Strategic Message Planner WD-40 Tanya Grover
1. Advertising Goal
The advertising goal is to convince single and/or married women ages 25-35 with children to buy the WD-40 Smart Straw by marketing it as a must-have, go-to product necessary for everyday household mishaps. 2. Client: Key Facts
The signature blue and yellow can of WD-40 one can find lining the aisles of Home Depot did not emerge until 1953 in San Diego, CA, where the company’s headquarters remain today. Industrial chemist Norman Larsen, founder of Rocket Chemical Company, finally developed the “Water Displacement, 40th Formula” after trying 39 chemical combinations before settling on the WD-40 mixture. The spray was originally used by aircraft manufacturing companies to prevent rust and corrosion on the outer skins of missiles. WD-40 went public in 1973 as WD-40 Company Inc. and was an international business by the late 1980’s. In the 1990’s, four out of five households contained a can of WD-40. 2006 saw the WD-40 Fan Club reach 100,000 members. Since its conception, WD-40 has been applied in domestic settings for a plethora of household uses in addition to upholding its maintenance purposes and exists in various product forms. With 433 full-time employees, the company’s CEO is currently Garry Ridge. WD-40 products are sold in more than 176 countries worldwide and in 2015, the company’s total revenue was $378.15, which was lower than the previous year. Today WD-40 Company
reigns as a global marketing organization with a stronghold in the fields of maintenance, cleaning and chemical manufacturing. The company promotes a vast array of products tailored toward specific uses, including but not limited to bicycle maintenance, toilet bowl cleaners, carpet stain remover and room odor eliminators. Because of its versatile uses, WD40 is a company with strong brand recognition but could have trouble ranking first in product placement in one specific area. Its top three competitors can be identified as Clorox, Church & Dwight Co., Inc., and S. C. Johnson & Son, Inc.
3. Product: Key Facts & Features
Comes in 3 sizes—8 oz, 11 oz, & 12 oz; prices range from $5.99 to $12.69 Includes a permanently attached “straw” that can be positioned in two ways (flip up for
stream & down for spray) Shelf life of around 5 years Formula consistency (exact proportions are a secret): Aliphatic Hydrocarbon (45-50%), Petroleum Base Oil (<25%), LVP Aliphatic Hydrocarbon (12-18%), Surfactant (<2%), Non-Hazardous Ingredients (<10%); Doesn’t contain these harmful chemicals: silicone,
kerosene, water, graphite or chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs) Uses as advertised: Stops squeaks, loosens rusted parts and frees sticky mechanisms, displaces moisture (can dry out electrical systems to prevent water damage), protects metal surfaces to prevent rust and corrosion, removes grease, grime, and can dissolve
other unwanted chemicals, useful for both domestic and commercial settings Good for stain removal on a variety of surfaces (especially successful with Crayola)…
this makes it stand out from other brands Company’s website provides a document listing over 2,000 different specific uses for
WD-40 products Can be found at your local Home Depot or Lowe’s “You only need two tools in life, Duct Tape and WD-40. If it’s not stuck and it’s supposed to be, Duct Tape it. If it’s stuck and it’s not supposed to be, WD-40 it.” – approval from
another famous company 4. Target Audience
The target audience is single and/or married women ages 25-35 with one or more children younger than 10, either holding a career of their own or a stay-at-home mom. The campaign is targeting the kind of women admired during today’s modern feminist age—the do-it-all, go-getting, I-don’t-need-a-man females that young girls should aspire to be. These women don’t need to ask their husbands or call mechanics to stop a door from squeaking or loosen a part on her son’s bike. It’s just not necessary, since she’s got her handy WD-40 Smart Straw in the cabinet with other required components of her daily life, which is busy, chaotic, and usually stressful. These women are either a) juggling the roles of a single mother and houseowner in addition to her own career or b) juggling the role of a stay-at-home mom and houseowner, but being alone in the house with kids all day, WD-40 can be very useful. These women spend their time constantly multi-tasking, between their kids, jobs, and other obligations. They don’t have time for carpet stains hours before a dinner party and creaky doors keeping up the baby. They don’t have the time nor dispensable income to buy new products when they get rusty, creaky or stuck. And they definitely don’t have time for other people to fix these problems; they do it themselves. They use WD-40. These women love WD-40 because of its versatility in such a wide range of sticky situations. The product may not be used every single day, but it’s the unprecedented mishaps that it acts as a lifesaver for. Little Johnny’s Lego blocks are stuck together and he’s about to throw a temper tantrum? Use WD-40 to unstick them. Sally finds rust on her guitar strings and has a band concert the next day? Use WD-40 to remove the rust. The garage door runner is freezing again? Use WD-40 to lubricate it. Tom put 17 decals on the back of his dad’s car
after getting his license? Use WD-40 to get them off. Your house key broke inside the lock while in a hurry? Use WD-40 to get it out. Tommy melted his entire pack of Crayola’s onto your brand new rug? Use WD-40 to remove the stain. In short, these women should buy, use, and love WD-40 for the unforeseen glitches that it provides fast and efficient solutions for.
