 Project:
New Product Launch – Circuit Alert™ Wire Strippers
 Services Provided:
Gardner Bender asked Johnson Direct to develop a multi-channel marketing campaign to introduce its latest tool innovation – Circuit Alert™ Wire Strippers – to the electrical contracting and electrical distribution markets. The campaign will continue (advertising, public relations and microsite marketing) through 2006.
Objectives:
Gardner Bender wanted to effectively reach its target audiences and provide the necessary information to accentuate the unique benefits of the new tool and to guide prospects as to “Where to Buy” the Circuit Alert™ Wire Strippers.
Strategy:
To reach qualified decision-makers and educate them quickly as to the product’s most unique features and benefits, Johnson Direct executed a comprehensive public relations and trade advertising program.
The resulting Circuit Alert™ branded ad and media kit drove prospects to view a demonstration video and learn more about the product at www.circuitalert.com, a website dedicated exclusively to the Circuit Alert™ Wire Strippers (called a microsite). At CircuitAlert.com, visitors are persuaded to buy the tool from their local home improvement retailer or distributor.
The campaign’s “direct branding” approach dictated that one key message and one offer and/or call-to-action be consistently communicated across all marketing efforts.
Key message:
The Circuit Alert™ Wire Stripper by Gardner Bender is the first and only wire stripper with a built-in non-contact voltage sensor – providing additional safety with both audible and visual indicators you can clearly hear and see when AC voltage is present.
Offer and call-to-action:
Visit www.circuitalert.com to see a demo and learn more.
The true uniqueness of this product warranted a “master plan” to pull together all the pertinent facts and actions: identify the campaign’s marketing objectives, opportunities, strategies, and outline a timeline. Johnson Direct prepared the marketing plan and executed all aspects, including:
- Ad design
- Advertising plan and schedule
- Demo video
- Dimensional media kit
- Media list
- Media relations
- Microsite design, development and hosting
- News release
- Product photography
- Results tracking and analysis
 Results: Public Relations
Ninety days following the media kit distribution ...
Sixteen very targeted trade publications – reaching electrical contractors and distributors – were listed among the key media for the “tool box” PR campaign. A tool box containing the Circuit Alert™ Wire Stripper product, pieces of wire to strip, personalized pitch letter, news release, and Circuitalert.com flyer was sent to each editor.
The editors’ response to receiving an actual sample of the unique tool was exceptional.
As a result, within three months of sending the tool box kit, eight magazines ran 10 articles about the Circuit Alert™ Wire Strippers, including:
- Building Products Digest
- CE Pro
- EC&M
- Electrical Contracting Products – 2 placements
- Electrical Contractor – 2 placements
- Extreme How-to
- Family Handyman Magazine
- Merchant Magazine
Several other editorial placements are pending for the upcoming months.
Each placement directed readers to learn more about the new tool at www.circuitalert.com.
 Results: Advertising
Following a careful review and analysis of 20 trade publications serving the electrical contractor and distributor marketplaces, Johnson Direct recommended a full-page, eight-time space buy from three publications:
- Electrical Contracting Products reaching about 29,000 electrical contractor professionals
- Electrical Contractor reaching over 85,000 electrical contractor professionals
- TED reaching over 27,000 distributor professionals
... for a total reach of over 140,000 electrical contractor and distributor professionals, multiplied by 8 insertions each, to add up to 1,120,000 possible impressions.
The full-page, full-color product ad directed readers to view a demo and learn more about the new tool at www.circuitalert.com.
Six weeks into the ad campaign, the ad drove thousands of visitors to the product microsite and more than 400 die-hard reader card prospects requested information from Gardner Bender. Seventy-five percent of these leads were generated by Gardner Bender's advertising investment (the remaining 25% resulted from publicity placements within the three publications).
 Results: Microsite
Four months into the launch of www.circuitalert.com, the site reported more than 4,500 distinct visits*. Both the demo video clip and the “Where to Buy” pages were requested/visited more than 1,000 times each.
Web statistics show that about 90% of all visits to the site are not referred (visitors are typing www.circuitalert.com directly into their browsers), indicating that these visitors are driven to the site from advertising and editorial placements promoting the site’s URL. About 7% of visits are referred by another site and nearly 5% of all visits are referred by a search engine.
*The Visits report reveals the total number of times that people have visited the website during the selected report period.
Testimonial:
“By outsourcing to Johnson Direct, we were able to attain a higher level of creativity and strategic planning for our new product launch. Their fresh thinking, integrated approach and PR expertise has helped Gardner Bender get the attention from electrical contractors and distributors this truly unique product deserves.
From their diligent, complete research at the beginning of our product launch through the provision of regular, concise reports on PR placements, ad leads and microsite traffic, Johnson Direct has well exceeded our expectations.”
Jennifer Bauer
Marketing Manager
Gardner Bender |
Gardner Bender charged Johnson Direct with the task of introducing its latest tool innovation to distributors, contractors and do-it-yourselfers. 
