When You Can’t Push Your Channel, Pull It

Situation

Square D sells its lines of electrical products through independent distributors. These electrical supply houses are not exclusive to the Square D brand and carry competing brands, particularly in SKUs considered to be near-commodity products. Distributors would only stock limited quantities of most items and would happily sell a different brand if requested.

Marketing Challenge

Square D needed to persuade distributors to stock more Square D inventory and to actively promote Square D products.

Solution

The strategy was to first convince distributors that their customers, electrical contractors, would be requesting Square D-branded products and that, without enough inventory, they would be disappointing and possibly losing their customers.

That required a “pull” strategy which was executed through direct mail and point of sale. Observation of contractors led to a simple conclusion – their pickup trucks were their transportation, their office and often their dining room. Coffee cups, donut boxes and fast-food bags were their décor.

The promotional offers were two—free McDonald’s French fries with every qualifying Square D purchase, and a contest to capture contact information in exchange for a chance to win a trip to Las Vegas. Fitting the contractor mind set and reinforcing immediate availability of product, the contest entries were “Great Pickup Lines.”

Outcome

The program merchandising was indeed convincing. Distributor participation was the highest of any promotion ever offered by Square D. No small feat, particularly since distributors were required to participate financially. And contractor response also broke records and exceeded projections, evidenced by the need to place an emergency order for an additional 15,000 McDonald’s coupons to resupply distributors who were running out.