Black & Decker begins the relaunch of its line of consumer power tools next month, including the introduction of 25 products, in a rollout expected to take five months.

For Black & Decker Consumer Power Tools, which controls more than one-half of Canada’s $87 million consumer power tool market, this is the biggest launch in the division’s history.

Steve Gibson, B&D Consumer Power Tools marketing manager, says the relaunch is a North American strategy designed to keep the company in step with the changing consumer.

‘The consumer is becoming much more aware of do-it-yourself projects and is getting more involved in larger projects,’ Gibson says.

‘As they’re doing that, if Black & Decker doesn’t keep pace, then we’ll see erosion of market share,’ he says. ‘Hopefully the relaunch will take that 50%-plus share and increase it.’

The new tagline for b&d – ‘How Things Get Done’ – is also the theme of a $2 million-plus ad campaign that gets under way in October.

Print and tv creative comes from Minneapolis-based Fallon McElligott, the agency behind the US$16 million advertising effort south of the border.

MacLaren McCann, of Toronto, will handle the Canadian media buy and adapt the work for English- and French-Canadian markets.

Gibson says the consumer is going to see about twice as much advertising for consumer power tools as b&d has done in the past.

Magazine advertising is planned, along with seven tv spots, a mix of 15s and 30s, which will be seen mainly during primetime programming, and, to a lesser extent, on sports channels tsn and its French-language counterpart, rds.

Some of the advertising will feature women using b&d VersaPak tools to complete diy projects.

Gibson says, besides the convenience of being cordless, VersaPak is the most ergonomically designed line of b&d power tools, with textured grips that are comfortable for large or small hands.

He says because of those features, this line will have the most appeal for women.

VersaPak will get the most emphasis in the ads, but other products to be highlighted include Workmate, ShopBox, a corded drill with a keyless chuck (which tightens various sizes of drill bits in the drill) and high-end, high-performance cordless tools in the 9.6-volt range for diy enthusiasts.

When the bulk of the new product begins hitting the retail level in mid-September, customers will be alerted by new in-store merchandising, plenty of signage and new product feature cards.

They will also notice new trilingual packaging (English/French/ Spanish) for the North America market and, to differentiate the brand, a change in the color of 85% of the products to jade green from black.

Says Gibson: ‘Opening-price-point products in each of the major categories will remain black, with different packaging for the level of user that’s looking for the basic product to get into the power tool category.

‘For the remaining 85%, we’ll step up into products that are more feature-rich, and they will be introduced in a jade color,’ he says.

Some of the attributes of the new products include textured grips, variable speeds, and with the top-of-the-line tools features such as rubber triggers.

Gibson says the relaunch is intended not only to strengthen the b&d brand, but also to consolidate a number of secondary brands under the b&d name.

For instance, Quantum brand will be reintroduced as Black & Decker Quantum Pro, a professional quality line that will be available through mass merchandisers such as Wal-Mart, Zellers and Kmart.

As well, Black & Decker VersaPak, the primary focus of the relaunch effort, is a cordless, rechargeable power tool line that was unveiled last September as VersaPak.

As the brand is reintroduced this fall, several new products bearing the label will be launched.

The concept of VersaPak is that consumers need buy only one battery pack and one charger for a line of numerous rechargeable products.

The relaunched line will feature an electric screwdriver, four drills and a SnakeLight flexible flashlight and a regular flashlight.

As well, the firm will market a VersaPak starter kit, which includes a battery pack and charger sold separately from the tools.

In selling the battery pack and charger separately, b&d has departed from its strategy last fall when it bundled a battery pack and charger with every cordless product in the line.

But this led to higher product costs and alienated consumers by forcing them to buy batteries and chargers they did not want or need.

This bare-bones repackaging of VersaPak will also mean a lower price for consumers, who, after its launch last fall, had to buy a battery and charger with each tool.

b&d is expected to expand VersaPak beyond the consumer power tool division next year into such areas as household products.

There is also the possibility of joint ventures with other manufacturers in an attempt to make the VersaPak the preferred battery pack system for the cordless devices in the home. PS