Why Nobody Beats Pieratt's

A savvy campaign tells potential customers what they really want to know

According to the King Kong School of Marketing, big stores kill little ones. But Tom Ashford at Lexington's Pieratt's TV and Electronics, didn't go to Kong. He takes his tactics from Luke Skywalker. He finds a weak spot, drops a small bomb in exactly the right place, and lets The Force take it from there.

Pieratt's competitors are Best Buy, Sears and Circuit City. The weak spot Tom found is the FSI (free standing insert) that they all run in Sunday papers.

Tom and his team simply take the big stores' best specials, lop a chunk off their prices, and run side-by-side price comparisons on TV for the rest of the week. It's a great trick, but it takes skill, speed and savvy. Here's how they do it.

Sunday: Ashford reads Dilbert, checks his stocks and cooly eyes the FSIs.

Monday: He compares prices, pulls the items' stock numbers and selects still photos. The agency (Jordan Chiles) writes a script, checks it with Tom and faxes it to EarWorks Audio in Virginia Beach. EarWorks records the VO (voice over)and FedExes it back.

Tuesday: The agency takes the track and art to WLEX, where David Lloyd and Trish Landau scan, edit, assemble and make dubs.

Wednesday: The spot goes on the air.

The process is sleek and simple. There are no story boards, no shooting sessions and best of all, no meetings. And it all seems to run like a digital clock.

The technique was developed by Larry Chiles and Jordan Chiles' creative director, Mark Comfort. (Unfortunately for the team, Comfort recently departed the agency for KET and a new adventure in the public sector.) But the mechanism will undoubtedly stay intact.

The campaign has been very effective. Pieratt's sales have edged up consistently since its inception. Sales are now some 26 percent better than they were before February '98, when it first hit the air.

Copy is terse and cherce

The VO copy is almost perfect. There is no nonsense. No claims about being friendly, no fatuous flatulence about outstanding service, no empty self-praise.

As the spots open, the announcer says:

"Shopping for the lowest price on home electronics and appliances? Last Sunday Circuit City advertised a Sony 27" TV with picture in picture for $500. Pieratt's price is just $479."

Then, the singers button it up with: Nobody beats Pieratt's!

The reason the copy is almost perfect is that it takes a wee bit of license. On screen, they show the competitor's price as $499.99, but in audio, they call it $500. It's only a penny, but it's the kind of puffery that puts a slight blemish on Pieratt's credibility. I think they'd be better off to give the penny rather than take it. But that's about the only flaw in the ointment.

And that's how little, local Pieratt's has found a way to fight back against the national behemoths. It works because it's timely, sharp, and its content is 99 percent pure consumer service.

This excellent campaign proves the golden rule of good advertising once again: Don't tell people what makes the advertiser feel good. Tell them what they really want to know.

Dennis Altman is an advertising consultant and a UK Professor of Advertising and Public Relations.

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