Orkin
B2C, B2B & B2E l Modernizing Customer Experience and a Mature Brand From the Inside Out, Sales Increase ⇧ +12% YOY
Background
Orkin (including its ‘Orkin Man’ brand icon) was one of the most recognized names in pest control. But it was being outspent by main rival Terminix in media 2:1, reducing Orkin’s SOV and awareness. It was losing ground to a few different competitors on key brand and related attributes including trust, value and customer satisfaction. And it was losing customers — 18% commercial and 30% residential annually, far higher than average. Despite an eight-figure sales and marketing budget, efforts to reverse the trends hadn’t been effective. The situation prompted management to hire a new marketing chief to turn the situation around.
My Role
Player Coach I was strategic lead responsible for supervising and coaching direct reports and junior colleagues, supporting and leading a large cross-functional team, guiding and developing research, analysis, insight and campaign strategy, and nurturing and supervising campaign development, production, implementation, and measurement, reporting and optimization across multiple channels.
Research, Analysis & Insight
To better understand Orkins’ challenges, we analyzed the category, competitors, customers and the Company, including its products, services, performance, key personnel and brands.
Then we dug further, taking a classic Segmentation / Targeting / Positioning (STP) approach: Segmentation to divide the market into distinct customer groups based on demographics, psychographics and behaviors, allowing for a more accurate and thorough understanding of customer needs, perceptions and motivations; Targeting to select the most attractive segment(s) on which to focus; and Positioning to confirm the ideal product classification and craft a value proposition to maximize relevance, distinction and attraction.
Segmentation Our segmentation study, performed by Yankelovich, revealed five consumer segments. Our analysis showed three had potential to deliver a strong ROI, and two likely would not. The three attractive segments included:
Orkin R&D, Entomology & Learning & Development
“Big Branders” Primarily men and women 35-49 with kids, with average HHI of $75k+ / year, they perceived large well-known companies (“big brands”) as more effective because to them, “big brands”:
Use the most advanced technology
Employ the most professional / knowledgeable technicians
Are more accountable because “big brands” (e.g., large publicly-traded companies with high profiles) have valuable reputations to maintain and protect (vs. “local companies”, i.e. “mom and pops”, which to this segment, do not)
“Safety Firsts” Demographically similar to Big Branders, they prefer working with pest control providers who:
Use treatment methods and materials (“pesticides” i.e., fluids, gels, etc.) safe for children and pets, and safe for the environment
Offer a competitively low price and a comprehensive guarantee
“Relationship Seekers” Primarily men and women with similar education and HHI to the other segments, but at 55+ were older, including empty-nesters. They expressed wanting a pest control company which:
Has a “strong reputation” within their community
Are “very responsive to customer requests”
Offer a lower price
Employ technicians who are warm, friendly and open and interested in “getting to know customers and their homes”, with whom customers could develop a “relationship”. To “relationship seekers” a relationship with the technician means “greater rapport, trust and effectiveness”.
B2B - We also analyzed commercial customers (more below). Some perceived pest control as a commodity, with little difference between Orkin and lower-cost competitors. We integrated their concerns into the development of our brand strategy.
Targeting
B2C - We focused our efforts on Big Branders, Safety Firsts and Relationship Seekers, which shared similar “buyer journeys” from awareness through consideration, shopping and purchase, using similar channels for research, comparison, shopping, etc. These segments were also a good fit with Orkin’s product and price etc.
B2B - One of Orkins’ main advantages was its national footprint, with over 400 branches in 49 states. With this strength in mind we prioritized large regional and national multi-city and multi-state businesses, especially those inspected by regulatory agencies for cleanliness, e.g., healthcare, food service, food manufacturing and processing etc., where the stakes are high and Orkin could effectively deliver.
Orkin Field Team
B2E - Local Orkin office personnel, technicians, customer service reps and others involved in helping customers were crucial to delivering on Orkin’s brand promise. Through our brand work we saw an opportunity to provide greater clarity, alignment with the company’s mission and values, pride, and a stronger sense of purpose. So we included them as a vital audience.
Insight While the consumer segmentation study was valuable and useful, it didn’t provide enough insight into customer attitudes and behavior for a brand strategy. I suggested and we conducted qualitative research in three key Orkin DMAs to better understand them.
