Embracing a nickname that employees have given its logo for years, Motorola Inc. launched a $100 million global branding campaign that unites all its business sectors’ consumer products under the moniker “Wings.”
The effort marks the first time the company has employed an ad campaign that promotes a variety of products from different Motorola business sectors. Traditionally, each Motorola sector conducted its own advertising campaign.
Instead, the Wings campaign touts Motorola pagers, mobile phones and two-way radios as being the wings that free consumers to do whatever they want, wherever they want.
“People want the benefits of personal communications products that give them `Wings’-enabling them to be free from the confines of home or office, and giving them the ability to stay connected when and where they choose,” said Rick Darnaby, Motorola vice president and director of global brand management. “The idea that personal communication products enable the freedom to choose how you communicate with others is powerful. That’s why the Wings theme is relevant in a world where boundaries no longer strictly define our ability to communicate. Our Wings-our personal communication products-travel with us, are part of us, span time and space. No matter who you want to stay in touch with, Motorola brings you many different products to do it ingeniously, effortlessly and effectively.”
The campaign is the result of a year-long global market research effort Motorola undertook last year that indicated consumers share a desire for connectivity, regardless of the medium. So the company decided to tout its ability to provide an assortment of different communication tools.
“Consumers say they see a lot of different products being used for a similar purpose-communication,” said Rob Pollack, vice president and director of marketing for Motorola’s North American Paging Subscriber Division. “How many companies can have so many ways of keeping you in touch when you’re not in the office? Motorola is one of the few that can do that.”
Another goal is to endow its products with a sexier image. According to Pollack, the company traditionally has promoted its products as good quality, reliable and durable. The Wings campaign is aimed to add a more contemporary, lifestyle-enhancing image to that-a little style behind the substance, so to speak.
The new campaign follows several quarters of Motorola reporting revenues below analysts’ expectations, and a slowly deteriorating market share in the consumer handset market. Motorola fell from a 34-percent market share in the combined analog/digital handset market in 1996 to 25 percent in 1997. The company also reported poor first-quarter financials this year.
Its Messaging, Information and Media Segment experienced a 25-percent drop in sales and an operating loss, blamed on lower paging sales to operators in North America and China. Sales and orders also fell in Motorola’s Cellular Subscriber Sector.
Combating this downward slide, the company has hinted at a major restructuring of its internal business that would join all consumer product sectors in one division and industrial equipment into another.
The unified branding effort is perhaps the strongest indication yet of the company’s intention to end its internal competition between sectors and instead show off its strengths as a whole.
“The warring tribes culture is a thing of the past. We’re trying to bring them together,” Pollack said. While the company will continue with sector-specific advertising, ads targeted at individual products will be tied to the Wings concept.
“We’re still working hard to grow each category, but just doing it in a more unified way,” he said. “We think there’s a benefit for Motorola in talking with one voice.”
Mike Crawford, president of M/C/C-a Dallas-based marketing communications firm specializing in the high-tech industry-said that although he hadn’t seen the ads himself yet, he feels the concept is right.
“I think that it’s about time that Motorola came out and branded all their products,” said Mike Crawford, president of M/C/C, a Dallas-based marketing communications company. Motorola has suffered from a lack of any real branding effort in the past, Crawford commented, and its advertising effort has been inconsistent from product to product.
“It truly signals to me that somebody in Motorola is getting it,” he said. “They haven’t had a branding effort in the past. It’s been product-focused and didn’t last very long … The days are over when you just throw a product out there, shoot it with red or blue gel, identify the capabilities and features and let them figure out if they want it or not. Now, they’re branding across the board and not focusing on one particular product. They’re giving you a plethora of wireless solutions bundled under one umbrella.
“This is a major step for Motorola. A positive one.”
Although Motorola defined the campaign as being a long-term one, Crawford warned it must be a genuine commitment for the strategy to work.
“Now they have to stick to it,” he said. “It’s not going to happen overnight … The biggest concern I see is that they come out, make a big pop and then bury their head in the sand.”
Ad agency McCann-Erickson Worldwide produced the campaign after winning the global consolidated consumer assignment last year. The agency has had Motorola’s North American Paging Subscriber Division account since 1993. This is its first campaign for the entire company.
The first 60-second TV ad for the campaign was scheduled to air April 19 during prime time using what is called a roadblock, spanning three networks and nine major cable stations.
The 60-second branding ad will be followed by a series of 30-second, product-focused ads featuring visuals of cellular telephones, pagers and personal use two-way radios. The U.S. rollout will be followed by launches throughout the year in Europe, Asia and Latin America.
Teaser print ads began appearing in daily newspapers and out-of-home advertising in major metropolitan markets April 12. National print ads will follow the TV launch.
