Part 1: Achieving Marketing Harmony

Behind the strategy that launched the DEWALT® ToughSystem® Music

DEWALT®, a global leader in the world of tools, was ready to launch their new ToughSystem® Music. To help promote this launch, DEWALT challenged us to create an integrated campaign that would generate sales and interest in the product. In this 4-part series, we’ll examine the specific strategies and tactics used to help promote and launch the new DEWALT® ToughSystem® Music player. In part 1, we discuss how we leveraged our relationship with The Alternate Routes to bring added value to the program.

Part 1: Friend of a Friend

When you hear the cliché “out of the box”, the first thing that may come to mind is creative that is either crazy or disruptive. But this well-worn phrase has applications far beyond an unexpected headline or visual. As we began developing our initial ideas to launch the new DEWALT® ToughSystem® Music, we considered all of the tools (no pun intended) at our disposal and lo and behold, wouldn’t you know that one of our greatest assets was a fellow client by the name of The Alternate Routes.

The Alternate Routes is a Connecticut-based band that we’re proud to call our clients and friends. The group has toured all over the U.S., Canada and Europe, and had songs featured on NCIS, as well as the opening ceremony of the 2014 Winter Olympics. Yes, those Olympics. In our minds, The Alternate Routes and the DEWALT ToughSystem Music went together like rhythm and blues (this was aided by the fact that AR once used a toolbox as an instrument in a song. Take that, tambourine man).

Now came the challenge of figuring out just how The Alternate Routes would fit within our strategy.

The idea of including a band with a music player seems like a no-brainer, but the challenge comes with how best to leverage the relationship. Throughout the creative process, we adhered to two objectives: incentivizing participation and building an experience that delivers value to the audience. The Alternate Routes played a crucial role in this.

Our first idea was to have The Alternate Routes record a proprietary song for the DEWALT ToughSystem Music. We really wanted to give this product an anthem that could also serve as an ode to the customer base. Within a few days, The Alternate Routes came back to us with an initial recording of “When the Whistle Blows”, a song that brilliantly captures the tough, rugged nature of both DEWALT and the customers they serve. Just click the play button below to listen to the song.

The only step left was to sell it to DEWALT. Accompanied by a member of the band who performed the song live (not coincidentally one of our most fun meetings), we pitched both the idea and the song to our DEWALT team members. After the applause died down, DEWALT gave a very enthusiastic OK to include the song in our launch strategy. Rock on. The song debuted in the initial product video, which you can watch here.

From there, we used the offer of a free download of “When the Whistle Blows” as a reward to those who visit the DEWALT ToughSystem Music landing page. Viewers simply input their email addresses to receive a free download of the song, which returns value both for DEWALT in capturing emails of interested customers, and viewers who receive a free song. To date, the song has been downloaded over 550 times from the landing page alone.

By bringing DEWALT together with The Alternate Routes, we created a relationship that enhanced the ToughSystem Music product launch, and delivered an anthem for the product that any DEWALT customer would enjoy. What’s more, we effectively carved out a role for The Alternate Routes that went far beyond, “It’s a music player, they’re a band.” AR’s inclusion served a valuable purpose that was crafted to maximize their involvement. In the end, it was a win for DEWALT, The Alternate Routes, and Response. And that’s music to our ears.

In part 2, we look at how Response built a strategy for maximum synergy.