In most business to business circles, the OEM - the Original Equipment Manufacturer - is the big dog. OEM's bask in all the communications and marketing limelight. Being a component brand supplier to the OEM often means taking a back seat. Component brands have to fight to gain awareness and are at the mercy of the OEM's marketing and sales strategies. It's often only the OEM's way or you're banished to the highway. They have all the brand clout.
Every conceivable category and industry has their own set of OEM giants. The majority of the consumer public flying today knows whether they are on Boeing or Airbus airplanes; but how many are aware that Pratt & Whitney provides the jet engines powering the planes or that Rockwell Collins manufactures the avionics in the flight deck? You might say that they are brand ingredients to Boeing and Airbus. Is there a reason for consumers to care?
It is interesting to see Briggs & Stratton's new "Engines Matter" campaign that is running in USA Today and in the digital ad world. Briggs & Stratton is a venerable engine manufacturer that celebrated its 100th anniversary in 2008. Their engines are found in every piece of power equipment from lawnmowers to generators and snow blowers to pressure washers. They provide the power to get things done around the house and the job site.
The selling idea behind the campaign is that nine out of ten lawnmower brands use Briggs & Stratton engines. Did you ever give any thought to the engine when you were buying a lawnmower? Probably not. You just want the damn thing to start on the first couple of pulls before your back gives out. Briggs & Stratton wants you to start caring.
Brand ingredient programs promoting "components" functioning as an integral part of an OEM brand are nothing new. Think Nutrasweet, Teflon and Dolby to name a few that have been wildly successful.
None has been more successful than "Intel Inside." Who would have thought in their wildest imagination that you could get the public to care about microprocessors? The campaign rendered the brand attributes of Intel - technology leadership, quality and reliability - in a friendly way, "the brains inside the PC." Their three-second animated jingle is indelibly etched in the consumer's consciousness.
What made the "Intel Inside" program work was advertising and communications teaming with the PC manufacturers rather than going it alone. OEM's became an ally rather than an adversary. Getting consumers to care about microprocessors wasn't easy. Intel embraced what the PC OEM's could do for them by offering a lucrative Intel Inside co-op marketing program. Intel offered a percentage of the microprocessor purchase price and put it into a pool for advertising funds. The one caveat to tap into the funds - computer makers had to include the Intel logo in their ads. Their advertising programs went farther from a budget standpoint, while Intel rode the latest technology halo.
With the wild success of "Intel Inside" you'd think that there would be more programs like it. Yes, BASF's "We Don't Make the Products, We Make the Products Better" could be classified as a brand ingredient program, but it really is a corporate awareness effort. Will people care about Briggs & Stratton enough to make a difference? Check out www.enginesmatter.com and read their starting promise. They guarantee that any of their engines will start within the first two pulls for two years. If not, they'll pay for the maintenance. For anyone who has struggled to start their mowers and snow blowers, this is a powerful incentive to look for the Briggs & Stratton engine. I'm all in on that one!!
I love Briggs & Stratton, having put their little engines through their paces on chain saws,snow blowers,generators, etc. They're easy to start and hard to kiil.
I think the general public would be surprised to know how well B&S is known among tradesmen and hard core DIYer's like me. I think this campaign will only reinforce that appeal.
I didn't know Briggs & Stratton let any other engines into the market (at least on mowers)! Next time you find yourself at an Outdoor power equipment supplier, look and see how many of the different brands feature B&S engines. It's amazing!! Their engines are definitely well respected, reliable, and have a lot of brand equity already. I know when I bought my new mower a couple years ago, I made sure it had B&S engine.
Almost the reverse of the brand inside is what's happening in the organic food product category. It's more about what's not inside their products that's behind the explosive growth of organics. But similar to the BTB industry, the Whole Foods and Trader Joe's retailers - essentially the OEMs of the category - are the one's driving this bus.
Loved this topic. As a b2b marketer, you have to admire an ingredient brand that achieves any kind of status.
I'm always looking for contrary perspectives that'll keep me on my toes and help craft a POV.
Here's an alterntative view on ingredient brands;
Noted marketing expert David Aaker says that in many instances, "Ingredient branding hurts the top-end players just as often as it helps the bottom-end players." Another danger of ingredient branding is that it can overshadow the host brand. An IBM spokesman explained the company's decision not to place the Intel Inside logo on some of its products, "There's one brand, and that's IBM."
Great fufillment by B&S - hard to argue with that.