the product

Atlanta-based heating and cooling company.

the challenge

In the Atlanta metropolitan area, HVAC businesses are as thick on the ground as pollen in April. From the deep pockets of the top few to literally hundreds of small independents, it’s extremely difficult for a company to differentiate itself. That task is even more challenging simply because of the category in which they compete. The brands and marks that make up the HVAC industry are a sea of ubiquitous names, shapes and colors – and Comfort Zone was no exception. But with limited resources and time to ”fix the tire while driving down the highway,” we had to make do with what we had.

the process

Positioning a brand is never easy. Repositioning one is even harder. But at Superus Marketing, we’ve got it down to a science. First, we insist on a simple but rigorous vetting process that starts with customers and employees. For Comfort Zone, that meant interviewing a cross-section of current and former customers covering the full range of their service offerings. We then conducted similar 1:1 conversations with the owners and customer-facing staff to round out our 360-degree perspective about the company.

the solution

These critical insights led to a positioning platform that Comfort Zone could embrace because it was founded on truths about who they are in their customers’ eyes and how they’re actually delivering. In other words, it was real. The all-new Comfort Zone combines a scrappy “us against the world” attitude with a heroic level of service that is both technically superior and refreshingly human.

With the positioning officially established, the rest was easy. We tapped into our creative resources to reflect what we learned in the way Comfort Zone looked and communicated. Rather than try to compete with the massive ad budgets of Reliable, COOLRAY and others, we sharpened CZ’s focus and invested in more direct tactics with targeted content. We embraced their family-owned/locally-based heritage and narrowed their messaging scope to the northern metropolitan area.

the result

Comfort Zone not only had new branding with a professional look and a consistent voice in the marketplace but also improved their internal processes and hired additional staff. The company has soared, growing 50% from 2015 to 2016 with the same goal for 2017. In a ubiquitous and over-spent category, it’s hard to stand out. But when a brand walks the talk, all that ”ad noise” can be overcome over time, and the true heroes in the category will endure.

2017 – present

Superus recommended a long-term creative strategy to further entrench heroes into Comfort Zone branding. The Comfort Zone Crew consists of three characters (representing the owners, customer service and the technicians) incorporated into all marketing materials to further develop a distinctive identity in a market that continues to be extremely competitive.

Superus develops and executes Comfort Zone’s marketing plan each year which includes: OTT media, digital media, radio, outdoor, PPC, monthly email blasts, a quarterly newsletter and all corresponding creative. They have continued to see revenue growth each year.