Acme Brick and [wire] stone Collaborate to Create Groundbreaking Visualization Experiences at New Patina Stores

SAN FRANCISCO and FORT WORTH, Texas, June 9, 2011 – Berkshire Hathaway’s Acme Brick, the largest U.S. owned brick company, and [wire] stone, an integrated digital marketing agency, today unveiled innovative, new visualization experiences for Acme’s new Patina Floor Design Stores. To realize its vision of bringing high-end home design directly to the consumer, Acme partnered with [wire] stone to create three unique, technology-driven, in-store experiences that will revolutionize the way customers shop for flooring. “With the opening of Patina, Acme is embracing a new market and creating a retail environment that is a first in the industry,” said Judy Hunter, Chief Financial Officer, Acme Brick. “One of our goals with Patina was to empower consumers by utilizing modern technology to create advanced visualization tools that take the guesswork out of a design project—allowing customers to confidently select a new surface for their home.” Before Patina, Acme focused primarily on selling building materials such as brick and tile to construction companies, however, with the downturn of the housing market, it sought new areas for growth. Acme decided to establish a direct relationship with the consumer, building a concept around its tile products and expanding its offerings to include other materials, such as hardwood and carpet, for a full-service floor, counter and wall covering store. Patina stores have access to 12,000 SKUs available in a central warehouse and another 20,000 SKUs from suppliers. To meet the challenge of showcasing this vast selection without overwhelming the consumer or requiring an extremely large showroom, [wire] stone and Acme designed state-of-the-art, digital experiences that augment the physical showroom to help customers find the right products and envision the installed appearance of those products. The showroom incorporates high-resolution, touch-screen displays, driven by software experiences created by [wire] stone, and featured in three visualization centers: • The World of Patina touch-screen experience enables customers to find products, learn more about their characteristics, locate them in the store, and view hundreds of room scenes for inspiration. • The Floor Creator table provides customers with a 6 by 3 foot area to select and view their tile pattern, color, layout and grout color—it is even able to display the natural tile variation across a large surface area and within a room scene. • A separate kitchen vignette contains a built-in, 65-inch, high-resolution display with an interactive Backsplash Gallery that allows customers to visualize more than 50 different backsplash designs and inspirational design boards. Customers control the experience using a separate touch display. This virtual showroom supports Patina’s customer service, arming its sales associates with powerful tools to guide customers through the broad array of options, help them identify preferences and facilitate a purchase. In addition, customers can save selections, allowing them to give the purchase additional consideration and resume the buying process where they left off. “[wire] stone provides a unique combination of strategic, creative and technical talent to craft engaging digital experiences for the retail environment,” said Greg Rattenborg, [wire] stone executive director of emerging experiences. “In our emerging experiences practice, we are exploring new ways of moving digital experiences into everyday life. Together with Acme, we were able to apply the latest interactive technologies to help customers visualize and validate their design selections. The tools enhance customer interactions and differentiate Patina from other stores of its kind.” The emerging experiences practice at [wire] stone strives to create deeply immersive brand experiences by leveraging the agency’s expertise in rich user experience technologies such as HTML5, multi-touch, gigapixel imaging, deep zoom and Microsoft® KinectTM and Silverlight®. [wire] stone recently announced the opening of its first Experience Center in Seattle to explore the ideation and development of solutions that incorporate gesture or motion-based interfaces, 3D modeling and holographic projection, next-generation retail engagement and advanced data visualization. # # # About Acme Acme, the largest U.S. owned brick company, celebrated its 120th birthday on April 17, 2011. Acme is a member of the Berkshire Hathaway family of companies headed by famed investor Warren Buffett. About [wire] stone [wire] stone is a mid-size leader in integrated digital and experiential marketing solutions. Founded in 2000, [wire] stone serves some of the world’s largest and most recognizable brands, including Motorola, FTD, Microsoft, Boeing, ConAgra, HP, Nike and Intel. Through its 175 employees in six U.S. offices and one European office, [wire] stone is committed to delivering excellence in key practice areas that include digital strategy, channel enablement, social engagement and emerging experiences. For more information visit www.wirestone.com. Microsoft, Kinect and Silverlight are either registered trademarks or trademarks of Microsoft Corporation in the United States and/or other countries.