Irving Oil

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Irving Oil Target MarketingAWARD-WINN
ING FURNACE REPLACEMENT ADVERTISING
CAMPAIGNGold CASSIES Winner, 2002
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The Situation

• The Campaign

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The Situation

• The Client
• Irving Oil Ltd.
• The Ad Agency
• Target Marketing Communications

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• Marketing Goal
• Increase year-over-year furnace sales by 30.
• i.e., Sell at least 30 more furnaces from
  Oct-Dec 2001 than were sold in Oct-Dec 2000.
• Post-September 11th sales maintenance.
• Very aggressive.
• Market Segments
• New home market?
• Furnace replacement market?
• Furnaces aged 15
• Our analysis showed the furnace replacement
  opportunity was nearly 40 times larger!

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The Situation

• Market Segment Size Comparison
• Replacement Opportunity New Home Opportunity
• NS 52,750 1,650
• NB 15,500 360
• NFLD 16,250 250
• PEI 11,000 300
• TOTAL 95,500 households 2,560 households
• NOTES
• Number of oil-heated homes with furnaces aged
  15. Estimated using Stats Canada data and our
  own marketing research. Our research showed that
  over 25 of furnaces in Atlantic Canada were aged
  15!
• Number of new oil-heated homes built in 2000.
  Estimated using Canada Mortgage Housing
  Corporation data and Stats Canada data.

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The Situation

• Marketing Communications Goals
• To get the attention of home-owners with older
  furnaces (aged 15).
• To persuade them to purchase a new furnace from
  Irving.
• And to do it proactively before it broke!

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The Situation

• Our Challenges
• No marketing support over past 5 years
• Post-September 11th, 2001
• (Consumers tightened the purse strings)
• The Product Category

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The Product Category Insights

• Consumer Behaviour
• Inertia passive involvement.
• Delay purchase until it breaks.
• Rational vs. emotional decision
• Consumer Attitudes
• If it aint broke why fix it?
• Out-of-sight, out-of-mind
• A grudge purchase.
• Intimidated about cost.
• Not exciting - pretty boring!
• Most advertising ignored.

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The PropositionWhat could we say to convince
them?

• Analysis showed that older model furnaces wasted
  as much as 40 cents of every dollar spent on home
  heating fuel!
• In fact, the money saved on a monthly basis by
  installing a a newer model furnace more than
  outweighed its monthly lease!
• A new furnace would pay for itself.
• It was like getting it for free!

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The PropositionWhat could we say to convince
them?

• The proposition seemed to good to resist!
• But we still had a problem how could we get
  consumers to pay attention to our advertising?
• For that matter, how could we get them to think
  about their furnace?

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95 of all advertising is ignored.
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No one ever bored a customer into buying a
product!
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Creative Strategy

• Our Criteria
• Be unconventional.
• We couldnt be wallpaper!
• We had to break out of the mould of typical
  furnace advertising.
• Be interesting.
• Even though our product was considered boring, it
  didnt mean our advertising had to be!
• Be relevant.
• To be truly relevant to our audience, we first
  had to understand them!

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Our Target Group

• What did we know?
• They were owners of oil-heated homes with
  furnaces aged 15
• Not much to go on!
• We conducted additional analysis on a previous
  marketing research study.
• Found that older furnaces were most common among
• Middle-aged and senior homeowners (50)
• Retirees
• Empty-Nesters
• The last time many of them bought a furnace was
  in the late 70s and early 80s!

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Our Creative Approach

• Instead of telling them their furnace was old, we
  decided to show them!
• We knew that most in the target group could
  identify with the 70s and 80s.
• We felt that the use of nostalgic images from
  these decades would immediately catch their
  attention.
• We used classic 70s and 80s icons as metaphors
  for the age of their furnace.
• Pinto, 8-track stereo, Retro hairstyles, Mood
  ring

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• The Campaign

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Media

• Newspaper
• 8-week campaign ran in daily and weekly
  newspapers in markets across Atlantic Canada from
  September 29th to December 1st 2001.
• We strategically allocated our media budget to
  the areas of Atlantic Canada representing the
  best opportunity.
• Mixture of ¾, ¼, and 1/8 page ads.
• High frequency (lots of insertions).
• Radio
• Ran in some markets.

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Our Creative Approach

• How we broke through the clutter
• Highly familiar visuals
• Colour bright yellow
• Super-sized headlines

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• What do you notice?
• Tone playful, fun
• We didnt use TV
• We didnt show the product!
• We didnt even talk about product features!
• Why do you think this was?
• First step Get them interested!
• Second step Call 1-800
• Third Step Speak with sales rep

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• Advertising cant be all things, to all people.
• To be effective, it has to be uncomplicated and
  single-focused.
• In this case, our focus was on getting the target
  groups attention.
• We used other forms of marketing communications
  to relay additional information and to persuade
  potential customers.

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The Results

• Not only did the results surpass our post-Sept
  11th-adjusted goal of sales maintenance, they
  also exceeded our original goal of a 30
  year-over-year sales increase.
• We achieved a 50 increase in sales.
• ROI 130

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Isolating Advertising

• How did we know that advertising was the major
  contributing factor?
• No other element of the marketing mix changed
• Same product as previous years
• We did not offer lower the price or offer a
  discount
• No changes in distribution

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Isolating Advertising

• How did we know that advertising was the major
  contributing factor?
• Factors in the external market worked against us,
  not for us.
• Mature market
• Product category low involvement
• No significant ad spend by competitors
• Poor economic conditions
• Low consumer confidence
• Not an industry-wide trend

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There is no such thing on earth as an
uninteresting subject the only thing that can
exist is an uninterested person. G. K.
Chesterton English Poet/Writer (1874-1936)
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Speak to the heart. The heart will persuade the
mind.