• YMCA
• Hayes Brake
• Meals on Wheels
• A. O. Smith Electric Products Company
• Sink Outlet
• Hatz Diesel of America

The Client...

YMCA

The Situation...

• Large metropolitan YMCA has two downtown locations:
  • Newer Executive Center on East Side has many members
  • Older facility on West Side was in dire need of members
• YMCA had spent more than $2 million remodeling older facility on west side with new décor and state-of-the-art equipment
• Downtown work force still avoided joining this facility due to its old "run-down" former image
• YMCA tried to do their own marketing, but couldn't get people to join the older facility

The Change...

YMCA Hired Stephenson & Associates

The Challenge...

• Develop marketing campaign that would get downtown workers to join the newly remodeled older YMCA while creating higher awareness for both downtown facilities.
• Must be a cost-effective marketing program that would direct the message only to the downtown working force and avoid wasting dollars advertising to the entire metropolitan area.

Our Analysis...

• Television and newspaper would waste advertising dollars reaching the entire metropolitan area and not target just the downtown work force.
• Needed to reach downtown workers during business hours when they were in the downtown area.

The Solution...

"DIRECTING TRAFFIC TO THE YMCA's"

Marketing Strategy — Part One...

• Agency proposed using "Guerilla Marketing" that entailed hiring people to hand out brochures during lunch times on busy downtown street corners
• Hand-out brochures used humorous approach to catch attention and get people to open them
• Inside of brochures displayed photographs of the beautifully remodeled older YMCA
• Extremely cost-efficient strategy that reached the target demographics

Hand-out brochure cover caught their attention

First fold teased them to inside spread

Inside spread showed off YMCA

Marketing Strategy — Part Two...

• Reinforced "Guerilla Marketing" with bus posters
• Only bought posters on buses that were in downtown during lunch times
• Only put posters on sides of buses that would be seen by pedestrians
• Another cost-efficient strategy that reached the target demographics

YMCA Bus Poster

Marketing Strategy — Part Three...

• Reinforced "Guerilla Marketing" and bus posters with drive-time radio
• Reached people in their cars on way to and from work
• Used power of radio's "in-car captive audience"
• Enhanced receptivity to lunch time hand-outs and bus posters
• Drive-time radio provided a broader cost-efficient strategy that reached the target demographics

YMCA Radio Commercial

The Results...

• First day we handed out brochures, eight people walked into the remodeled YMCA and became members
• By end of two-month campaign, remodeled YMCA had 156 new members
• Membership kept building weeks after campaign had ended