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This is a story of triumph over
an imploding U.S. economy, a tarnished product image, and analysis-paralysis customers. And best of all, the results have been
measured and long lasting.
Market Challenge: The economic downturn knocked
the paint category down more than 35%. Decline in new home sales was the major reason. Glidden – once a market leader – had experienced a 40% market share loss. It was a brand
neglected.
Enter the AkzoNobel company,
headquartered in The Netherlands, who purchased Glidden with a major
commitment to regaining market share. They realized they were fighting against a deadline – they
were in danger of being dropped by The Home Depot, Glidden’s largest retail
partner. And the Glidden brand had
lost its luster and was known on the street as “Grandfather’s paint”.
Lesson #1: Know your customer – Know what they want
KISS before you tell. Glidden customers wanted
what most customers want – a simple and easy solution. Research indicated that there
was a sizeable market opportunity of DIY (do-it-yourself) consumers who would
be open to repainting their home. But they were
overwhelmed by the vast selection of paint colors and choices and lacked
confidence in choosing a stylish color for their project.
Before any promotion could
be successful, Glidden had to act on these insights and follow the KISS
principle (Keep It Simple, Stupid). They made the following changes to their
product presentation: simplified color choice through “Top 10” category selections,
improved in-store experiences to be more intuitive and “friendly”, redesigned packaging
to make it easy to buy the right product, and they educated the Home Depot staff.
Lesson #2: Your offer begins with your product
Don't be roadkill. If you've got a great product, there is no better offer than a Free Trial to prove it's as good as you promise. It takes away all the risk for the buyer. But recent marketing annals are filled with free trial roadkill from well-known brands who experienced website overloads, balky franchisees, out-of-stock products, and the consequent loads of bad press and complaints wall-papered across social media sites.
A great offer is usually a combination of elements. But first and foremost on your list of offer elements is your product or service. And then, like any great mouth-watering recipe, you add extra ingredients to make your product or service irresistible and to melt away inertia – price and payment terms, guarantees of satisfaction, incentives, and limited offers are just a few of the possibilities.
But Free Trial is tops with 3 big IFs: 1) IF you have a product that is so good it will sell itself on trial, 2) IF you can overcome the potential pitfalls, and 3) IF you can convert the free trials to paying customers.
Market research revealed that Glidden had product performance issues to fix before this campaign could be launched – paint finish appearance, coverage, and wear. Glidden reformulated its paint to cover in fewer coats, look smoother, and resist wear in high-traffic areas. They also responded to consumers' concerns by making the new Glidden paint more environmentally responsible.
Lesson #3: Is your creative engaging?
Does it drive response?
What is creative? I subscribe to David Ogilvy's code: "if it doesn't sell, it isn't creative." Many clever ideas fail because they never engage the target audience - they simply entertain other creative people and look good in portfolios. I'm a direct marketer, so I want results you can put in the bank!
Glidden used a simple concept that told a relevant story to the customer in an unexpected way. It was memorable and had impact. The campaign was launched on TV in major markets with 30-second ads.
Glidden's call to action. Targeting a recession weary, staying in our homes longer, analysis-paralysis market, glidden promised that "Painting can be a great way to brighten your life. Glidden makes it easy. Glidden gets you going. Go to Glidden.com or call us to choose your color and get a free quart of paint from June 25-July2 (while supplies last)."
Our paint is so good that we'll give you a quart to prove it to yourself - but you have to hurry.
Take a look at the TV commercial created by DDB.
Lesson #4: It's a multichannel world
From paid media (TV, magazines and newspaper ads, and online display ads) to street events and PR, Glidden surrounded their market and picked up lots of press coverage and online chatter on blogs, Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and more.
   
Painting 2.0 – The promotions drove responders to the newly redesigned and vastly improved Glidden website or to a toll-free number. And then the fun began – you could choose your favorite color (with lots of help from Glidden) and "paint a room" online – testing color choices until you got it perfect. You can share your choices with friends, save your colors, calculate the amount of paint, print out a shopping list, and find your nearest Home Depot location, where re-educated clerks awaited you.
