August 22, 2007By Steve Miller
DETROIT -- Can you say “multifunctional peripherals” in ad copy and make it work? Doubt it.
Sharp’s campaign for its new MX series of copiers skirts the office-geek speak with a simple tagline, “Work without limits,” in order to let the buyer know that, well, this thing can surf the Web and deliver copies of that important report from any network to which it is connected.
The campaign, via DentsuNext, New York, formerly Colby & Partners, breaks Friday with national cable broadcast including CNN, CNBC, the History Channel and Fox Sports. Print will appear in business weeklies including BusinessWeek and Forbes, and a number of vertical pubs in government, law and education.
Online buys will run on the sites of most of those in print.
“We call it a multifunction portal, but we can’t really say that in a 30-second broadcast spot,’ said Mike Marusic, vp-marketing for Sharp’s imaging and information group. “It’s hard to bring this technology across.”
But the crux of the technology is that an office dweller can walk up to a Sharp MX, dial up a report, and print it while checking on a good place to take a client, all on the copier’s LCD touch screen.
So the voice in the spot says, “All of your network’s systems can be accessed right from the MFP customizable panel.”
Sharp’s 450 dealers will also receive a tutorial in how to demonstrate what the broadcast ad portrays, including a harried-looking office hand checking his watch and walking up to the printer. He prints out a report, then, copy in hand, presses a button that directs him to a local steakhouse.
“Each dealer will get a demo kit that will allow them to replicate the ad in the showroom,” Marusic said. “Rather than explain, they can demo it.”
Sharp’s office products division spent $7 million on ads last year and $4 million through July, per Nielsen Monitor-Plus.