top of page
Rebuilding a brand.
Transforming a company.
+30%
jump in sales in the first 30 days
+73%
increase in brand awareness
71%
advertising recall
Transformed consistent losses into
+50%
overall national growth in just 18 months.
TAKING A BITE OUT OF TERMITES
By the early-1990s, the termite fighting business is in a free fall. The only truly effective product on the market - Chlordane - has been banned by the EPA, forcing the industry to fall back on marginally effective treatments. Termites? Well, they simply bore around, tunnel under, or even boldly walk right through those other chemicals - costing pest control operators millions of dollars in re-treatments, free warranty work, and even lawsuits.
Enter PREMISE from Bayer.
Unlike traditional 'barrier' and 'repellant' treatments that try to keep insects away, Bayer's Premise features a revolutionary 'non-repellent' approach that actually uses the bugs' behavior against them. Undetectable to termites, the insects walk through Premise, track it back to their nests, and pass it on to each other. In about two weeks - like a virus - the ingredients activate and Premise would wipe out the colony.
Almost overnight, with Premise, Bayer had quite literally saved the entire industry!
AN EVEN BIGGER THREAT
Fast-forward twelve years later: Premise is collapsing. Termidor, a new non-repellent competitor, is seizing market share at an alarming rate. This is primarily driven by homeowners actually asking for Termidor by name - thanks, in large part, to a popular homeowner-targeted advertising campaign. Reasoning that they, too, need their own ad campaign, Bayer quickly hires Minneapolis agency Colle+McVoy.
I'm handed the assignment.
After three weeks of field research, however, I announce my recommendation: At that time, a homeowner-targeted advertising campaign will be a complete waste of time and money!
As you can imagine, no one is happy to hear that!
THE REAL PROBLEM: SEQUENTIAL (DIS)CREDIBILITY
​
​
1) Based on the results of scientific trials, university scientists offer endorsements of brands and products.
2) These endorsements then influence distributors to push certain brands and products to professional pest control operators (PCOs)
3) In turn, the PCOs recommend those products and brands to their homeowners and commercial customers.
As account lead Cynthia Clanton and I explain to the clients and agency, Termidor has launched an attack on this delicate infrastructure - a vicious behind-the-scenes smear campaign to discredit Premise, that includes...
-
Biased reports.
-
Slanted product tests and questionable data.
-
Negative testimonials from paid activists.
-
And a handful of influential college professors on the payroll.
Since Bayer never realized that this was going on, the company has remained silent. As a result, the brand's lack of response is seen by scientists, distributors, and PCOs as a silent admission that Termidor's claims are true.
​
Premise, the brand that had once rescued the entire industry, is now scorned as useless!
No amount of consumer advertising will fix this problem: In fact, I explain, it will have the opposite effect. Encouraging homeowners to ask for Premise now will drive them directly into Termidor's misinformation campaign, allowing misguided PCOs to turn homeowners against Premise...perhaps permanently!​
Instead, we need to rebuild this thing from the ground up!
The pest control category - and especially the termite vertical - is driven (and governed) by sequential credibility.
PHASE I: STOP THE BLEEDING
The first step in the strategy is to restore faith in Premise by breaking our silence and demonstrating how strongly Bayer stood behind the brand. Along with our incredible PR partner Steve Albertini, we help Bayer craft a landmark Backed by Bayer warranty program that is unmatched in the industry. We also provide PCOs unparalleled access to technical teams and other support to make sure Premise users consistently receive the best performance possible.
Result: This definitely raises some eyebrows. The sleeping giant is waking up.
PHASE II: CATALYZING OUR BASE
"Everyone is abandoning Premise!"
This rumor had become the mantra of Termidor's smear campaign, so we set out to shatter this lie. The real truth is that many highly-successful PCOs across the country continue to enjoy excellent results with Premise. We counter Termidor's misinformation with trade-targeted stories (designed by our fantastic creative director Greg Wetzel), describing how Premise is continuing to save homes and rescue businesses, all while earning and sustaining the confidence of PCOs and homeowners, alike. We even promote the fact that several national landmarks - such as the White House and Abraham Lincoln's childhood home - have been successfully protected by Premise for years.
Result: Bayer's confidence begins to turn the tide.
1/3
PHASE III: GETTING PERSONAL
​
-
Organize Bayer's disparate scientific, marketing, and sales teams into one cohesive fighting force.
-
Hold a national event at Pinehurst, NC, bringing in the top 50 pest control companies from around the country, to unveil Bayer's new positioning/direction: Science. Business. Leadership.
