Riot Control
As her bemused clients look on, Kate wields a baton to bring a riot of swaying faucets and shower heads and banging oven doors and toilet lids into graceful movement to the sounds of Brahms’ Hungarian Dance No. 5. The couple appear increasingly delighted by the show and, by extension, the design consultant’s command of her product lines.
“She is orchestrating your dreams,” Gillespie says of Kate. “We try to give an indication of what a consultant does, which is spend anywhere from one to eight hours helping clients look for a couple of products to 12 hours or longer for a bigger project.”
The radio spots use the same music as the television commercials, but add aural tweaks, like discordant breaks in the music early on, to signify how Ferguson’s sales associates can create harmony out of chaos.
The symphony campaign also was used in Ferguson’s print ads. The company didn’t give precise numbers on the cost of the campaign or how its ads affected sales, but it did say the commercials “engaged a new customer segment, improved showroom sales and seeded the Ferguson bath, kitchen and lighting brand with new targeted consumers coast to coast.”
Renewal
One strong sign of the campaign’s success is the fact that Ferguson extended its run. The original television ads ran through May 2010 on five national cable networks (HGTV, Food Network, TLC, Fine Living and Bravo). The company is using them again in fall 2010 through spring 2011 coupled with a new financing offer. Current 45-second radio spots give local showrooms 15 seconds at the end of the commercial to add their own tag.
In addition, after the spot launched, McLaughlin says the company “saw an immediate impact on the website” and that traffic grew at a steady rate. “Just as important were requests for consultations–’I want my own Kate experience’–and our showroom reported increases in walk-in volume.
“A lot of our feedback came in through our showroom and showroom consultants, and we heard folks at dinner parties and at kids soccer games say, ‘I saw the spot.’ It helped internally as well,” McLaughlin says. The company even got a lot of requests for the music.
The symphony spot was one of three concepts eventually taken to senior management. The design team took their storyboarded concepts on the road, testing them in focus groups in Washington, Dallas, and Los Angeles.
The Excellence Awards judging panel liked the concept. Wrote one: “Love the continuity of the campaign. Kate is good … the radio spots are great … the TV [spot], that’s awesome, a cherry on top.”
For years the company has used its showrooms as an extension of its core business selling to custom builders and remodelers. The ad campaign gave Ferguson a way to target a new customer without compromising relationships with their pro customers.
“We don’t see this as a replacement for our core customer,” says Gillespie. “As a matter of fact, we’ve had many professionals, particularly customer dealers, applaud what we do, since it enhances their customers [experience].
“We function as a bridge, and the traffic goes both ways.”