5. Product Benefits
Feature: The WD-40 Smart Straw comes in three different sizes (8 oz, 11 oz, 12 oz). Benefit: Women can tailor their WD-40 for certain situations, rooms, locations, storage spaces, etc. For example, the smaller 8 oz. bottle could be kept in her bike pannier in case of a bicycle emergency, since saving space for other bike ride necessities is important. On the other hand, the 12 oz. would be perfectly fine kept in a kitchen cabinet. Consumers
will appreciate this because even its physical form adheres to their specific needs. Feature: The bottle includes a permanently attached “straw” that can be positioned in two ways. Benefit: The product can be used in a variety of different spaces, as the straw can be flipped up for stream and flipped down for spray. This benefit will be appreciated by consumers because it is easy to use in multiple ways; women don’t need to buy two
different products for different uses, as the WD-40 Smart Straw can be used for both. Feature: WD-40 has a shelf life of 5 years. Benefit: Consumers don’t have to worry about re-purchasing the product unless they run of it; it is convenient and cost-friendly that the chemical doesn’t go bad. These women don’t have time to run to the store on a
whim and buy a new can of WD-40, and they don’t have to. Feature: WD-40 contains non-odorous chemicals, not harmful to the environment and safe to use inside the house. Benefit: Women can feel comfortable with keeping the WD-
40 can in the house. Feature: WD-40 can be used for both household, domestic duties as well as in outdoors settings. Benefit: The women can use the WD-40 Smart Straw during anticipated
household tasks, as well as for maintenance and outdoorsy obligations. Because, of course, she does it all, and why wouldn’t she fix the garage door runner by herself with her trusty can of WD-40? 6. Direct Competition
1. Clorox: This company competes with WD-40 in the field of stain removal and some cleaning, but it lacks usefulness in every other category WD-40 stakes a claim to. Where WD-40 lacks in comparison to Clorox is in laundry and more domestically focused cleaning. Thus, WD-40 products are inherently more versatile with its 2,000+ uses. However, Clorox is oriented towards fewer fields, so it has the opportunity and aptitude to have stronger brand recognition in those fields, specifically stain removal. Clorox has a brand image that is softer than WD-40 with its rougher uses; it could be viewed as safer and more family friendly. Clorox stain remover would be WD-40’s biggest competitor in that area, as Clorox offers numerous stain removal products and is known for being able to get out almost anything. 2. Church & Dwight, Co., Inc.: As the overarching manufacturer, Church & Dwight produces numerous products with different names, uses, and categories of relevancy. Some of these products include but are not limited to Batiste dry shampoo, First Response pregnancy tests, Nair hair removal, Orajel pain relief, OxiClean, and Trojan condoms. Church & Dwight self-proclaims to sell products in the categories of “personal care” and “household,” both of which relate to cleanliness. Thus, this company shares the extreme versatility of WD-40. But again, similar to Clorox, its uses are for the most part domestic, whereas WD-40 has brand recognition in the commercial field as well. Because Church & Dwight has so many products with differing product names, it may be hard for
consumers to distinguish Church & Dwight as a company and all-encompassing brand, an issue that WD-40 does not have since all of its products share the name “WD-40.” 3. S. C. Johnson & Son, Inc.: With a tagline of “Welcome to SC Johnson, a family company since 1886,” this competitor also has a more family friendly-oriented brand image than WD-40. SC Johnson sells products in the categories of home cleaning, air care, pest control, home storage, and auto care. In comparison to Clorox and Church & Dwight, more of its products are in direct competition with WD-40, as they share the fields of house cleaning and auto care. Popular brand names include Windex and Ziploc. WD-40’s biggest competitors as far as SC Johnson products are in the field of auto care, such as Gran Prix and Drano.
7. Indirect Competition
Indirect competitors for WD-40 would be products that are not necessarily in the category of lubricant, stain remover, etc. but can still get the same job done. For example, Vaseline and olive oil can be used as lubricants, so it is possible that WD-40 loses consumers to these brands for similar uses. Likewise, nail polish—while not marketed as a stain remover—is known for being able to remove carpet stains, so companies selling nail polish remover could be indirect competitors as well.
8. Current Brand Image
WD-40 has a popular, positive brand image among its main consumer base and target market: men. These male customers view the brand as a reliable, practical product that is sometimes the only solution to certain complications. They love it. For example, in an
Amazon review, consumer Bryan Carey said, “WD-40 is one of my favorite manufactured goods, and it is one the few products on the market that has always worked as promised and has never let me down. There are very, very few products that have given me 100 percent satisfaction every time I have used them, but WD-40 certainly belongs on this elite list. It is one of the best products of its kind.” They’re loyal to the brand. Also on an Amazon review, Steve Taylor said, “I’ve been using WD-40 for at least 40 years. I’ve tried other lubricants but always come back to this one.” On similar review websites, other consumers (all male) called WD-40 universally popular, claim it can do anything and contest that a home should never be without it. This brand image has been relatively steady for over 50 years—it’s a product whose uses are timeless. The problem? This perception is not shared by women, who are in general virtually oblivious to the joys of WD-40 and how it can make their lives easier. Because WD-40 has been marketed so prominently toward the male demographic as a macho tool and masculinity supplement, women have overlooked it as a product that couldn’t possibly fit into their lifestyle or needs. However, it’s 2016 and women have never been more empowered, which is the purpose of this campaign. It’s not the 1950’s anymore—thousands of women have embraced this so-called “macho” lifestyle and therefore need a product to assist them. Women today don’t have time to call their husbands to fix the garage; they do it themselves. In the eyes of young women, WD-40 may have the brand image of irrelevancy or ignorance, which is why marketing tactics need to be focused on females. In general, WD-40 must keep in mind that immediate gratification has never been higher, and the company must therefore continue to show consumers that lubricating a part or removing a stain is indefinitely better than replacing an item, and that the WD-40 Smart Straw is the way to do that. This is the
brand perception consumers must continue to uphold.
9. Strategic Message
You [women ages 25-35 with one or more children younger than 10] should buy the WD-40 Smart Straw because its plethora of uses in everyday mishaps will make your busy life so much easier, in addition to giving you the satisfaction of fixing it yourself.
10. Supporting Evidence
More than 2,000 uses in countless different categories—just one simple can of WD-40 do
it all Trusted brand with proven formula that’s been utilized for over 50 years Quick and easy to use with the Smart Straw feature, women can easily get things done themselves
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