ZEROWATER CASE STUDY – Engage, Adapt and Succeed

Zero Technologies, LLC (Zero) uses a sophisticated water filtration system as the basis for series of in home products to provide clean, pure water for families throughout the U.S. Basically, a better Brita™. Zero sells a home pitcher and larger bottle dispenser, as well as filters that last about a calendar quarter and a meter to measure the water quality to know when to swap out filters.

Zero knew it had an excellent product but needed to market their product nationwide. The decision was made to develop a long form, 30 minute infomercial to test the viability of the Pitcher as a Direct Response Product. They embarked on a process to start to exploit their technology in the consumer marketplace. The goal was to sell the pitchers and bottles at a breakeven or better rate and use the huge amount of filter continuity sales to drive the business profitability.

ENGAGE

Zero engaged GoConvergence LLC, an Orlando, FL based production studio (clients include Disney, Time Warner, Google, Wilson Sports, Oreck, Orlando Magic) for production of appropriate advertising creatives. GoConvergence brought Competitive Edge (CEMM) in immediately to work with Zero on the following items (a) Offer; (b) Financial Modeling; (c) Inbound Telemarketing and; (d) Media Planning and Placement. The decision was made to conduct both a long form and short form test, with long form on national cable and short form focused on two local DMA’s about 4 weeks apart. A financial projection was made to identify various breakeven scenarios using hypothetical TV sales for all 4 campaigns.

CEMM arranged the telemarketing, developed the scripts and upsells, and arranged for all the dubs to be delivered to the TV stations. Two offers were decided upon for both long and short form and the airings began. The results were clear; the product would not be profitable as a stand alone product without retail support, but the continuity program developed was viable and would be a profitable model for the company.

ADAPT

The data indicated that the short form creative should be brand building and focus on driving traffic to retail. Though the company had retail presence at Walmart, Walgreens and Home Depot, they had identified Target as an excellent match for the buyer demographics they found from their Direct Response campaigns.

Zero made an agreement with Target to market the pitcher and replacement filters and constructed a test market plan. The plan was to air a TV spot campaign in San Diego and do no TV marketing in Orange County and measure the retail sales effect in an area with TV marketing and without. Zero stocked the stores in San Diego and CEMM arranged for a local TV campaign and some appearances on local talk shows.

Using the lessons learned in the first airings and a tweak of the short form commercial, CEMM carefully constructed a media campaign that it felt would not only be effective in the San Diego market, but also knew it could be duplicated on a nationwide basis, if  successful, both as to cost per sale and the ability to execute. Not only was a Pitcher commercial created and aired, but a bottle commercial was also created and aired when the pitcher commercial stopped. The pitcher was available at Target; the bottle was only available at Walmart and Home Depot.

SUCCEED

The sales results at Target were great. 40% of the Target stores in San Diego sold out in the first week and a full 100% had sold out by the end of week two. There was no noticeable difference in sales rates in Orange County where the stores were not supported with TV advertising. The results were clear and concise – Target Stores was excited and Zero knew they had a campaign that could be duplicated on a nationwide basis.

Meeting with Target officials after the test, the decision was made to roll out the ZeroWater Pitcher and replacement filters to all 1,600+ Target stores and back the rollout with a nationwide TV campaign similar in design to the San Diego program to both drive the pitcher demand, and support the replacement filter sales.

In addition to the sales garnered at Target, Zero saw a combined 20% increase in the bottle and pitcher sales in the other major retailers as an added bonus from the retail TV advertising. A small TV campaign for the bottle created a gain not only in bottle sales but the overall branding effect of the campaign drove Pitcher sales in the same market at a time when the Pitcher commercial had stopped airing.

ZeroWater further elected to support their TV campaign with some selected print ads and email blasts.

SUMMARY

CEMM believes in working hard for each client, whether brand or Direct Response, and is nimble and experienced enough to switch from a DR campaign to a retail support, brand plan if the data warrants. Using their 100+ years of combined direct marketing experience, the principals were able to call on their best expertise to plan the first campaign for the client and was then able to implement a completely different strategy when the facts were presented to the client.