FARMINGTON HILLS -- Sometimes it takes one to know one.
That's behind the success Vanguard Creative Group of Farmington Hills
had with its award-winning campaign for Kar's Nuts of Madison Heights.
Kar's Nuts is a lot like Vanguard. They were both small and local
and weren't household names. The ad campaign Vanguard did for Kar's
Nuts not only elevated Vanguard's stature in the advertising world --
it won the 2005 International Summit Creative Awards -- it helped Kar's
Nuts elevate its recognition with consumers.
The ads that ran for nine weeks last year consisted of four radio
spots. Three included repeating "Kar's Nuts" to common car sounds such
as windshield wipers, turn signals and the rubber grooves in the
highway.
For the fourth spot, Vanguard bought the 3 p.m. time slot --
determined to be a good snack time -- from many local radio stations
and announced Kar's had bought 3 p.m. from Greenwich Mean Time,
complete with a jingle that went along with the Westminster chime.
Kar's Nuts, a packaged snack manufacturer found in gas stations and
convenience stores, had a problem with brand recognition. "What I told
the president of Kar's is that he was the best-loved brand nobody
knows," Williams says. "There wasn't that connection between the
company and the consumer. The campaign was to make that connection."
Williams says he knows the campaign was successful by people's
reactions. "We'd say "Kar's Nuts' and they would say, 'you're
responsible for those ads. We hate you! I can't get it out of my mind
when it rains!' "
Nick Nicolay, the owner of Madison Heights-based Kar's Nuts, says
while advertising is difficult to measure, he thought the campaign was
a success. "It helped do what we wanted to do and that was to make
people more aware of the brand.."
It was successful within the advertising world, as well. Karen
McCulloch, a New York University social cognition research scientist
and a 2005 Summit Creative Award judge, says the campaign was effective
for multiple reasons. "One of which is that the campaign links the
consumer to its product in a very concrete way. Forming such links
should work to automatically evoke ideas or perceptions of the product
when the consumer is in the environment specified in the advertisement
(when the car's wipers are on)."
Williams says the award, the first for Vanguard, could help raise
its stature in the competitive advertising world. "In the end, I want
to make sure what we do is raise the stature of our clients."
Williams was a reluctant entrepreneur. He joined his father at the
then-dubbed Vanguard Marketing Group Inc. in 1986 after years of saying
no to his father's offer to join the business. Father and son worked
together for 10 years until the elder retired and Williams took over
the reins. The company did design work such as brochures, and
advertising specialties, such as putting company names on pens and
other items.
Williams wanted to take the business in a different direction and
started by changing its middle name to "Creative" and cutting back on
the advertising specialties. William says his niche is level two type
clients. "We're not set up today to serve a General Motors. But a Kar's
Nuts ... that's our niche, small to medium."
Christine Snyder is a Metro Detroit freelance writer.
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