Peek shows its mettle
October 1st 2005

Armed with the royal warrant and with the man who launched WD40 across Canada back behind the wheel, Robert Peek wants to make Peek Polish the first choice for all metal, perspex and fibreglass cleaning and polishing. Brendan Coyne reports

With its rub on, rub off simplicity, Peek is eager to corner the brewery trade, alongside the catering and janitorial markets (Peek meets the NSF standard for use in catering areas). He says once tried, seven out of ten customers buy the product - and come back for more. So how does it work? "Simply put a little bit on a cloth and polish it off: it's literally that easy," says Peek. "I don't care if you're a sole trader or a major organisation: people who try the product are gob smacked."

Available as a mousse, liquid, spray or paste, Peek has been sold in the UK since 1989. However, after taking a back seat in the early 90s Robert Peek is keen to reinvent the brand – and believes the royal warrant awarded to it this year is a perfect opportunity. "Not many companies (around 200 in the UK) can say their product is used by Buckingham Palace," says Peek. "And while it's not going to have every contractor or specifier beating a path to our door, it does have some prestige."

Royal flush

Peek says the fact it's in use at the palace (as well as Windsor castle, Balmoral and the royal yacht Britannia) also illustrates one of the product's key selling points: it can be used on everything from the finest gold to stainless steel, ceramics, fibreglass and beyond. In all, 38 surfaces can be cleaned, polished restored and protected (with an antioxidant barrier) using a single product.

Alongside versatility, Peek says the biggest reason for using the product is performance: "You use a little and it goes a long way - and it also retards tarnishing buy about 60% longer than other liquid products on the market." However he is keen to stress that it is a very mild treatment: "Without getting into the technical side (because people just lose interest), it works more on a chemical reaction than an abrasive reaction - wipe on, rub off, job done."

This year the company is looking to increase business worldwide by at least 20%. In order to do so, Peek now seeks more distributors both in mainland Europe and the UK, specifically in the Midlands and the North. He says distributors will do well from the product compared with competitors in the commodity market. "The product isn't bastardised by the grocery market - we're not going through the same channels as the likes of Brasso or Silvo or whatever because it seriously restricts the margin for the distributor. Ours is a premium product with a commensurate margin - precisely what distributors want to deal with."

In the pipeline

While Peek has also launched a universal foaming cleaner for general janitorial use, he says the company is keen not to become a 'shopping trolley' of products. Having said that, Peek says a glass cleaner is something he'd like to develop, but has not yet achieved satisfactory results with the prototypes he's had made up. "They're pretty good, and would be a perfect match with our product, but we're not 100% there yet - and we won't go ahead until we are." Which is precisely what it takes to get the royal seal of approval.

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