Reaching the Pinnacle of Brand Messaging
Winners of the 16th annual SAMMY Awards reaffirm how creative and cost-effective sales and marketing techniques power business success. Learn who won in each category and pick up great ideas for your own company.
[IMAGE]12150[/IMAGE]TnT Security Services
Best Broadcast Ad
Sponsored by ESA
Big Dividends in a Small Market
TnT Security Services’ SAMMY-winning television ad opens with an animated depiction of the Tulsa, Okla., city center skyline. As a catchy jingle plays, the company’s bright yellow yard signs begin raining down to quickly populate the surrounding residential neighborhoods. The music fades and a woman, joined by her young daughter outside their home, pitches her affordable monitoring rate and suggests, “Don’t wait until it’s to late … call TnT Security Services today.”
The 30-second ad is an integral part of TnT’s intensive — and successful — media buying strategy in Tulsa, which includes a healthy dose of television and radio spots.
“Most new TnT customers are attracted through media advertising – more than 90 percent,” says Bob Ryan, senior vice president, sales and marketing, ASG Security, which acquired TnT last year.
That is a considerable percentage to say the least. By contrast, at ASG Security about 50 percent of new leads are generated through its Web site, a lead aggregator, vehicle wraps, yard signs and other marketing collateral, while the other 50 percent come from “feet on the street,” Ryan says.
TnT follows a disciplined business model by concentrating all of its marketing, sales and service efforts within a 30-mile radius in Tulsa. Like all of its marketing efforts, the TV spot emphasizes TnT’s local roots.
“The TV ad really connects and tells you who this company is, it’s a hometown company. They are trying to connect to the people that live right there,” Ryan says. “In the commercial you see all those yellow yard signs dropping into a concentrated area. They have a ton of customers in a very concentrated, small area.”
Along with running the TV commercial during local programming, TnT purchases airtime on high profile cable channels, including Discovery and the Travel Channel. It is a strategy best suited for smaller markets where ad buying is less expensive.
“You can saturate a small area for a reasonable investment, but try saturating a large, metropolitan area and nobody will even notice. You will run out of money before you can make a difference,” Ryan says. “TnT was very wise in doing it, and we’ve recognized it and we continue to invest in that strategy.”
[IMAGE]12151[/IMAGE]Intelligent Access Systems
Best Vehicle Graphics Design
Sponsored by LeadTracker
A Graphics Design That Drives New Sales
For Ron Oetjen, president of Raleigh, N.C.-based Intelligent Access Systems (IAS), the unveiling of his new vehicle wrap in December 2010 had a singular mission: Drive new sales calls.
That’s a different goal than Oetjen previously envisioned for his original vehicle graphics design, which was all about building brand recognition. Launched in 2004, IAS operates offices in Atlanta, Tampa, Fla., Richmond, Va., and Pittsburgh, in addition to its home base. In use for less than three years before being summarily dumped, the original IAS vehicle wrap comprised an uncluttered, eye-catching design: a two-toned dark blue and white color scheme anchored by a large wireframe globe. The company’s security systems specialties were also stripped across the bottom of each van, as follows: Access Control • CCTV • Intrusion Detection • Call Systems • Systems Integration.
The wrap proved successful in garnering attention for the IAS brand, yet a fatal flaw became all too obvious.
“Lots of people would comment how cool our van looked, but we didn’t have people calling in wanting to buy a system as a result,” Oetjen says. “I knew we missed the target. We regrouped and started over.”
Internal brainstorm sessions ensued and shortly Oetjen and his team decided to take dead aim on words. Specifically, eliminate all industry terminology. The thought being the average consumer or potential end-user customer does not immediately relate to intrusion detection and the like.
Instead, simple images would be incorporated to convey IAS’ portfolio of system offerings: a dome camera, an alarm system keypad, a biometrics theme, and a card reader. Oetjen brought the idea to his graphic artist who devised five mock versions to select from. The winning design maintains the same color scheme and a similar wireframe globe. Each of IAS’ 25 vans eventually received the new wrap at a cost of $2,200 per vehicle.
“It’s about communicating with those four visual elements. When a hospital manager or whoever sees the van while driving down the highway or sitting in traffic, now it becomes, ‘Let me write down that Web site,’” Oetjen says.
Along with garnering a SAMMY Award, the new design is beginning to pay dividends. IAS tracks sales leads by asking each caller how they were referred to or heard about the company.
“Now we’re receiving a few calls a month in each of our offices, so we know the new design concept is proving to be a success for us,” Oetjen says.
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