“This is a perfect opportunity to showcase what we do in our builder division, and it just so happens we have several women who work in the builder division,†declared Laura Kaplan, the advertising director for CPI Security Inc., Charlotte, N.C.
The security company is participating in a 60-episode television series called “Homemakers†on the Turner South cable channel, which is seen by 7 million subscribers in North and South Carolina, Tennessee, Mississippi, Alabama and Georgia.
Instead of simply remodeling or redecorating an historic home built in 1905 in the NoDa (N. Davidson St.) district of Charlotte, the house, which had been condemned, was gutted down to the studs.
This allowed CPI to demonstrate its low-voltage wiring and security capabilities along with installation of surround sound, audio and intercom systems, smart wiring, plasma televisions and even a central vacuum system.
CPI helped select a real-time response system from GE Infrastructure, Security. It was GE who referred the show’s producers to CPI.
CPI trades its labor for interviews with its employees on the television show, a hot link and logo on the Turner South Web site and a listing in the program’s credits. The materials are donated by the suppliers.
Donations for tours of the house go to a local battered women’s shelter. The home also can be used by CPI to demonstrate its products and services.
CPI will be featured in two to three episodes of the series, which began broadcasting in April. The company also plans to put video clips from the show on its Web site, www.cpisecurity.com.
Because approximately 85 percent of the company’s business is residential and located in North and South Carolina, the show is a good advertising and publicity fit.
“I found it to be very empowering as a woman to see that I can do this work myself and I don’t have to wait for my husband or boyfriend,†Kaplan explained about the show’s appeal.
