You probably haven’t thought much about your bathroom- it’s not something that m

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You probably haven’t thought much about your bathroom- it’s not something that most of us get very inspired about. But you probably have a relationship with your bathroom unlike that with any other room in your house. It's where you start and end your day, primp and preen and admire yourself, escape from the rigors of everyday life, and do some of your best thinking. The marketers at American Standard, the plumbing fixtures giant, understand this often-overlooked but special little room. And that understanding led to the creation of a successful integrated marketing communications strategy.

Working with its ad agency, Carmichael Lynch, American Standard created a wonderfully warm and highly effective marketing campaign called "We want you to love your bathroom," The communications targeted men and women aged 25 to 54 from households planning to remodel bathrooms or replace fixtures. The campaign employed a carefully integrated mix of brand-image and direct-response media ads, direct mailings, and personal contacts to create a customer database, generate sales leads,. gently coax customers into its retail showrooms, and build sales and market share.

The campaign began with a series of humorous, soft-sell brand-image ads in magazines such as Home, House Beautiful, and Country Living, which are typically read by homeowners who are considering undertaking remodelling projects. Featuring simple but artistic shots of ordinary bathroom fixtures and scenes, the ads positioned American Standard as a company that understands the special relationships we have with our bathrooms. For example, one ad showed a white toilet and a partially unwound roll of toilet paper, artfully arranged in .a corner against plain blue-grey walls. "We're not in this business for the glory," proclaimed the headline. "Designing a toilet or sink may not be as glamorous as, say, designing a Maserati. But to us, it's every bit as important. After all, more people will be sitting on our seats than theirs."

Another ad showed the feet of a man standing on a white tile bathroom floor wearing his gdofy-rooking floppy-eared dog slippers. "The rest of the world thinks • you're a genius," noted the ad. But "after a long day of being brilliant, witty, and charming, it's nice just to be comfortable. The right bathroom understands. And accepts you unconditionally." Each simple but engaging ad included a toll-free phone number and Urged readers to call for a free guidebook "overflowing with products, ideas, and inspiration."

The communications goal of these brand-image ads was to position American Standard and its products, but when it came to generating responses, the company turned to coupon-like direct response ads that ran in the same magazines. One such ad noted, "You will spend seven years of your life in the bathroom. You will need a good book." Readers could obtain the free guidebook by mailing in the coupon or calling the toll-free number listed in the ad—and, of course, American Standard could measure the response.

Consumers who responded found that they'd taken the first step in a carefully orchestrated relationship-building venture. First, they received the entertaining, highly informative, picture-filled 30-page guidebook We Want You to. Love Your Bathroom, along with a folksy letter thanking them for their interest and noting the locations of nearby American Standard dealers. The guidebook's purpose was straightforward:

Walk into your bathroom, turn the knob and suddenly, for a moment or an hour, the world stops turning. You should love the place. If you don't, well, American Standard wants to further your relationship. Thumb through this book. In the bathroom, perhaps...." The guidebook was full of helpful tips on bathroom design, starting with answers to some simple questions: What kind of lavatory—what colour? The bathtub—how big? Big enough for two? The toilet—sleek one-piece or familiar two-piece? The faucet? "You'll fumble for it every morning, so be particular about how it operates." To spice things up, the guidebook also contained loads of entertaining facts and trivia. An example: Did you know that "you will spend seven years in your bathroom ... here's hoping your spouse doesn't sneak in first!" Another example: "During the Middle Ages, Christianity preached that to uncover your skin, even to bathe it, was an invitation to sin. Thank heavens for perfume. These days, we average about 4 baths or 7.5 showers a week." And, of course, the booklet contained plenty of information on American Standard products, along with a tear-out card that prospective customers could return to obtain more detailed guides and product catalogues. •

Other marketing communications sent to the consumer, by request, from American Standard included a series of "Bathroom Reading" bulletins, each containing information on specific bathroom design issues. For example, one issue contained information and tips on how to make a bathroom safer; another offered "10 neat ways to save water."

The "call to action" in all these integrated marketing communications elements was either to telephone a toll-free number to request more information or to return a coupon or fill in a form to request more information. Every time a prospective customer requested more information from American Standard, that person's contact details went into American Standard's customer database. This data was then sorted and organized into "leads"---lists of interested customers—which were given to American Standard's sales representatives, their distributors, and kitchen and bath dealers, to follow up on.

