the product

Local Atlanta lawn, tree and shrub care.

the challenge

The lawn care category in Atlanta is very competitive, with dozens of national and local companies vying for attention and business. The category is considered more of a commodity in which consumers choose their service based on price and brand awareness and tend to switch companies when they don’t get the service they want. How does a local company like Arbor-Nomics, stand out among big-spending, well-known national companies like Lawn Doctor and TruGreen?

the process

At Superus, we always start with determining the best positioning and strategy for our clients. And sometimes that means we have to dig and then dig a little more. With Arbor-Nomics we started with quantitative research to develop the right questionnaire for a 100-customer research study. From there, we developed positioning that resonated with “switchers” and a creative execution that stood out among the standard “families on lawns” stock photography used by competitors.

the solution

A complete re-brand leveraging our strength: our technicians. Arbor-Nomics’ technicians are the most trained and knowledgeable in the category, with low turnover that enables them to keep the same routes and get to know their customers and their properties. To make it all personal and memorable, we created the company mascot of the garden gnome, the legendary emblem of good gardens, as the overseer of homeowners’ properties cared for by Arbor-Nomics’ technicians.

the result

Now known as “the gnome company,” Arbor-Nomics experiences 5-12% customer growth each year. The gnome brands the company on all of their materials, including its trucks and yard signs, and presents a friendly, fun character that makes Arbor-Nomics Turf stand out among the crowd.