Background / Problem
While a feature article in the New York Times as well as a news feature on Fox television translated into substantial sales and some awareness from the golfing public, the company’s product was non-conforming and thus every major industry organization lined up to denounce it. Due to the initial publicity, the company was successful at getting its golf balls into retail but the balls just gathered dust on the shelves. Direct sales of its product also shrank dramatically. In essence, almost no product was being sold.
Another problem, the company had initially introduced only one product, a 75% correcting golf ball. They failed to communicate that specific equipment parameters were necessary for the ball to perform as promised. The company subsequently introduced a 50% corrective ball that could be used with any equipment, but with so many dissatisfied customers, the damage had already been done.
Solutions
- Because the company’s product was nonconforming, we switched most of the marketing dollars from vehicles like the Golf Channel and hard-core golf publications to non-golf publications, mostly newspapers.
- The company marketed its product as a “self-correcting” golf ball, which really didn’t describe how the ball performed. Very few golfers hook the ball and in general, they tend to be better players and will never purchase the ball. We switched the tagline to “anti-slice golf ball”, addressing the concern of about 95% of golfers, those more likely to be customers.
- Instead of short form television commercials and traditional ads in magazines, we switched to delivering the company’s messages in the form of advertorials. Through advertorials, we were able to clearly explain what the ball did and how to use it. We cleared the air by addressing the previous problems, in many cases overcoming the complaints of former customers, many of whom came back.
- To address the problems at retail, we came up with retail support advertorials. We interviewed retailers in targeted markets and included their quotes in the advertorials. We also listed their stores alongside the advertorial, with contact information, driving customers directly to retail.
Results
- Advertorials delivered almost 6 times the ROI as television spots on the Golf Channel.
- For the initial test runs (39 separate advertorial placements) the highest ROI was 14.07 to 1 – the low 1.74 to 1. The median ROI was 3.40 to 1/the average ROI was 3.35 to 1. That was almost 4 years ago and since that time, the company has moved almost exclusively to advertorial placements for all of its products, including its new driver, which is only sold through print advertorials.
- Product that had been sitting dormant on retailers’ shelves, in some cases for almost 2 years, started flying out the door. Those same retailers started reordering multiple times.
- Polara went back and analyzed all of their sales and discovered how much advertorials had impacted overall sales when they ran. Early on, Polara had tracked their direct response return which sent readers to a specific landing page. Their analysis found that when the advertorials ran, a corresponding spike in revenues were generated at Amazon.com, at their main website, as well as at retail. During the time frames when they did not run the advertorial programs, website, Amazon and retail sales all reverted back to normal levels. According to COO David Felker, “It was obvious that in addition to the revenue directly attributable to the advertorial placements, advertorials positively impacted sales at all of our channels.”
What the Client has to Say
“We had a problem; our advertising was taking us nowhere. It was like pouring money down a pit! I am delighted with the work that Leonard has done for us. Both in direct response and driving business to retail outlets, it is by far the most effective form of advertising we have done. As far as a return on investment, Leonard’s advertorials were 6 to 7 times more effective than running on the Golf Channel. By return on investment, I am referring to actual dollars produced directly related to each commercial or advertorial. Advertorials are now a cornerstone of our marketing efforts. We switched to product advertorials and it made our business. Without advertorials, we’d be out of business”
David Felker, CEO, Polara Golf
“We were struggling to find an affordable way to market our products to consumers. When we ran direct response advertorials, we could clearly measure the uptick in direct to consumer sales on our website. We got a very strong and profitable return our investment. We were also struggling with driving golfers into retail doors, so we decided to test the advertorials with our local retailers listed alongside the copy. We initially tested in smaller markets where we could measure the response. The results blew me away. We ran in Seattle/Tacoma and in Manchester, NH, of all places. They were run in late Aug/early Sept, not the busiest time of the year. In New Hampshire, our number one retailer with 4 locations completely sold out of Polara Balls in 10 days and reordered immediately, only the second time they had reordered all year. Same was true in Seattle. We sold out in 10 stores and several Pro Shops and buyers asked why we hadn’t run these earlier in the year. Per the buyers, their orders would have doubled if it was May rather than September. Needless to say we were delighted with the results. The retailers felt the same way. It was a win-win. Advertorials will be the foundation of our marketing plan to support retailers. This has been the best return on our marketing spend by far!
Chris Holiday, Senior VP of Sales, Polara Golf