Case Study

Client:

Harmons

Capability:

Branding, Advertising, Integration

Campaign:

Ongoing

Challenge:

There’s something particularly appealing to rooting for the underdog. The underdog wants it more. The underdog doesn’t talk smack and they don’t snidely call out “Everybody in!” when we were up to bat that one time in little league. Underdogs are the reason for the phrase, “The bigger they are, the harder they fall”, and why no one cheers for Goliath — except his mom.

Enter Harmons Grocery Store: the underdog. When the account was awarded to Crowell over 10 years ago, focus groups couldn’t recall any Harmons ads — even though Harmons’ media buy was the largest it had ever been. It seemed that competing with nationally known Fortune 500 grocery chains — the Wal-Marts, the Albertsons, the Smiths — was not an easy task. And for the presumptive coup de grace, Harmons was also simultaneously competing for a share of the floral market with Harmons Floral. Such is the life of an underdog and its cheerleader (H-A-R-M-O-N-S!).

Solution/Execution:

For all the talk of underdogitude (trademarked in our minds) Harmons is no weakling. Comprehensive talks with Bob and Randy Harmon revealed a brand that was strong where it counts. Besides being locally owned and operated, Harmons also led the pack in quality and service. A good thing too, because a brand that can’t back up its promises will only dig its own hole.

Then, in a revelatory departure from the normally stale, lifeless, price-based advertising strategies used by most grocery stores, we decided to sell Harmons’ on the experience it offered, not just how much they charge for pot roast ($3.99/lb, who’s hungry?). What better way to spread the good news than straight from the horse’s mouth. The fact that Bob and Randy Harmon are human doesn’t seem to make much difference; they make for some wonderfully endearing spokespeople, and remain so to this day.

Playing backup to the lead guitars of Bob and Randy is Harmons community involvement, showing that just because other stores are located in Utah, Harmons is the only one from Utah. As for Harmons Floral, a select blend of online media was all it took to increase awareness and traffic to http://www.harmonsfloral.com. Perhaps our online staff is getting too efficient for their own good. Nah.

Results:

Nowadays Harmons is shining too bright to ever be caught in the shadow of the bullying big boy stores, whose budgets are continually two to three times larger. Meanwhile, Harmons media budgets have consistently decreased or remained flat, and it still stands as the only grocery store chain (other than the ubiquitous Wal-Mart) to gain market share in Utah over the past three years. Harmons Floral, on the other hand, did even better, increasing its sales over 100% from the previous year. We hate to brag, but no we don’t.