This month BR-111™ Exotic Hardwood Flooring launched its unique “Off The Floor” branding campaign, which centers around print advertisements illustrating the passion and pride felt by BR-111™ homeowners. The flooring takes center stage in each of the three ads, as the furniture, plants and light fixtures are literally suspended in the air.

“While conducting research for our new advertising campaign, we heard from numerous proud BR-111™ consumers who told us that their flooring was so exquisite and eye-catching that they didn’t want to cover it up,” explains Ricardo Moraes, President of BR-111™ Exotic Hardwood Flooring. “We took that notion to the extreme and created vignettes showing homeowners displaying their flooring as a work of art.”

The full campaign centers on a series of three images that advance BR-111’s role as the preferred brand of exotic hardwood flooring. This creative campaign, combined with a multifaceted media plan including national consumer publications, flooring and remodeling trade publications, Google sponsorships and online advertising will generate more than 75 million impressions through the end of the year. The ads will appear in sophisticated consumer publications including Architectural Digest, Vogue Living, Dwell, Southern Living, Saveur and Food & Wine.

The “Off The Floor” campaign was concepted by STEELE+, an Atlanta-based full-service advertising and marketing agency. The agency conceived the theme after interviewing BR-111™ consumers and learning that they were proud and passionate about the exotic hardwood flooring. No stranger to the mindset of home improvement, STEELE+ retains a spectrum of clients in the industry, including Georgia-Pacific Corp., Miele and TOTO USA.

Award-winning advertising and editorial photographer Jim Fiscus led the creative development of the campaign. His ingenuity and diligence on the set, combined with his reputation for perfection, yielded superlative results. The 2005 International Photographer of the Year, Fiscus boasts an impressive client list, including Nike, Adidas and Usher.

The campaign, which was shot on sets in New York City, feature three different life stages:

• The “Cocktail Party” photograph features Angico, a new exotic hardwood flooring species from BR-111™ with reddish-brown hues and brunette striped grain patterns. The ad features a dozen guests in their twenties marveling at the flooring, while a young lady holding a wine glass reclines on a white couch suspended three feet off the floor.
  
  
• The “Newlywed” image showcases a young couple sitting in the middle of the room, appreciating the character and Old World charm of Antiquity Hand-Scraped Malbec Walnut. The modern-styled couch, table and plant suspend from the ceiling and walls by heavy-duty rope, expressing a contrast between the elegant beauty of the flooring and the rugged rope.
  
  
• The “Picnic” photograph features a distinguished couple admiring the hand-scraped texture of Fazenda Brazilian Walnut, a new exotic hardwood flooring from BR-111’s Design & Architectural Series. The furniture in the room – a luxurious dining room set – sits on stacks of books, so it won’t touch the flooring.

For almost 20 years, BR-111™ has provided exotic hardwood that is recognized for its beauty, performance and overall value. The largest flooring operation in South America and the nation's largest supplier of exotic hardwood flooring, BR-111™ produces millions of square feet of flooring per month for distribution to domestic and international markets. The company’s timber is selectively harvested under forest management regulations stipulated by the Brazilian Environment and Renewable Resource Institute (IBAMA) or from third party monitored well-managed forestlands. For more information, visit br111.com.