"Ballast Hold'Em" Campaign Hits the Jackpot at 2006 TED "Best of the Best" Marketing Awards

What’s the secret to creating and executing a winning promotional campaign targeted at electrical distributors? If you team up with Arends, we’ll tell you that it all starts by marrying the promotional theme to the product being marketed, and then putting that unified concept right in the name and cornerstone graphics of the promotion itself.

The annual directive from Lief Thorsen, director of channel marketing at Advance, North America’s largest manufacturer of ballasts for lighting systems, is to create a fully-integrated, comprehensive sales promotion designed to stimulate sales growth, create and maintain high mind-share for the Advance brand and inspire excitement and active participation among registrants by rewarding growth and/or change in selling and buying behaviors.

In recent years, that direction has led to the creation of several award-winning promotions that generated considerable buzz in the distribution channel — and, most importantly, grew sales and stocking orders for Advance.

First there was “Ballastpalooza” — a music-themed promotion that rocked the Affiliated Distributors (A-D) network, and helped earn Advance both an A-D award for marketing excellence and the prestigious “A-D Supplier of the Year” honor. (Affiliated Distributors is the largest distribution network in North America, comprised of 360 independent distributors with over $21 billion in sales.)

Next came “Ballastopolis”— an Olympic-themed “Dash for Cash” promotion that pumped up sales during and after the 2004 Summer Games in Athens, Greece.

Integrated Promotional Campaign Hits the Jackpot

Ballast Hold’Em broke important new ground with its innovative structure and strategies aimed at creating true interactive engagements with participants at every level.

In short, under Thorsen’s direction, the Advance/Arends team decided to “Go all-in!” with Ballast Hold‘Em. And the results show that the investment paid off.

At the time Ballast Hold’Em was announced, Affiliate purchases were up 4.8 percent. At the close of the promotion, purchases had increased to 10.1 percent — a gain in sales volume of 5.3 percent.

Kicking off the promotion was a dimensional mailing sent to 132 owners of targeted A-D distributors. The centerpiece of this mailing was a premium poker chip set and carrying case, complete with chips, playing cards and dice branded with Advance logos and Ballast Hold‘Em graphics.

Inserts and accompanying collateral outlined the goals and benefits of the promotion, and spelled out how participating branches would reap both higher margins through increased ballast and lighting sales, as well as increased inventory turns fueled by incentive offers for branch personnel.

Branches had the opportunity to earn Ballast Hold’Em Winnings in the form of branded American Expressâ award cards based on a percentage of their monthly sales of Advance product. If a Branch met a pre-determined level, one of their representatives also qualified to play in the Monthly Ballast Hold’Em Online Poker Tournament. The winners from each of the monthly tournaments went head-to-head in the GRAND Ballast Hold’Em Online Poker Tournament to determine the ultimate Ballast Hold’Em Champion. Advance staked each of the players with chips for the tournament and provided winning cash prizes.

The response? Jackpot! More than 70 percent – 93 of the 132 affiliates — signed up, committing a total of 784 branches to participate in the promotion.

Merchandising Strategies Go “All-in!”

At the branch level, participating distributors received merchandising kits that included ceiling mobiles in the shape of poker chips, counter displays and end-user informational brochures all touting the benefits of Advance ballasts and all designed to generate counter area discussions. Ballast Hold’Em branded coasters and playing cards were also provided to participating branch employees, providing a daily reminder of the promotion.

In addition, participating Affiliates had 24-hour access to the Ballast Hold’Em web site, where they could find complete promotion details, FAQs and more.

Client/Agency Teamwork Keeps ‘Em Playing

As the last digital cards were dealt in cyberspace, and digital photos of winning branch teams were e-mailed to Advance with messages of “Thanks for a great promotion!” and “Let’s do it again!” the message was clear:

The key to creating a successful, fully integrated promotion starts with a great concept, executed with a level of commitment by the client and agency teams that can be summed up by three words:  Go all in!

The Arends agency is known for bringing the perfect balance of ideas, communications and branding to its clients through integrated programs that move markets, generate buzz and contribute to the bottom line. Founded in 1958, Arends has produced winning results for a wide range of clients in the electrical industry, including General Electric, Tyco Electrical & Metal Products, Allied Tube & Conduit, Philips Lighting, Panduit, EESCO/Englewood, Communications Supply Corporation, SOLA and Advance Transformer Co. 

Arends provides a full range of brand marketing communication services, including brand development, advertising, sales promotion, interactive marketing, web site development, public relations and trade show programs for its clients — with an in-depth expertise in creating marketing and branding solutions for business-to-business firms in manufacturing, technology, transportation, electrical, and building products, systems and materials.

The TED “Best of the Best” Awards recognize the finest marketing efforts in the electrical industry for campaigns occurring in 2005. Separated by sales volume, more than 45 awards were presented to electrical distributors and manufacturers in 10 categories, ranging from merchandising to events to product launches.

Winners of the 2006 TED “Best of the Best” Marketing Awards were announced at a special awards luncheon on April 24, 2006, during the National Association of Electrical Distributors (NAED) annual meeting, in Orlando, FL. TED, the official publication of the NAED, received nearly 370 entries for the 2006 competition – up from 350 in 2005.