Strategy
Midas Looks To Touch Consumer Hearts And Minds Through Cause Partnership
Auto service chain sees cause sponsorship as best way to promote new service offerings.
6/16/08: Seeking to promote its expanded service offerings and attract new customers, Midas Int’l Corp. has signed its first national sponsorship: a $350,000-minimum-guarantee tie to Make-A-Wish Foundation of America.
Success may prompt the company to align with other nonprofits, said Rick Dow, the automotive service chain’s senior vice president and chief marketing officer.
“These types of affiliations are important. Sponsorship helps enhance the perception of our brand in a way that transcends media. Our brand is based on care and respect for our customers, and customers value brands that give back to their communities.”
Known primarily for mufflers and exhaust service, Midas is using the Make-A-Wish partnership to tout its $34.95 Midas Touch Maintenance Package, which includes an oil change, tire rotation and 45-point visual check.
Midas says that becoming a full-service auto care provider is key to its growth.
According to the company’s first-quarter ’08 earnings conference call, its U.S. sales of oil changes and tire service in the quarter rose 10 percent and 18 percent, respectively, over the year-earlier period. At the same time, exhaust sales fell 1.4 percent while its brake service business declined by nine percent.
“We’ve moved into tires and maintenance service, so there is a lot of newness about our services and customer experience that we want to communicate,” Dow said. “The sponsorship opens us up to consideration among consumers who may not have thought about Midas in the past.”
Midas is running a May 5-through-June 28 promotion in which it is donating $5 to Make-A-Wish with each purchase of the Midas Touch package. Consumers who purchase the service receive a magnetic star that can be displayed on their vehicle.
The company, which is funding the program out of its franchisee advertising fund, will cap its contribution at $400,000.
Midas is promoting the partnership through a national TV ad buy; the ads feature photos of children and the tagline “Can an oil change help change a life?”
Midas also is touting the promotion on Midas.com, and a dedicated microsite, MidasWish.com, where consumers can view the TV spot and read about Make-A-Wish recipients. The site also includes a viral marketing component that allows visitors to send emails containing details of the promotion.
Midas aligned with Make-A-Wish due to the cause’s well-known brand and its appeal to women, Dow said. “People already know what the Make-A-Wish mission is, so it doesn’t have to be explained, and it has a powerful emotional resonance with people.”
In addition to reaching consumers, Midas also is using the partnership to engage its more than 700 U.S. franchisees and to demonstrate its commitment to new owners, whom it is actively recruiting as part of its plan to transition existing shops to new franchisees.
“We want them to know that Midas is a brand that our franchisees can be proud of,” Dow said. “It was a deliberate effort to use the partnership to build the brand externally and internally.”
The majority of franchisees are participating in the program, Dow said. “When we introduced this partnership in the latter part of ’07, their response was enthusiastic; they said ‘we need to do more.’ ”
Midas franchisees in Denver have augmented corporate’s support with a $78,000 donation to the Make-A-Wish Foundation of Colorado. The franchisees tout the partnership through ad campaigns, direct mail initiatives and in-store displays featuring children that have received a wish.
Other franchisees also are supporting the program locally. In Chicago, for example, owners of roughly 40 service centers earlier this month hosted free cookouts to generate a buzz around the Make-A-Wish promotion.
Midas also supported Make-A-Wish’s June 3-12 Destination Joy presented by Lay’s fundraising campaign. Midas employees participated in campaign kickoff events in Chicago, Dallas, Las Vegas and Nashville, Tenn.
Midas will measure the partnership’s success by tracking incremental sales and first-time customers. It also will conduct consumer surveys measuring awareness and attitude changes toward the brand.
“We expect to see the emotional dimensions of our brand attributes increase as a result of the sponsorship,” Dow said.
The deal was brokered by Gainesville, Va.-based cause agency First Degree, which solicited Midas on behalf of the nonprofit.
Midas Int’l, a unit of publicly traded Midas, Inc., has 1,700 franchised and corporate-owned shops in the U.S. and Canada and another 800 licensed and franchised shops in 17 other countries.
Sources
Midas Int’l Corp., Tel: 630/438-3000