Who says you can’t teach an old cataloger new tricks? Twenty-year-old pet supplies mailer Doctors Foster & Smith is launching its first TV ad campaign in October. The Rhinelander, WI-based cataloger is testing commercials on cable-TV networks including Animal Planet and Lifetime.
Although the company has grown steadily to reach $157 million in sales last year, it wants to build national brand awareness. “Our growth has been wonderful,” says spokesperson Joe Voelinger. “But to reach our greatest potential, we need to be introduced to more people. My guess is that if we did a national survey, only one in 10 people would have heard of Doctors Foster & Smith.”
The first TV spot features adults and kids interacting with their pets, showing that whatever their pet needs, the cataloger has. “Marty [Smith] and Race [Foster] are on camera talking about 20 years of selecting products for pets backed by our 100% guarantee,” Voelinger says. The cataloger’s toll-free number and Website URL are shown throughout.
The second spot, scheduled to run next spring, will focus on pet healthcare and the cataloger’s prescription drug plan for pets. “It’s tied to the big flea, tick, and heartworm season,” Voelinger says. The cataloger will likely retest the first spot during the spring as well.
The spots are being produced by Santa Ana, CA-based Script to Screen. Doctors Foster & Smith is working with Chicago-based media-buying agency Eicoff, a division of Ogilvy & Mather. “They’ll probably pursue national cable,” Voelinger says, “but perhaps some spot buying as well. If they want to pick out a regional market with a show that hits our demographics, we may test such specific markets and see how the strategy works.”
Voelinger won’t reveal the cataloger’s budget but says that it will spend “a couple of hundred thousand dollars” on air time for the fall test. After analyzing the results, he says, “we’ll determine our budget for next year — or if we are to continue doing it at all.”
Doctors Foster & Smith is using a third-party telemarketing firm so that calls placed in response to the ads can be tracked based on the different toll-free numbers provided for the different TV stations and networks. “We can then determine which stations or networks are generating the greatest number of leads and sales,” Voelinger says. “For next spring we may bring [call center] fulfillment inhouse since we’d like to have our own, more knowledgeable people answering the phones.”