Dare to be different

An experiment was held one day with caterpillars. On the rim of a clay pot which held a plant, a biologist lined up several caterpillars so that the leader was head to tail with the last caterpillar.

The tiny creatures circled the rim of the pot for a full week. Not once did any of them break away to go over to the plant and eat.

Eventually, all caterpillars died from exhaustion and starvation.

The story of the processional caterpillars is a kind of parable of human behaviour. People are reluctant to break away from the rhythmic pattern of daily life. They don't want to be different.

If you want to succeed in business, that is, to reach horizons and goals you haven't reached yet, you need to change the things you're doing now. Start doing

things that are different and monitor your progress. Total Eden Watering Systems changed its direction not so long ago. It did something radically different to anything it had done before. The result? Almost triple the result of its last winter campaign.

Total Eden is a seasonal business and reticulation just isn't on people's shopping list during winter when it's raining. And even though Total Eden is the best in its industry, people were sometimes confused which store they were in and sometimes ended up in the opposition's store. The public didn't always recognise the difference until they became a customer.

Establishing An Identity

Total Eden needed to establish an identity that would make it stand out from the crowd. Most major corporations have some sort of identity. McDonalds has a clown, Dulux has an old English sheepdog. Monier roofing has a black cat, Toyota Camry has a chicken and so on.

Market Research

Research showed that women aged 25-39 were the ''motivators'' behind purchasing reticulation so we needed to look at creating something that would appeal to this group.

Research also showed that women could more easily relate to their childhood memories. They relish in their memories of such shows as Thunderbirds and Bill and Ben. In fact of 100 people surveyed, over 87 per cent remembered these shows even though they hadn't seen them on TV for years, and 99 per cent had nothing but good memories of them. It was a powerful response.

Develop the Difference

We created two personalities that people could easily relate to. The boy was called Ric and the girl Tic. They're designed to be interactive, warm and friendly. Once made, we initiated some more research to find out how people reacted to the new characters. Again the result was very favourable.

As you can see, Ric and Tic are marionettes, have a sprinkler body and the Total Eden Logo prominently printed on them. Their legs are garden hose and they are two very happy characters.

Now that Ric and Tic were reality, it was time to make the commercial.

Naturally a good offer was formulated and a script written to introduce them and the offer.

Saturation

It was important to saturate the market to introduce Ric and Tic but, as with any business, we had a budget, so we used only one TV station to get the message across. Nothing else. More than 300 'spots' were run over two weeks.

Media research showed 95 per cent of our market would see the ad an average of 13 times. This is total saturation. We needed to do this for two reasons. Firstly we needed to get Ric and Tic established in the market and secondly we were encouraging people to install reticulation in winter! We needed all the exposure we could get.

Focus

A '13' number was installed to direct all calls to the head office. This made sure all enquires were handled professionally from one location, leaving the stores to handle their own local traffic.

Success

Ric and Tic nearly tripled the result of the campaign run the previous winter. The success of Ric and Tic has shown that something different can achieve incredible results. People now know when they walk into a Total Eden store that they're in the right store because of Ric and Tic. Total Eden has created an identity for itself that makes it unique and gives it an exceptional way to demonstrate its high customer service standards.

And yes, you can even look forward to Ric and Tic toys for the kids!

So next time you're thinking about what to do with your business, think about the processional caterpillars and do something different. Chances are you'll be munching on lush greens long before anyone realises you're gone.

Good luck with your next advertising campaign!