The Kingston Story: Transforming a "Tech" product into a consumer staple and increasing sales by over 1,000%
When I began working with the account it was advertising strictly in trade publications. We looked at several factors:
Some of the conclusion of the consumer research and insight:
These led us to recommend that 90% of the advertising be shifted to consumer advertising while the remaining 10% remained in trade advertising to reinforce the Kingston reliabiltiy image among PC and clone manufacturers.
The non-techie positioning also led us to develop very stylish, fun, unconventional imagery that would communicate lifestyle, fun, individuality as opposed to gigs, memory and traditional technological visual cues. We incorporated several visual cues to make the campaign recognizable everywhere: the blue swoosh with the information, the red wave for Kingston and of course, the color red, Kingston's corporate color.
Along the way we created several very segemented campaign including school kids, teens, professionals and more, all of them based on their purchasing behavior
In terms of ad budget, the account grew 10 fold in a year.
- Who were the real consumers
- How the purchasing decision was really made
- Price point and its relation to the need for "technical advice": no one was asking an "expert" for advice
Some of the conclusion of the consumer research and insight:
- Price sensitive, but not to the extreme of buying cheaper brands that might have problems storing information
- USB's and memory cards however, were not seen primarily as "technology" but as convenient and utilitarian, so their end use was more important than the technology
- For resellers, reliability was key. Returns were very expensive in time, cost and loss of reputation
- For manufacturers, reliability was key. Again, returns were deemed very undesirable
These led us to recommend that 90% of the advertising be shifted to consumer advertising while the remaining 10% remained in trade advertising to reinforce the Kingston reliabiltiy image among PC and clone manufacturers.
The non-techie positioning also led us to develop very stylish, fun, unconventional imagery that would communicate lifestyle, fun, individuality as opposed to gigs, memory and traditional technological visual cues. We incorporated several visual cues to make the campaign recognizable everywhere: the blue swoosh with the information, the red wave for Kingston and of course, the color red, Kingston's corporate color.
Along the way we created several very segemented campaign including school kids, teens, professionals and more, all of them based on their purchasing behavior
In terms of ad budget, the account grew 10 fold in a year.
Consumer Campaign
Retail adaptations
All of the ads were adaptable to retailer campaign --for coop money-- in every country
Mini Fun
Mini Funs were Kingston's entry into the 100% consumer category. While the technology was as robust and reliable as more conventional-looking USB drives, the look was casual, fun, non-technie, non-intimidating. We focused the campaign on kids who are conscious of the style part, like the fun but need the memory.
Resellers & Manufacturers
Promotional Activities
We created a very successful promotion which was adapted internationally. The "Tombola" or Roulette promotion allowed random people to win prizes. The number of daily awards is pre-programmed but the moment is absolutely random. When used in high-traffic areas it creates a very engaging promotion.
