When consumer products manufacturer Combe Inc. wanted to stimulate trial of its Just For Men hair color product, the White Plains, N.Y., company sought a cost-efficient way to deploy a free sample offer to convert potential customers into actual users.
But reaching men who are predisposed to trying a hair color sample can be tricky, and mass-media channels were not delivering the return on investment the company was looking to attain.
So Combe turned to some unique market research to identify the brand’s optimal prospects, as well as the best way to reach them. After testing several vehicles, the company executed a highly targeted direct mail free trial offer that met its goals and budget in ways that most other media simply couldn’t match.
Selling men on a more youthful look is a challenge for Combe, says Shel Smith, partner at Toronto-based target marketing consultancy Twenty-Ten Inc., the agency that helped execute the mailings. Men, Smith points out, have to be of a certain mindset to be open to trying a hair dye.
“They were looking for a very specific consumer,” says Smith. “It was a man between the ages of 35 and 54 who felt his graying hair was holding him back, either at work or in his romantic life. He had a weak perception about his looks and truly believed he was disadvantaged by graying.”
To reach this group, Combe enacted a multimedia marketing effort that included direct-response television, direct mail and advertising in magazines such as Sports Illustrated and Field & Stream.
Smith has particularly high praise for the impact of direct mail on the Just For Men campaign. “Unlike television, which is very much about brand image, direct mail lets you communicate a lot of information,” he says. “With the trial offer of Just For Men, it allowed Combe to not only physically deliver the sample; it also let them explain to men how to use it and how to follow though with the program.”
