Sub-Zero, Wolf, and Cove : A Luxury Appliance Brand Creates the First of Its Kind National Co-op Mar
Challenge
Sub-Zero, Wolf, and Cove, the industry leader in premium refrigeration, cooking, and dishwashing, hand-selected and built the most innovative, highly skilled and trained field partner network across North America. This premier network services 80 percent of the company’s service requests, and its factory-certified installation companies are on target to fulfill nearly all appliance installation requests. With such a robust field partner network, Sub-Zero Group wanted to develop a unified customer service experience to help its factory-certified partners align with the company brand reputation and further support the skilled expertise required when servicing luxury appliances.
Solution
The Big Idea: Alignment through a National Co-op Marketing Plan As the only marketing and public relations agency in the United States to work with all channels of the luxury appliance industry including appliance manufacturer, distributor, dealer, servicer, installer, parts and consumables and the professional industry association, Philosophy proposed and created a national co-op marketing program for the entire premier factory-certified network. With two decades of industry expertise understanding the appliance servicer and installation audience, Philosophy helped Sub-Zero Group develop the first national co-op marketing program in the company’s history. The program consisted of six phases that focused on brand image, customer acquisition, reputation management, and expansion. The program’s foundation was rooted in increasing overall company value and market share, securing a customer growth plan, and ensuring financial stability. More Big Ideas: Turning Service into a Competitive Advantage In addition to the national co-op marketing program, Philosophy has worked with the Sub-Zero Group Customer Service department to create many programs to enhance the customer experience. Some of the notable and company-first programs include a channel partner newsletter called The DISH; a factory-certified installation eblast called the Advantage; and a loyalty program called Loyalty Pays, which has contributed more than $1M to the company’s bottom line. Philosophy also helped create the first-ever Summit to educate and inspire factory-certified servicers and installation partners to create a customer centric experience. From branding to agenda creation support, giveaways, presentation materials and as a featured digital expert speaker, Philosophy worked closely with the company and its field partners to create a valuable and successful Summit. Philosophy also developed a repeatable recruitment program focused on attracting potential jobseekers to the appliance industry by way of market research, collateral development, and a game-changing photo shoot concept. Also noteworthy, Philosophy conducted mystery shopping for 11 of the company’s 17 distributors, competitor call center market research, and vehicle graphic focus group research. We’ve also been a featured marketing speaker for Sub-Zero Group’s annual distributor meeting, participated in website messaging and company positioning, and created factory-certified installation and instructional videos on behalf of the company.
Results
The Metrics: Since 2003, Philosophy has been working with Sub-Zero Group’s luxury brands and partners, and it is safe to say that the industry has been radically changed financially, operationally, and culturally from Philosophy’s innovative approach to luxury service. Today, Sub-Zero Group believes that the customer experience is part of its competitive advantage, and Philosophy believes we have played an instrumental role in changing the conversation about how consumers view luxury appliance service and how it is important to harness the power of partner relationships because they are incredibly critical to the company’s success. Below are a few metrics that Philosophy has helped support. Supported consumer feedback scores 85% or better Helped increase product registrations by 30% and reduced claims Dedicated communication to more than 15,000 channel partners Communication programs targeted to factory-certified servicers who handle 80% of all Sub-Zero, Wolf, Cove, and ASKO maintenance business More than 66% of premier partners adopting truck-wrap and uniform standards Developed the company’s first-ever loyalty program that resulted in $1M in revenue
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