Midas Inc., looking to regain its golden marketing touch, is taking its image in for major repairs and bringing back a familiar tagline that it walked away from years ago.
In its first major advertising campaign since hiring DDB Chicago last year, the auto repair chain seeks to rebuild trust with consumers–a somewhat risky strategy in an industry that more often gets singled out for its lack of trust.
But in humorous new ads, Itasca-based Midas goes all out in trying to rebuild a bond with consumers. One ad shows skeptical customers asking a Midas repairman questions while he’s hooked up to a polygraph machine.
In spots promoting brake service that will roll out next week on network and cable TV, a woman reluctantly begins to hand over her keys as she asks the Midas man a series of questions.
“Will my car be ready by this afternoon like you promised?” the woman asks. “Yes,” says the Midas man. The customer then looks over at the polygraph technician, who gives her an approving nod. She then asks, “Will you use a bunch of lingo I won’t understand?” He then answers, “No.”
The spots end with a humorous twist. Before she hands over the keys, she asks, “Do you like Broadway show tunes?” Nervously, the burly Midas man answers “No,” and the polygraph machine goes off the charts.
Each spot ends with the polygraph technician singing the familiar “Trust the Midas Touch,” last used in Midas’ advertising more than a decade ago.
The campaign, which also includes input from Ogilvy & Mather Toronto, is the first major image change under new President and Chief Executive Alan D. Feldman, whose stint as head of McDonald’s USA made him an appropriate choice to deal with a challenging franchisee group.
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“As Midas continues to evolve from a repair specialist into a full-service provider, this campaign focuses on the importance of building trust and reinforces Midas as the trusted source for reliable and responsive automotive services,” Feldman said.
Midas is the latest marketer to bring back a familiar tagline, a function, no doubt, of the problems of media fragmentation.
“It’s something we kind of brought to them,” said Don Pogany, DDB’s senior vice president/group creative director, who is using his humor experience for longtime client Anheuser-Busch on clients like OfficeMax and, now, Midas. “The direction was to build trust in the category. It’s not only the price of entry, but something you have to deliver on.”
Happily, the ads are a far cry from the creative work Midas received from its former agency, Cliff Freeman and Partners. That campaign, featuring an older woman who flashes a Midas technician and says, “So what can you do with these?” was yanked after it offended a number of viewers.
Soon after, Midas yanked Cliff Freeman from its roster.
Tatham shake-up expected: Euro RSCG management in New York is expected to wield the ax in Chicago on Thursday following a series of account losses at Euro RSCG Tatham here. Nobody at Tatham would comment late Wednesday, but it appears that Denis Glennon, the president of the agency, who has been on the job only 18 months, is on the hot seat along with other top executives. Glennon replaced Gary Epstein, who is overseeing several of Euro RSCG Tatham Partners’ offices as CEO.
Tatham has lost several key clients recently. That includes most of its Alberto-Culver advertising business, worth more than $30 million, as well as its Hillshire Farms business, with annual billings of roughly $15 million. It’s also expected to lose its $40 million Red Lobster account.
The agency this year lost its top creative director, Jim Schmidt, who has deep ties to Walgreen Co., making that business vulnerable as well.
On the move: Former Leo Burnett creative director Joe Gallo joined Draft Chicago as senior vice president, group creative director, reporting to Kathy Bucaro-Zobens, executive vice president and executive creative director for the Chicago office.