The website today is easy to use, helpful and relevant.
Lesson #5: No matter how brilliant your marketing,
the back end determines your success.
Glidden had budgeted for shipping cans of paint with a thank you note to the first 320,000 people who responded, or until the 8-day promotion ended. Since paint qualifies as a hazardous material, they had to develop a locking ring for shipping. They even followed up with responders to tell them how to open the can.
The first 320,000 people responded in 3 days. Now what?
The devil is in the details. People were still tweeting the free offer, promoting it on Facebook, decorating blogs and driving more and more people to Glidden's website – even though there were no more free quarts, there were 5 days remaining. In order not to disappoint their late-arriving customers, Glidden quickly created a rebate offer for $5 off any can of Glidden paint. The rebate form could be printed from the promotion website. So even though the ads were clear about the limited nature of the free paint offer, Glidden avoided potential disaster by creating an effective backstop.
Glidden also set up a social SWAT team to get the word out about the new offer for late responders to pre-empt negative fall out.
Lesson #6: Focus on long-term value
The advertising vs. direct marketing divide. What sets this promotion apart from typical sales promotion and makes it direct marketing is the commitment to an ongoing dialogue with the customer. Glidden started with zero individual information on their customers and built a valuable database from the promotion.
Free trials are not really customers – no money has changed hands. They are prospects, and they need a conversion strategy beyond product trial.
In addition to collecting contact and shipping data (name, address, phone number and email), they captured color requested, room to be painted, dwelling type, presence of children and their ages. These questions would allow them to profile responders and personalize future communications.
The hidden genius in Glidden's Free Trial. The Glidden paint give away was for only a quart – that's just enough for a small area or project, or to substantially test their new paint. Glidden's extensive research had shown that after people finish one room or project, they are often inspired to start another. A free trial that is a true amuse-bouche.
So with an eye toward building a relationship and future purchases, Glidden has continued to communicate with responders to sell more Glidden paint. They started with a personalized email about coordinating colors that matched the free quart, and have continued with followup offers including friend-get-a-friend.
What were the results?
Many marketers today focus on publicity, awards, and social media buzz to justify their marketing efforts. There are mountains of studies on awareness and intent to purchase. Yes, 320,00 free quarts of paint were requested. And traffic to the Glidden website increased by 500% compared the same week prior year.
True direct marketers want more! This promotion of Glidden's brand revitalization reversed their years' long decline. In the 8 months following the free trial offer, their sales at Home Depot had increased by 50%. I'd love to know how many of the free trials were converted to buy the product at full price. Glidden probably knows, but I don't have this data. But in this case it doesn't matter.
The success of the campaign shows a great marriage of brand advertising and direct marketing.
Success breeds success. Bloomberg Businessweek recently reported that Walmart was dropping Sherwin-Williams Dutch Boy paint for Glidden. They projected that as the sole paint sold by Walmart in the U.S., Glidden's sales would increase by 31%. I doubt this would have been possible without the success of the promotion.
One final lesson
What may be most surprising about the Glidden Gets You Going Free Paint Giveaway campaign is that it was executed for a non-traditional direct marketer and a manufacturer, no less.
Manufacturers of products from health and beauty aids, automotive, computers, appliances, chemicals and more have recognized the value of direct marketing – and the ongoing value of having direct contact with their customers. According to the 2010 U.S. DMA Power of Direct Marketing report, manufacturers account for a hefty 13 of the top 20 industry sectors projected to have the highest direct marketing ad spend compounded growth rate through 2014.
Congratulations!
Congratulations to the brains behind the Glidden campaign – AkzoNobel's management team, DDB New York and ETCETERA (a DDB company in Amsterdam), Hitchcock Fleming and Associates (web and social media), and Liggett Stashower (PR and events). The success of this effort has also been demonstrated by the recent decision of Walmart to stock Glidden. See below.
I hope you enjoyed this case history.
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