If You Log on Now…: URLs are the newest TV response mechanism

Forget “and if you call now…”

Today’s direct response television spots are driving their viewers to Web sites instead of to the telephone.

Think “and if you log on now…”

It’s the new wave in DRTV – so new that there are few creative or strategic precedents.

One company that has been successfully using DRTV to drive consumers to its Web site is Hayward Pool Products Inc.

“We developed our Web site within the body of a communications program of branding,” says Charles Whipple, vice president of marketing and sales for Hayward Pool, which manufactures cleaning, filter and water circulation equipment for swimming pools.

The lifestyle ads focus on what Whipple refers to as the romance of owning a swimming pool. Prospective customers are encouraged to find out more about the company at its Web site (www.haywardpool.com).

In addition to providing information about the Elizabeth, NJ based company’s products, the site identifies local contractors who use Hayward equipment when they build pools. It also provides links to the contractors’ Web sites, and Hayward will even build sites for contractors that don’t have them.

All of Hayward’s ads – both TV and print – are tagged with the company’s URL.

Has it helped?

“We’re pleased with the increase in our traffic,” says Whipple. Web site traffic had increased threefold since the TV campaign was launched last June. And business has increased 20% overall – well beyond the industry average.

One side benefit to this multimedia marketing is that Hayward is building a database of names supplied by its retailers, as well as those people who register over its Web site, call or visit technical support, and participate in sweepstakes.

Another benefit of promoting Hayward’s Web site on television is improved relations with its retailers. “They like seeing a company doing things differently and they reward us with loyalty,” says Whipple. “They like what we’re doing and they like being aligned with a company that’s better branded and has better communications.”

MotorUp Corp. is another early adopter in using its URL as a TV response mechanism.

Like Hayward Pool, the Somerset, NJ based company doesn’t see the Internet as a rival channel of sales or branding. The firm considers the Web a key part of the marketing sequence to sell MotorUp’s “no-oil-change” engine treatment. In addition to branding, the objective of the TV spots is to drive consumers to the Web site (www.motorup.com) for more information – or “cross marketing” – according to Allen Uhler, international marketing director for the firm.

The Web site, which stresses what MotorUp can do for the consumer’s car, will refer the user to an appropriate sales channel.

“We’re not selling products over the Internet at this stage of the game,” says Uhler. “The Web site creates a second tier of awareness.”

Long active overseas, MotorUp often gears its infomercials to local racing sponsorships – for example, Formula Nippon in Japan and Formula 3 in Finland. The creative stresses the vehicles as much as the benefits of the product.

The results? “Cross marketing DRTV has thousands of people calling for our product,” says Uhler.

Since this is such a new discipline, there are only a few rules. But they do exist.

“The biggest mistake is to put the URL at the bottom of the screen and hope someone does something,” says Terry Finn, president of the Los Angeles based DRTV company, In-Finn-ity Direct. “If you want them to log on, make the URL big and bold, and talk about it.”

Finn, who is just producing his first DRTV spot to drive viewers to a Web site only, suggested that the same techniques used to get people to phone should also get people to log on.

McCann Relationship Marketing’s executive vice president and executive media director, Howard Lelchuk, adds that there is a strategic difference between telling a customer to call and telling a customer to log on.

“When you drive a consumer to a URL, you’re really saying, `This Web site has tons of helpful information that can help you when you get there,'” says Lelchuk. “When you drive a consumer to a toll-free number, you’re really saying, `Have your credit card ready so that when the operator comes on you can place an order.'”