Germs, kids and fake creatives: How to reach consumers in unexpected ways

Let’s be honest: Who wants to talk about the bacteria that is spreading from the company bathroom to all over the office? Worse yet, consider having to design a marketing program for a hygiene system to combat it.

That was the challenge facing the Danish company Berendsen Textil A/S as it tried to reverse flagging sales of what in the trade are known as “toilet hygiene systems,” but what you and I call soap and towels, foam-soap dispensers and wall-mounted cloth-towel rolls, to be specific.

Berendsen’s products had proven to be the most hygienic, environmentally sound and cost-effective, yet even the company’s sales force had a hard time capturing the attention of the people who make buying decisions about which products we use to wash and dry our hands in the communal bathroom.

But that was before Berendsen started mailing the germ ball, the grabber in a direct mail campaign that strikes the right balance between humor and science to draw attention to a serious subject in a fun way.

Berendsen’s germ ball campaign, developed by Kunde & Co. in Copenhagen, is one of several recent direct mail efforts in Europe that offer lessons for direct marketers here in the United States — in this case how to build an interesting direct mail campaign when the product you have to market is something people aren’t really that enthusiastic about.

GREAT IDEAS TRANSCEND BORDERS

European marketing ideas and designs tend to be edgier than those in the United States, which must appeal to bigger, broader audiences, says David M. Sable, vice chairman and chief operating officer for Wunderman. However, great ideas can transcend borders. And oceans.

“We believe that all relationships are local, so that what you do in terms of your ultimate execution is related to insights that drive your local market,” says Sable, who previously ran Wunderman’s New York office. “But there are certain insights that are universal… You have to look at the essence of the idea and not get locked into the execution.”

For bathroom hygiene, the answer was to produce something that is provocative without being offensive, serious without being dull.

“It’s my impression working with direct marketing globally that you can do much more than people think you can,” says Kunde & Co. director Morten Aaboe, who led the development of the germ ball campaign. “People are frightened when it comes to mass communication, and many people see direct marketing as mass marketing. But I have a lot of research showing that customers and prospects love it when we do direct marketing that is more direct and more hard hitting.”

However fun and creative, the real test of any direct marketing campaign is its ability to get people to act.

The germ ball, a putrid green stress ball with an oddly funny face, turned the taboo topic of bathroom hygiene into a talking point. But the novelty would carry only so far without the science. The germ ball mailing also included a graphic illustration of how, without a good hygiene system in the corporate bathroom, bacteria can spread throughout the workplace via dirty hands.

Those who received the germ ball were encouraged to have colleagues touch it — something that was pretty easy given its irresistible appeal. A follow-up mailing a week later included a kit to test for microorganisms on the germ ball and instructions for reading the test results. Also in the pack: a reply card to request a visit from a Berendsen salesperson to check the company’s bathroom and a flier with a three-month free trial offer for Berendsen’s soap and towel service.

Although Berendsen did not gain as many new customers as the company expected, Niels Peter Hansen, director of sales and marketing, says the increase in the amount of the average sale more than made up for it.

Revenues per sales consultant for hand towel rolls and foam soap dispensers increased 74 percent, and the average sales order per customer more than doubled. Sales closed twice as quickly, and more than 40 percent of the target group agreed to a meeting when the local sales consultant contacted them.

As cute as the germ ball was, the key to the success of the campaign was the ability to convert involvement with the ball into a sales dialogue with the prospect. The sales team received formal instruction and additional sales tools to help them turn germ ball-generated meetings into a sales. It required a degree of coordination between sales and marketing that doesn’t exist in all organizations.

In business-to-business marketing, “everyone understands the need to make direct marketing and sales follow-up work together,” Aaboe says. “But the trick is to make it work in real life, and that’s where this campaign has been a showcase.”