The key was to get customers who'd made inquiries to come into the showroom. Not long after making their inquiries, prospective customers would receive either -a postcard in the mail or a phone call from a local dealer's showroom consultant, who extended a personal invitation to visit, see American Standard products first-hand, and discuss bathroom designs. Thus, the integrated marketing communications program built relationships not just with buyers but with dealers as well.

American Standard's "We want you to love your bathroom" campaign also did wonders for the company's positioning and performance. After the campaign began, American Standard's plumbing division experienced steady increases in sales and earnings. The campaign generated tens of thousands of qualified leads for local showrooms. Market research conducted by the company after the campaign showed that consumer perceptions of American Standard and its products shifted from "boring and institutional" to well designed and loaded with "personal spirit." According to Bob Srenaski, group vice-president of marketing at American Standard, the campaign "totally repositioned our company and established a momentum and winning spirit that is extraordinary?' Says Joe Summary, an account manager at Carmichael Lynch, "the campaign was incredible. It gave American Standard and its products a more personal face, one that's helped us to build closer relationships with customers and dealers. From the first ad to the last contact with our dealers, the campaign was designed to help customers create bathrooms they'd love."

Hi chegg team this is a case for our assignment need answers out of this case. questions are given below. Every answer should be of between 200-250 words with at least two paragraphs each. There should be no plaigarism.

1. As described in the case what problem is American Standard trying to solve for its customers and how do they do it? Explain how they do it using the 5ps where you believe they (the 5ps) apply.

2. Describe who you believe would be the AS ‘perfect customer/target market’ in the context of this campaign? (Please go beyond the M/F, 25-54, with homes described in the case to define/focus the TM)

3. American Standard products are available in Canada. If you were a media planner, which Canadian medium vehicles would you choose for traditional print & TV advertising? Justify your choices in terms of target marketing.

4. Which forms of direct response marketing were used in the campaign? What was the desired response and how would AS have measured it.?

5. If the ‘We want you to love your bathroom’ campaign were re-created today what forms of new mediums that address Qs 3 & 4 would you recommend and why?

Explanation / Answer

1. American standard wanted to focus customer's attention to a room that is a necessity in everyone's life but when it comes to designing or showcasing this space, it always recieved the last thought or secondary attention. They wanted to steer their customers to start thinking about their bathroom as something that could be personalized for everyone in the family. The shift from the thought of considering the bathroom space from boring and institutional to thinking that the bathroom provided a wonderful space for personal spirit to be showcased is what American standard wanted to achieve through the campaign.

The five P's of marketing startegy are the product, price, promotion place and people.

Product: bathroom fixtures, designing, tiles , etc

Promotion: The campaign,'We want to love your Bathroom' started by handout of free magazines with the submission of a coupon to lure customers into the store.

Place: This I would assume is the magazine advertisements that had the coupons for a free info book about design concepts and alternatives for the remodelling/repairing bathroom space.

People:primary target are homeowners subscribing to home improvement magazines between the age group of 25-54 M/F

2. The target market would be anyone who owns a home and wants to personalize their bathroom as even though the primary target market was homeowners', M/F's 25-54 , these people in turn would recommend their experiences to family and friends. If you think about it in some homes there are separate bathrooms meant for guests and the rest is used by the family among themselves. So each of these bathrooms can be designed, fitted, etc with different theme and made to have a differnt ambience. Therefore American standards primarily targeted the first influencers in theis case homeowners of the said age group who were subscribing for home improvement magazines that suggested that they were actively looking for options for remodelling/repairing their home space including the bathrooms, and would not only be bold enough to walk into their stores and ask questions but also would take their experiences and opinions to others which would definitely enhance the target market to everyone who is a homeowner eventually.

Another set of people who were the target market were the dealers and in this case they were also roped in to make the campaign successful by giving them customer leads which was generated from the direct resonse marketing.

3. The advertising campaign could include leading Canadian home improvement magazines such as Canadian Home trends, Style at Home, House and Home,Interiors, etcTV advertising including channels such as HGTV,DIY canada,etc. American standards could also use social media to target market its products.

4. The direct response marketing that AS employed was the ads in the magazines that elicited customer's to take action and request for the guidebook.This technique gave a clear and precise indication of how many people were actively looking to start on their repairing/remodelling of their home.The response was that customers had to send in their coupons to get the guidebook and it was measurable as those customers who recieved the guidebook and those customers who finally went into stores with invitation to see AS products at the dealer store were a quanitifiable number. This measure gave the impact of teh campaign and probably paved the way for future campaign strategies.

I hope this helps you to outline your answer in your own words.

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