” said Carlos DelAmo, Vice President of Marketing for Pentair Water Pool and Spa and the leader behind the creation of the Innovation Lab.  “This initiative is bringing us closer to the voice of the customer, which is vital for us in this growing age of social communication and peer-to-peer product recommendations to ensure that we continue developing and manufacturing in-demand products.”

The Innovation Lab is a unique application of social engagement strategies that aims to build a community of users, and user-generated content, focused on sharing information, best practices and creating connections between Pentair’s three major customers bases; pool owners, pool dreamers and pool professionals.  In addition to connecting these groups with one another and the company, Pentair is able to manage the online conversation around their brand, bolstering its ability to swiftly react to changes in peer-to-peer recommendations in the pool products space.

“This interactive community enables us to play an active engagement role with the professionals that distribute our product and provide them with on-demand support; while it also provides us with the tools to react in real-time to conversations affecting our brand,” continued DelAmo.  “Every company, whether business-to-business or business-to-consumer wants the ability to react quickly to changes in the marketplace; The Innovation Lab gives us that, as well as the added ability to instantly reach out to our core customers and let them know what we’ve done.”

The Innovation Lab was launched during the spring of 2010 and has seen membership grow exponentially.  With this unique community approach to social engagement, combined with a robust traditional social media plan utilizing communications vehicles such as Facebook and Twitter, Pentair has created multiple channels of open communication with their dealer base as well as the end customer.  

DelAmo concluded: “2011 is about growth and building strong lines of communication with our customers.  We are committed to retaining our position as the leading manufacturer of pool and spa equipment in the marketplace, and we recognize that it is the pool professionals and pool owners who have put us in that position.  That’s why The Innovation Lab, is central to our growth plans.”

To join, please visit www.innovationlab.pentairpool.com; The Innovation Lab is open to everyone and is free to participate in.

About Pentair, Inc.
Pentair Water Pool and Spa (www.pentairpool.com) is the world's leading manufacturer of premium pumps, filters, heaters, controls, cleaners, lighting systems, water features, and maintenance products for swimming pools and spas.  With innovative Pentair products, pool professionals, and by extension pool owners, can equip their pools with the confidence and comfort that comes from single source responsibility and support. Pentair Water Pool and Spa markets products under the Pentair Water Pool and Spa®, Pentair Pool Products®, Sta-Rite®, Eco Select™ Kreepy Krauly ® and Rainbow® brands.  Pentair Water Pool and Spa also serves the commercial pool industry with a variety of products. Pentair Water Pool and Spa is part of the Water Group of Pentair, Inc.  (www.pentair.com).

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Pentair Water Pool and Spa (www.pentairpool.com) is the world's leading manufacturer of premium pumps, filters, heaters, controls, cleaners, lighting systems, water features, and maintenance products for swimming pools and spas.