Burt’s Reliable

We were approached by the ownership of Burt’s Reliable, an well-established Fuel and HVAC Services company, after a prior all-in green re-brand failed. That misstep resulted in public confusion as to what the company offered and led to speculation that there was an ownership and product change, all of which led to considerable attrition within its confused customer base. Ownership asked us to find a way to stop the bleeding, regain the public trust and, eventually, find a more effective way to integrate environmentally friendly offerings into its business model.

Although this required a multi-phase approach over time, the first order of business was to right the ship. As always, Discovery was key. We researched company's surprisingly deep history and went back to its roots. We understood the nature of the company in relative to customer perception as 'need driven', rather than elective or aspirational, and that buying decisions in the HVAC realm are often made under customer duress – for example as a result of a no heat situation in the winter. As a result, trust and developing a persistent positive presence in the minds of potential customers became a strategic driver. and focused on restoring clarity of message and also on dependability in order to undo the damage.

As there was considerable brand equity already in-place prior to the failed rebrand, we went back to the company’s origins, which actually predated then-current ownership, and unearthed their original identity, which was similar to their pre-green identity. As we needed to ‘re-foundation’ the brand and reinforce its traditional identity and recognition, we used the early Logo/Identity as a reference to basically 'restore and reinforce' the familiar, cleaning up elements that had arbitrarily changed over time, and with an eye toward projecting familiarity, strength and stability.

To further strengthen the brand presence and familiarity of this need-based business, we developed a new tag line: "We'll Take Care Of It" as a service mark to consistently underscore the idea of dependability, service and warmth.

Concurrent with this, we moved away from 'offer only' advertising, instead looking to humanize the brand and educate more than 'sell'. We also recognized the need to create a persistent positive presence across various media platforms (Brandphilic™ approach) in the hopes of re-establishing trust and regaining lost market-share. This was especially effective as a number of long-term industry competitors were being acquired by larger national entities and consequently being replaced by unfamiliar faces.

To take further advantage of this, we created a series of humorous, irreverent and engaging ads showcasing the company's owner, John Romanelli, who had a terrific personality and wonderful public presence, making him the face of the company.  These efforts effectively repaired the damage to the brand, increased market share, and created a notable buzz in the region.

Third Phase: now re-established, we re-introduced the bio-fuels initiative that had been the core of the damaging prior re-brand.  In this case, rather than tout the esoteric loveliness and green-ness of biofuel, we instead discovered that there were subsidies for homeowners to use it amounting to 20 cents off per gallon, making it a practical choice, which strongly resonated.  We then took the time to educate the customers about the ease of transition to biofuel (B20) blends, while keeping the tone light and humorous - even going so far as to poke fun at the 'sacredness' of the 'tree hugger' environmentalist types.

Burt's regained - and over time measurably increased - its lost market share and established itself as the dominant provider of both traditional and green-based HVAC and Fuel solutions in the market.  As a result, I was brought in to further advise on strategic new growth initiatives as the company looked to expand its territory via acquisition and consulted on a number of related opportunities while providing strategic communications as-needed to realize these efforts.  Sadly, due to the sudden and unexpected death of the company's owner (featured in the ad samples), I resigned the account as the new ownership wanted to focus on a traditional lead-gen price-first strategy.