Yahoo buckeroo!
In an effort to build awareness of its DeWalt brand of professional grade power tools, Black & Decker will hold product demonstrations at a series of rodeos across Western Canada this summer.
The first took place June 17 in Red Deer, Alta.
Before each event, one of b&d’s bright yellow DeWalt vans will arrive at the location, loaded high with power tools, signage and other paraphernalia needed to run a successful on-site demonstration program.
Stealing a page from the Pepsi-Cola game plan, the firm hopes to build excitement at the Canadian Professional Rodeo Association-sanctioned events by inviting spectators to participate in the ‘DeWalt Challenge.’
In this, participants will compete against one another drilling holes, cutting lumber and the like.
Everyone wins a prize and a grand prize is given away each hour.
By the end of each event, as many as 4,000 people will have sampled a DeWalt power tool, says Peter Chatel, b&d’s group marketing manager – professional power tools.
Chatel says the rodeo demonstrations are a good fit for the DeWalt brand because the rough-and-tumble sport ‘usually draws a high concentration of our target user, the residential contractor.’
In addition to the rodeo circuit, Richmond hill, Ont.-based b&d has also begun holding demonstrations at junior hockey games and is looking to get involved with other outdoor activities such as fishing.
Chatel says b&d has been cultivating a grassroots marketing strategy for DeWalt brand since 1993, when it launched the DeWalt division in Canada.
The strategy is built around a van program introduced in the u.s. in 1992, when b&d established the DeWalt division in that country.
The vans are piloted by marketing school graduates, who visit retail locations, building sites and events to demonstrate DeWalt tools.
Chatel says the success of the program has led b&d to expand the fleet to 20 from 10 in the u.s. and to seven from three in Canada.
Additional vans will continue to be added as required.
According to Chatel, the van-based demonstrations were born out of necessity: the company needed to find a new way to market DeWalt because it found in the past that traditional marketing methods did not work for high-performance power tools.
‘Conventional wisdom says you just go out and spend a couple of million dollars on print or tv during the World Series or Super Bowl to launch a product,’ Chatel says.
‘From our past experience, it was great for consumer housewares products and tools, but it doesn’t make people buy professional grade tools,’ he says.
Chatel says the best measurement of the program’s success is the increase in sales.
DeWalt’s marketshare has tripled in Canada since the launch and more than quadrupled in the u.s. since 1992.
The success of the DeWalt van program has also been recognized by Harvard University, which recently chronicled the story as a case study that will be part of the marketing curriculum of Harvard and some other business schools this fall.
Before its rollout, the van program was tested in the Orlando, Fla. market, while an electronic media strategy was tested in Miami and Tampa, Fla.
Chatel says results were measured through point-of-sale at major distributors and it was found that the grassroots approach in Orlando was much more effective.
The van program has continued to evolve and become more an integral part of the DeWalt strategy since its introduction.
When first launched, the vans concentrated on retail visits.
‘Just about every morning at 7 a.m., here was a DeWalt van parked at the front door with a cheery, energetic van driver as the contractors came in to buy lumber and tools,’ Chatel says.
‘The driver would give them a cup of coffee and a donut, and fish-hook them over to the van to demonstrate this exciting new brand of tools.’
Now after the demonstration at the retailer, the van moves to the job site with a load of loaner tools.
Chatel says having builders test the tools for a few days lets them experience the features and benefits and then make the brand conversion.
