By Kymberly Martin
Invests in ATL advertising.
Bissell Oceania managing director, Chris Egan is investing in direct strategy campaigns to drive retail traffic and sales. While not putting an exact figure on the spend, he said it was in the vicinity of six-figures.
Egan told Appliance Retailer: “These direct strategy campaigns have been developed to educate consumers and create awareness about the product using demonstrations and testimonials – previous similar campaigns have strongly driven retail traffic and retail results”.
A key campaign focus for Bissell in 2016 will be on Direct Response TV advertising on Pay TV regional and channels for the new Bissell Revolution. This recently commenced and will run through spring in long form – 28-minute spots. It will also be supplemented by shorter advertorial style spots on selected morning and afternoon lifestyle TV programs.
Bissell Revolution
He said these campaigns garner a particularly strong response in regional areas and attributes this to the dusty and windy conditions and where there may be more established houses and greater carpet use.
Consumers also respond to how well the product compares to traditional cleaning approaches which only penetrate slightly below carpet surface hence leaving significant embedded dirt and bacteria. Bissell Revolution is a significant advance in deep cleaning carpet washing delivering lightweight, manoeuvrable and fast drying deep cleaning results demonstrably out performing alternatives including major rental alternatives – why rent when you can own?” Informative brochure materials are in development to supplement the educational approach for use in direct marketing applications.
Egan said another Bissell cleaner currently being concluded features new technology in pet hair management.
“Around two-thirds of Australian homes have pets which drives not just a need to clean up after pets but also a need for cleaning products that are effective, easy to use and easily maintained especially in managing pet hair,” Egan said.
New Bissell technology in managing these aspects will resonate strongly with consumers delivering improved convenience and ease of use. The new Pet Hair Eraser is just going to market in the US. Egan added that while the deep cleaning category is growing slowly, it has great potential and he estimates house hold penetration is only at low levels in Australia.
External influences like the election, Brexit, and the end of financial year appeared to present challenges to the floorcare market in June. Egan acknowledged a soft start to sales earlier in the month although business picked up later. He is confident sales will start moving upwards in the second-half as the weather warms up and households consider the ‘spring-clean.’