Chattem Advertising Strategy Relies On “Guerrilla” Tactics – CEO Guerry
This article was originally published in The Tan Sheet
Executive Summary
Chattem's advertising strategy focuses on acquiring media time "as a guerilla buyer as opposed to a big buyer," CEO Zan Guerry maintained at a Banc of America Securities consumer conference in New York April 10
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Chattem's advertising strategy focuses on acquiring media time "as a guerilla buyer as opposed to a big buyer," CEO Zan Guerry maintained at a Banc of America Securities consumer conference in New York April 10. "Hemingway was the greatest role model because he was short and succinct," Guerry said, noting a similar approach in the advertising for Chattem's consumer products has proven effective. "One of the things that has really propelled our growth is that now there are a lot of 15- and 10-second spots available [on TV]," he said. "That triples your efficiency if you can get your message across." As an example, Guerry pointed to the ad campaign for Chattem's Garlique dietary supplements. Since the company began running 10-second spots "on some shows [where] we really could not afford" to buy longer periods of ad time, the garlic supplement's sales have risen over 40%, he said. Garlique's fiscal first quarter sales jumped 29% over the year-ago period (1 (Also see "Chattem pHisoderm Clear Swab Launch Will Target “Back-To-School” Crowd" - Pink Sheet, 1 Apr, 2002.), p. 10). When asked his opinion on promotions, Guerry replied, "If we had our sales force in here they would call me 'the hater of promotional spending.'" "We fight very hard to keep special events spending as low as possible...we are doing stuff every year to make it less and to make it more efficient," he continued. Guerry said one of the reasons Chattem divested the Ban antiperspirant line several years ago was because the company felt it had to invest too much in promotional spending to be successful in the category, and "we do not want to play that game." Chattem's ads for the recently acquired Selsun Blue dandruff shampoo brand will stress the product's ability to give consumers better looking hair, not just relieve them of dandruff, Guerry said. TV ads are slated to launch in June; Chattem acquired the line from Abbott Labs in March (2 (Also see "Chattem Selsun Blue Purchase Provides Entry Into Five New Foreign Markets" - Pink Sheet, 11 Mar, 2002.), p. 5). "We think we can add 30% to 50%" to Selsun Blue's revenues "just on more advertising and focusing the ad attack," Guerry said. |