Case Study for Agency
03-1015012-609

MAZDA
Perhaps the most successful marketing story of the last ten years
involves Mazda. It went from a brand that had become irrelevant to one
that’s now famous and loved. What helped differentiate Mazda from
others is that the advertising tapped into the brand’s values and
culture — something that current and new customers bought into in a big
way.

By the mid 1990’s, Mazda had become a tired brand. Once viewed as a
different and exciting car, Mazda had turned into a “dealmobile.” The
idea of “Zoom-Zoom” completely disrupted the way consumers had been
thinking about the Mazda brand and immediately differentiated Mazda
from all other Japanese car brands. It also squarely tapped into the
insight we found that the “emotion of motion” is extremely important to
our target audience. “Zoom-Zoom” is the creative expression of
everything positive Mazda stood for in the past — its unique heritage
of the reinvented roadster, the rotary engine, the car that won Le Mans
— and the promise of what it could stand for in the future — the spirit
of fun, creativity, and exhilaration reminiscent of the earliest days
of childhood.

We developed a vertically integrated campaign — from TV, print, and the
Internet, to CRM and innovative media — that appealed to our primary
target audience of expressive and passionate individuals who still
retain a sense of fun, creativity, and free spirit about driving. Using
“Zoom-Zoom” as a creative platform for all communications, we
successfully helped to launch new Mazda vehicles, including the
Tribute, the new Miata, the RX-8, the MAZDA6, the MAZDA3, the MAZDA5,
the CX-7, and the new CX-9. And we created a series of events and
promotions aimed at Mazda’s most passionate, loyal, and enthusiastic
drivers. For example, we created RX-8 clubs, we customized ten MAZDA5s
with apparel brand Quicksilver and showcased them online; we developed
“Zoom-Zoom Live,” a hands-on driving experience at test tracks; and we
sponsored “Hot Import Nights,” events that took place throughout the
country and featured food, fashion, and cars.

Mazda global sales since the launch of “Zoom-Zoom” in 2000 have
increased by over 30%; awareness among “intenders” is up 208% since the
launch; and “buying consideration” is up 75%. In Canada, sales are up
13% since the campaign launched in 2000, and sales in Australia have
increased over 100%. In March 2007, Mazda’s U.S. sales were up 43% —
outselling VW in unit sales! According to the automotive research firm,
Allison Fisher, “Zoom-Zoom” is now the best known themeline in America.
And Mazda has become one of America’s most loved and admired car
brands.

SERTA – “THE COUNTING SHEEP”
The mattress category is the ultimate low interest, low awareness
category. Most consumers can’t even name the brand of mattress they’re
currently using. Because this category is dominated by three “S”
brands — Sealy, Serta, and Simmons — consumers also have a difficult
time differentiating between these brands at retail. For as long as
anyone could remember, Serta’s advertising featured beautiful imagery
about dreams, sleeping, and awakening refreshed from a great night’s
sleep. Rather than linking comfort to this type of familiar and
formulaic mattress imagery, it was decided to develop an ownable
creative device which linked the Serta brand to comfort in a fun and
disarming way.

Enter the “Counting Sheep” who are being “put out of
business” by Serta. This integrated TV, trade print, point-of-sale and
Internet campaign triggered in consumers’ minds this thought: “If I’m
in the market to buy a mattress, I want the ‘Counting Sheep’ mattress.”
After the campaign, awareness — which is critical in this commodity
product category — rose to 27%. Serta is now the fastest growing
mattress brand in the U.S. And for the first time in the brand’s
history, Serta has the opportunity to overtake Sealy as the number one
mattress brand in the U.S. The campaign won a Gold Effie.

EXPEDIA.COM “LOOKING” BUT NOT “BOOKING”
Expedia was the innovator and long time leader in the online travel
booking revolution. In recent years, however, the rapid growth of
individual hotel and airline sites led to an increasingly competitive
marketplace. As a result, consumer loyalty dipped to all-time lows,
while rampant cross-shopping increased. To determine why this was
occurring we conducted ethnographic research to understand how
consumers were shopping online travel sites.

The insight we uncovered is that most consumers believed that it was
necessary, and even smart, to shop a variety of sites before booking.
That is, they’d come to believe that no one site could satisfy all
their travel needs. To reduce online “research and leave” behavior,
Expedia needed to convince skeptical consumers that a single site could
help them plan a trip that met their aspirational and travel budget
goals.

ADT
Demand Insight: Consumers and businesses viewed ADT as nothing more
than a “burglar alarm company.”

Activation Insight: Homeowners and businesses are seeking more than
burglar protection; they want to be empowered by a monitoring system
that offers a range of tools to protect their property, their
information, and their lives.

Results: No. 1 security brand with 2006 sales growth of 10.8%, a 75%
reduction in acquisition costs, and a 15.4% reduction in customer
churn.

HGTV
HGTV had hit a wall. While extremely popular with DIYers, the network
has a disproportionately large number of “occasional viewers” — those
who liked HGTV, and even watched it once or twice a month, but who felt
that it was all about “home projects.” Our “You Should See” campaign
altered this perception by bringing to life in an entertaining way the
network’s wider offering of programming. Since the campaign launched in
2003, ratings have increased every month over the prior year. Prime
time ratings for October 2003 - May 2004 were up 50% and ad revenue
sales have exceeded plan by over 28%.

THE UPS STORE
Consumers hate packing and shipping things: Packing is unpleasant and
burdensome; going to the U.S. Post Office interrupts their daily
routine; and the shipping experience itself can be stressful — waiting
in long lines, dealing with surly attendants, and often being told to
“repack” the shipment because “it’s not done right.” During the
Christmas Holiday Season, these feelings are magnified. Despite these
negative feelings, consumers have grown — reluctantly — to accept
packing and shipping as one of life’s unavoidable miseries, like
moving, going to the dentist, or paying bills. Rather than accept this
widespread frustration, The UPS Store saw a unique opportunity that had
never been fully exploited: Get consumers out of the U.S. Post Office —
particularly during the Christmas Holidays. How? By positioning the
brand as different, better, and less painful than the U.S. Post Office.

Our campaign helped reverse years of flat sales and lead to the most
successful Christmas Season in the brand’s history — an astounding 74%
increase in comp store sales in 2003 vs. 2002. This campaign received
an Effie for successfully competing against the U.S. Post Office.