Equal-i-zer Hitch Pokes Holes in Competitor's Product Claims 

 

Background: Equal-i-zer Hitch is the Original Sway Control HItch, designed and built by E.C. Hedgepeth in 1946. Sway, is side to side movement while towing a trailer that can cause life threatening accidents and take a truck and trailer off the road. Equla-i-zer's brand promise is to deliver Superior Sway Control over other towing hitch options.

 

Opportunity: As management returned home from the San Diego RV distributor show they became aware that Blue Ox, a well known towing hitch competitor, claimed to have solved an annoying problem customers ran into when installing a weight distribution towing hitch. Blue Ox's solution was touted as revolutionary, but management observed a few flaws that they wanted RV dealers to consider, before purchasing Blue Ox's new fandangled hitch. One ironic thing is that the Equal-i-zer brand hitch had always had the solution Blue Ox was touting, thus this was our opportunity to pour water on their publicity fire storm.

 

Strategy: Tell RV dealers that Blue Ox's solution was never the original solution and that Equal-i-zer's hitch design has had the solution for over 50 years. We alsow wanted to remind RV dealers of Equal-i-zer's market position as the Original Sway Control HItch. In essence remind them why Equal-i-zer has been and always will be the leader in sway control towing.

 

Creative Execution: The slogan that best summed up our strategy was "Trust the Original". We formatted our email and print messaging in a conversational style. We started off with what They Think (our competitors) of their towing hitch's benefits for end users and than answered their statements with what We think and compared their product claims with facts about the Equal-i-zer HItch. This messaging was repeated with different towing related topics through email and printed postcards.

 

Results: 18% of  RV Dealer campaign recipients opened our emails and contacted our customer service department to discuss some of the messaging of the campaign to confirm its accuracy, thus effecting their attitudes in stocking Blue Ox's new hitch. This also maintained the position of Equal-i-zer brand hitch as the Original Sway Control Hitch (The leader in sway control).