Background
The Insulating Concrete Formwork Association (ICFA) is the leading voice on Insulating Concrete Formwork (ICF) building systems within the UK.
ICF is a solid wall construction system comprising building blocks made from an insulating material, with a strong concrete core. The system is quick to construct and offers significantly better levels of performance than those available from slower, more traditional approaches to building.
ICF has long-established itself in the UK self-build sector, consistently delivering homes that offer high levels of energy efficiency and thermal performance. With recent changes to building standards such as Building Regulations, Eco-homes, and now the Code for Sustainable Homes, ICF has now broadened into the mainstream, being increasingly adopted by UK housing associations and regional house builders. ICF is one of just four approved walling systems for domestic basements and is recognised as an MMC system (Modern Method of Construction) by BRE (Building Research Establishment, Partnerships and Communities England).
The ICFA wants to educate the construction industry and increase market share by a minimum of 10% in above-ground external walls of domestic residences. In addition, they want ICF homes, including those with basements, to be seen as the market-leading house construction for building on flood plains.
Target Audience
This task was targeted at ICFA’s core audiences: developers, contractors, architects, and key decision-makers across the construction industry. These are the people responsible for choosing the most suitable construction systems for their projects and are often under pressure to deliver solutions that are not only efficient and cost-effective but also meet ever-changing regulations and industry standards.
We were also mindful of reaching homeowners and self-builders, particularly those who are interested in modern, sustainable building methods like ICF for future-proofed homes.
Whether it was a large-scale developer working on affordable housing or an architect specifying materials for a low-energy project, our goal was to get ICF in front of the people who could make it part of their decision-making process.
Client Challenge
The ICFA was concerned that there was still a real lack of awareness about ICF construction. Although, as a Modern Method of Construction (MMC), it has been slowly growing amongst developers and housing associations as an trusted method, the numbers are still not where they need to be if they want to make a dent in the industry.
For a building system that has the potential to help tackle some of the UK’s biggest construction challenges, this lack of visibility was holding it back. It was time for the ICFA to step things up, push the system harder, and properly introduce a method that could genuinely be game-changing.
But getting into the spotlight wasn’t as straightforward as they thought. Their website and social media could only do so much, and if they were serious about expanding their reach and getting in front of developers, contractors, and key industry stakeholders, they needed to think bigger.
On top of that, they didn’t have strong media connections to lean on and were not sure how to engage the right platforms or what kind of content would actually turn heads and speak to the people they needed to reach. The ambition was there, but they needed direction.
That’s where Aura PR came in.
Agency Solution
One of the big problems facing the ICFA when meeting their goal is the small marketing and PR budget available. Gaining maximum coverage through paid placements was not viable and instead they needed to lean into every opportunity by looking for news angles that that hook into hot UK and industry topics.
Our first step was to look at their preferred industry media landscape to figure out which outlets they had a real chance of featuring in. We didn’t just look at the names but asked the important questions, such as: Who’s their audience? What kind of stories are they publishing? What’s getting traction? What’s their tone and writing style? Only by understanding all of that could we figure out the right platforms to approach and the type of content that would actually land.
Once we’d done our homework, we narrowed down a solid list of potential outlets and started crafting tailored email pitches. But this wasn’t about blasting out a full sales pitch, the goal was to grab attention right from the subject line and offer something genuinely newsworthy. Most importantly, we didn’t use a copy and paste email template and instead targeted each media title individually, offering a news story to their editors which they knew would appeal to their audience.
Luckily, this is something we’ve done time and again at Aura PR. We’ve got plenty of tips and tricks up our sleeves to keep pitches succinct, sharp, and impactful. We focused on hot topics like the UK’s Affordable Housing Challenge and Sustainability and tied them directly to how ICF can help tackle these issues. If the publication’s editorial direction aligned with our angle, we’d then supply them with detailed articles and case studies showcasing the real-world impact of ICF.
The Results
We caught the attention of top industry-leading titles like PBC Today and Architects Datafile, titles which don’t regularly offer free news items. Both were very interested in featuring editorial from the ICFA as long as it remained informative and non-commercial.
We crafted up features for each outlet, making sure we aligned with their tone of voice and style. PBC Today ran the feature “Meeting Affordable Housing Challenges with ICF”, highlighting how ICF provides cost-effective, energy-efficient solutions to the UK’s housing crisis whilst Architects Datafile published “Building the Future with ICF”, promoting how taking a fabric first approach like ICF is the most effective approach for reducing the carbon footprint of new housing,
Securing coverage in two respected industry publications gave the ICFA serious visibility, all without spending a penny on paid placements. Both articles provided approximately £3,495 worth of advertising space and placed the ICFA right in the middle of their key industry. This was the perfect showcase to start conversations, boost their credibility, and reach thousands of architects, developers, contractors, and decision-makers. It was a huge step forward in spreading awareness of ICFA’s core messages.
Even better, the ICFA now has strong editorial-quality content and case studies in hand, ready to fuel future media outreach and stakeholder engagement.
Ultimately, the campaign proved that with the right targeting, sharp storytelling, and strategic positioning, Aura PR could elevate ICF and ICFA into meaningful media conversations. And now, with that momentum behind them, they’re in the best shape to keep pushing the MMC agenda forward.