​​
-
Fly dozens of influencers, key stakeholders, and operators into Bayer's one-of-a-kind training facility in Clayton, NC, as we rekindle relationships between the tech team, the academic community, the distributors, and the PCOs.
​​​
-
Reveal new performance data, along with a sneak peek at new proprietary products in the works.
-
​​Sponsor training clinics all across the country where PCOs and distributors are exposed to new techniques and new innovations from Bayer.
​​
-
On the agency side, we even work with pest control companies to help improve their marketing, advertising, and sales techniques.
As we moved into the next phase, things really heat up. The combined agency/client team...
Result: The brand's newfound energy is now palpable.
PHASE IV: DISRUPTION - TAKING THE GLOVES OFF
With sequential credibility restored, it's finally time for consumer advertising.
But what can we say? How can we differentiate ourselves? What unassailable position can we take?
Research among homeowners, PCOs, and others provides us a number of insights. For example...
1) We know the #1 concern among homeowners is to immediately and mercilessly kill invading termites. But we also know that homeowners have a second and much more emotional concern lurking below the surface: A desperate fear that insect-killing chemicals pose a danger to their children and pets.
2) We also know that this is Termidor's weakness. Several reports have been published (and quietly pushed to the back burner), noting some health concerns with Termidor's ingredients. PCOs are clearly aware of this, so it creates serious tension for them - between the demand for Termidor, the health of their employees, and a liability for their customers.
Perhaps, we explain to the client, this is our opportunity to leverage these two things against each other.
Time to take an incredibly disruptive approach...
In the chemical industry NOBODY talks about safety. EVER! It's a 'people in glass houses' thing. And true to form, the client's initial reaction is to run away from this idea...fast! But we have two things going for us.
1) The Competitors: Emboldened by their past success - from lawsuits to payoffs - Termidor increases their dirty tactics, and this just pisses-off the leaders at Bayer. Bayer is fed up and ready to do whatever it will take.
2) The Bayer brand name: Instead of focusing on the Premise brand name (little known to homeowners), we shift the conversation to focus on the Bayer brand. As a result, we change the conversation from one about 'product safety' to a story about homeowners making a more comfortable choice - thanks to Bayer, a human health brand that has been trusted for decades. I mean, which do YOU think is a more responsible decision for your family and pets?
A product from a global chemical conglomerate? Or a solution from a company that makes aspirin?
Wait...it gets even better!
MEET ZACK'S MOM...
So, how do we talk about safety without actually talking about safety?
During our early work with the Bayer tech team, we had learned about Zack, a 7-year-old New Orleans boy whose family home was invaded by Formosan termites (the worst!). That isn't the only crisis. You see, Zack suffers from a rare blood disorder. Household chemicals are deadly to him. So, how could the PCO and family ever treat the home with an insecticide???
The PCO (along with Zack's mother) call Bayer in a panic. Bayer reassures them that Premise is completely fine to use - Zack will be in no danger at all. Still, to reassure the PCO and the family, Bayer sends a team of lab technicians, PhD entomologists, and even an MD to supervise the treatment of the home. More than seven years later, there are still no termites in the house. And Zack? He's a happy, healthy, and very active teenager.
Forget any slick advertising - we just need Zack's mom to tell this story!
That's precisely what we do...and homeowners respond!
PERFORMANCE
-
After seeing the advertising, homeowners begin requesting...and even demanding...Premise!
-
This consumer demand drives PCOs - once loyal to the competitor - to abandon Termidor in exchange for Premise.
-
Within the first month after the campaign launch, markets are reporting sales growth as high as +30%.​
​
-
Halfway through the year, new distributor orders top +44% and keep climbing.
-
By year's end, Bayer is not only reclaiming it's losses, but grows sales by more than +50%.
On a personal note: At the end of this work, at a hotel bar in Dallas, Bayer's Managing Director gave me one of the greatest compliments of my career - a 'thank you' for helping his team to believe in themselves again. This was a final step of a year-and-a-half odyssey that rebuilt the Bayer team, breathed new life into the Premise brand, and left a lasting impression on everyone involved.
Indeed, a special shout out to my additional - and indispensable - Bayer teammates (along with so many more people) who made this turnaround possible: Cynthia Clanton, Dean Huff, Greg Wetzel, Ann Strong, Travis Hawton, Laurie Christen, Chris Strohmeyer, Steve Burt, Pete Farno, Kent Hathaway, Jody Rowland
bottom of page