Our research revealed that, while each segment had positive perceptions of Orkin, Safety Firsts and Relationship Seekers perceived that Orkin:
Technicians could be “impersonal” and “uncaring”
Had become “slow”, “rigid” and “more expensive”
Competitors had become “as effective as Orkin”, “cared more”, and “cost less”
These perceptions weren’t surprising: decades of advertising had featured variations of the Orkin Man as a highly effective (albeit impersonal) technician who worked with robotic precision. In fact two different years-long campaigns featured the Orkin Man as cyborgs (half man, half machine).
Despite the negative customer perceptions our internal audit revealed Orkin, a 100+ year old company, had a long history of excellence, including maintaining industry-leading high standards, earning awards for excellence. The company practiced best-in-class technician recruiting and training. Expert technicians used cutting edge tools, materials and technology and practiced some of the most rigorous protocols (e.g., safe methods of application) in the business.
Positioning To address negative perceptions, and leverage Orkin’s unique strengths we:
Repositioned the "Orkin Man" as a True Professional — not just a technician but a knowledgeable, conscientious, highly trained expert, backed by all the resources and strengths of a successful national company — who takes pride in protecting homes and businesses, one visit at a time
Introduced the new internal brand promise Pest Control Done Right — straightforward, trustworthy, and grounded in operational truth
Elevated messaging across B2C and B2B to emphasize expertise, conscientiousness, and as a result, peace of mind
Development, Production & Implementation
Based on our strategy, I lead the development, production and implementation of a new campaign to strengthen key brand equities, increase customer retention, generate more leads (call, clicks, appointments and visits) and increase employee pride.
Orkin Field Technician
I briefed creative teams who developed a variety of concepts for an integrated campaign. We copy-tested four of the strongest to determine a high performer based on measures including message clarity, emotional impact, persuasion, recall and brand perception.
The strongest was a light-hearted campaign featuring an expert but more ‘human’ (conscientious and caring) Orkin Man, showing him in relevant situations including:
Living in and working with home and business owners in his community, sharing his expertise about pests and pest control
Being trained in an Orkin classroom — featuring an instructor and several male and female technicians — discussing their knowledge and insight on pests and pest control
Working conscientiously with a customer in her home, in and around her kids and their pets, demonstrating his conscientiousness for safety
B2C & B2B: Creative and Channel Execution We built and launched a fully integrated campaign with a variety of elements and touchpoints, including:
Video and Audio which showcased a new "True Professional" Orkin Man (and Pest Control Done Right), with warmth, humanity, and subtle humor
Website redesign to better communicate Orkin’s unique strengths, an improved look, feel and customer experience, enabling lead generation and capture with more ease / less friction
Direct mail and CRM focused on lapsed and at-risk customers
B2E Recognizing that employee perceptions and behavior were critical to actually delivering on a new brand promise, we created internal communications elements including:
New employee onboarding and training materials - focused on an improved “True Professional” identity, role and responsibility, performance incentives and measures
New company-wide content - distributed via intranet and other owned media — including videos, posters, articles and email campaigns — to describe, educate and promote new, more conscientious and personable “True Professional” employees
New 800# CSR scripts and corporate voicemails (using the new Orkin Man’s voice) to align all messaging
New Roadshow Events (Regional and Field marketing) and recognition programs to build internal understanding, pride and consistency across Orkins’ 400+ local offices
But our internal research also showed Orkin has some of the highest standards in the industry, including some of the best recruiting, technician training and pest control materials, tools and technology.
Measurement, Reporting and Optimization
Over a three year period Management attributed our work with generating strong brand and business results and ROI, including:
Brand Equity - +15% increase in key brand equity measures (including trust, conscientiousness, effectiveness, value, etc.)
Reduced Churn - -50% reduction in commercial customer attrition, and -35% reduction in residential customer churn
Lead Generation - +20% YOY increase in lead generation, including #800 and local branch calls, and inquiries for online and in-person responses, including call-backs and/or in-person house-calls / visits
Subscriptions - +12% YOY average increase in annual residential and commercial contracts
Morale - Elevated employee morale and alignment, including higher employee satisfaction scores and recruiter effectiveness
By improving operational strengths and perceptions among all three audiences — through a more human, confident, and compelling story — we helped effectively reposition Orkin, and deliver results across the brand and business.
Agency VML (formerly Wunderman-Thompson)