Response Magazine

our model to both drive business through
DR and to drive retail,” Taylor says.
“We’ve also teamed up with a couple of
national and regional retailers and have
enjoyed a lot of success there. ‘As Seen
on TV’ is one of the fastest-growing
spaces in retail right now. For us, DR and
retail is a really nice marriage.”
The value of DR goes beyond meas-
urable ROI in advertising, though that
remains important, Taylor says. What
DR also provides hardware marketers is
insight to consumer behavior that can be
used to further drive a product’s success.

“The form of selling we do through
DR — being so product-focused and user-
focused — has really helped us to educate
ourselves and know how to communicate
with our consumer better,” says Taylor,
who adds WORX is planning to launch
three new products through long-form in
2011. “Knowing what it is in a product
that makes people want to buy it has
been helpful for us and has helped us to
educate our retail partners and do a better
job of execution on the shelf, as well.”
The demonstrable benefits of DR
advertising are crucial to an industry like
hardware, where consumers need to see
the product in action before opening up
their wallets. This rings even more true
for products at premium price points, like

Little Giant Ladder, says Wing, who adds that for those reasons, print just doesn’t the do the trick anymore.

“In print, it’s hard to tell your story.
We seem to be backing away from that,”
Wing says. “We like to go viral or send
out videos — anything that is demon-
strable. We started the company by doing
trade shows and public demonstrations,
and we still do about 500 events a year
and have a sales force in various home
or retail shows at all the time. It’s an ex-
pensive way to sell, but an effective way
to sell.”
Little Giant Ladder is partnering with
Home Depot for a summer promotion
centered on Father’s Day, and is also
introducing a QR code campaign — a
first in the ladder business, according to
Wing. A hangtag will be attached to all
Little Giant Ladder products, driving
people to a video advertisement as well
as a safety and instructional promo. It is
one of many ways the company seeks ad-
ditional touch points for consumers.

“We have a good-sized group of con-
sumers that are evangelistic about the
Little Giant product,” Wing says. “Our
brand tests similarly in strength to the
loyalty of bigger brands, and still leaves us
a lot of room to grow.”
Despite the benefits of retail, Wing

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❯ ❯ Rockwell❯BladeRunner:❯The product promises to create a clean cut through wood, metal, plastic, aluminum or ceramic tile.

❯ ❯ WORX❯ TriVac❯Blower/Mulcher/Vac:❯An all-empowering blower that doubles as a multitask vac to shred leaf piles into its collection bag.

❯ ❯ Super❯EZ❯ Work❯ Tool:❯Attaches to any long-handled tool to reduce back, wrist and arm pain in home, garden and construction use.

Hardware❯products❯like❯the❯Rockwell❯ BladeRunner❯appeal❯to❯consumers❯ embracing❯DIY❯home❯renovation.

advises against brands becoming too dependent on off-the-shelves sales.

“Retail is important to us, but I do see too many DR companies driving solely to retail. It’s a slippery slope because it can leave you in a closed-out aisle,” he says. “Everything we do will drive to retail, but when a partner doesn’t want to play the game anymore, we’ll walk away until we

can come up with another initiative. Our
brand does not suffer.”
Perhaps the reason Little Giant Lad-
der can afford to do business on its own
terms is the brand awareness afforded by
DR. In a national consumer study where
just 8 percent of those questioned owned
a Little Giant Ladder, 52 percent of
respondents could still name the brand
more often than others, Wing says.

“That shows us the brand awareness is really strong using DR, and it’s important for us to stay connected to those consumers and the people we’re doing business with to know what they want or don’t want,” he says. “We’re branching outside of that as well to learn what our perceived messaging is and what our real message is, and how to get them to match up. It’s a science we’re studying.”