Here's an effective ad technique: Prey on fear. It's worked for
alarm-system marketer Brink's Home Security, at least, whose sales jumped 10% on
the back of a chilling campaign showing families' peaceful lives suddenly
threatened by a home invasion. Of course, there might just be another
factor propelling sales: consumers betting that crime will rise as the economy
falls.
Brinks wouldn't comment for this story, but President-CEO Bob Allen recently
told Reuters, "People do seem to be more attuned to security issues. We
found the market has been more responsive recently to our marketing efforts."
Its spots have generated much buzz online. They've been labelled as
sexist, and been alternately praised and mocked for playing on the fear factor.
There are at least four different Brink's spots, but they're all generally the
same: A woman is home alone as a spooky-looking guy attempts a home
invasion by kicking in the door, but he immediately runs away as the Brink's
Home Security system springs into action with its loud, high-pitched siren.
Seconds later the phone rings, and it's a Brink's employee at a call centre
asking the woman if she's all right and alerting her that he's called for help.
In one, a woman is alone, preparing to jog on a treadmill. In another,
it's a teenage girl at the top of the stairs thinking her parents forgot their
keys as she hears the doorknob jiggle. In another, a husband pulls out of
the driveway as a jogger bends down in front of his house to tie his shoe.
As the husband drives away to work, the jogger kicks in the door where a woman
is standing at the kitchen sink.
Brinks did not respond to queries as to what agency handles its account.
As might be expected, the woman-as-victim approach has baited the blogosphere.
Gawker's women-focused blog Jezebel calls it "Home Security for Modern-Day
Damsels in Distress." In a blog post under the heading "Badvertising," one
blogger wrote, "We thank Brink's for the daily dose of irrational fear and for
reminding us that as women we are vulnerable even when we're locked securely in
our own homes."
But clearly it's hit a nerve: Brink's Home Security alarm sales were up 10% in
2008 compared with 2007, and fourth-quarter profit was up 21% over the year-ago
period, roughly coinciding with the debut of the ad campaign. That's
despite Brink's spending falling some $8 million last year to $26 million on
measured media, according to TNS Media Intelligence.
The commercials can't take all the credit, as sales for Brink's chief competitor
and the country's biggest seller, Tyco International's ADT Worldwide, are also
up. Net revenue for ADT Worldwide increased 4.8% during 2008 compared with
2007. ADT Worldwide is Tyco's largest segment, bringing in 40% of its $20
billion in revenue last year.
That leaves consumer fear. "Profit-motivated crimes - robberies,
burglaries and auto theft - are particularly likely to increase during economic
bad times," said Jack Levin, a professor of sociology and criminology at
Northeastern University in Boston. "Home-security systems protect against
two out of three [robberies and burglaries], so I can see where it may actually
be a rational decision for a homeowner to install a security system at this
time."
One of Mr. Levin's peers, Richard Rosenfeld, a sociologist at the University of
Missouri-St. Louis, told The New York Times in October that "Every recession
since the late '50s has been associated with an increase in crime and, in
particular, property crime and robbery, which would be most responsive to
changes in economic conditions."
So far, however, the latest Federal Bureau of Investigation statistics for the
first half of 2008 (the second half will be out later this year) show a
continued drop in crime. Nationwide, violent crime fell 3.5% and property
crime fell 2.5% during the first six months of the year compared with the same
time period in 2007.
But bad economy or no, expect to see more Brink's spots soon - you just might
not recognize them. As part of a spinoff deal from its parent company,
Brink's Home Security only has three years in which to use the Brink's name, and
then it has to re-name itself. The company is expected to spend more than
$100 million to rebrand itself by October 2011.
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