ORKIN BOOSTS SALES WITH “FIGHT THE BITE” CAUSE MARKETING PROGRAM

Client:

Assignment:

Orkin, LLC has moved from an "exterminating company" to a public health advocate by initiating and maintaining strategic partnerships with the CDC and other health organizations. The company also develops educational, public health-focused initiatives and collaborative materials to help homeowners protect themselves against pests and related diseases. They needed fresh thinking on the health messages to further engage and motivate Orkin's employees and customers.

Strategy/Implementation:

Our team analyzed Orkin's 2007 Media Consumption Study to understand new developments within Orkin's target of affluent homeowners. We learned these customers are concerned about global health issues. We next reviewed research from the CDC and the World Health Organization regarding the severity of mosquito-borne disease in the U.S. and worldwide. Because Orkin has a mosquito treatment service, we saw a great opportunity to tie a sales campaign to a global health crisis by partnering with "Nothing But Nets," an organization that delivers mosquito nets to malaria-ravaged areas in Africa. We called our campaign "Fight the Bite" and advertised that $10 from every seasonal mosquito service sold by Orkin would go to the cause.

"Fight the Bite" has many extensions, including: employee communications developed to educate and mobilize Orkin's 8,000 employees as viral ambassadors; media relations to direct consumers to nets.orkin.com to make online donations; and community relations including Orkin executives participating in World Malaria Day. Jackson Spalding developed all of the promotional materials.

Results:

The program attracted more than 40 million media impressions and two 2008 Georgia PRSA Phoenix awards. Orkin raised $131,000 for "Nothing but Nets" (allowing 13,100 nets to be delivered) and increased company sales by 34 percent over 2007.