Due to an injured back, I have had the unexpected chance to become a TV media critic as I spent all of the past weekend lying in front of a lit screen. Not only did I get the chance to view sports and PBS specials on the National Parks system, I also had the ability to both view and critique the rollout of Belron’s broadcast repair ads that hit the cable networks this month.
Ironically I saw my first Safelite commercial just after a CNN story on functional illiteracy that stated one out of seven Americans can’t adequately read. That bit of information made my curiosity pique even more because far too many folks in this country are barely aware of windshield repair and I was very interested in how Belron would shape their message to them.
I wasn’t disappointed, because it seemed to me that, like most ads, Safelite seemed to pander to the lowest common denominator; in other words, the KISS theory of keeping it simple to the viewers.
Before I state my personal opinion on the ads, I would like to note that these ads benefit the independents that offer repair services. Any sort of advertising makes the public aware that a small windshield crack can be safely repaired at a cost lower than replacement. I would certainly hope that many shops take the opportunity to piggyback their own promotions atop these commercials to take advantage of Mother Belron’s attempt to raise their own name recognition. You can certainly benefit from their efforts.
I came away with mixed feelings after viewing the new commercials. I suppose what annoyed me the most were statements or images of a technical nature that an insider would know but not the general public. For one, the size of the break seemed to change from arrival, to “What if” and then during repair. Then one would probably realize that there was no actual combo but a digitally introduced one. Whatever happened to the driver’s wiper area being off-limits to repair? If this “break” wasn’t in it, it was darn close. An install van was used as a prop as opposed to the repair trucks or cars. I confess all of the above items are petty.
I will admit to nearly gagging with apoplexy when the issue of payment and the cost of repair over replacement came up in the ad. There is a voiceover as the tech shrugs off the customer’s attempt to pay him. The voice intones many insurers will pay the cost of a repair and that a repair will save him up to four times the cost of a new windshield. In my area, Safelite’s quoted cash prices for windshields are nowhere near the four times the cost of the repair the insurance company will be billed by Belron. I must have missed the part of the ad where Safelite declares what it does charge for a repair.
In short, as in the radio ads, it tries to entice the target audience to call to receive a “free” service although someone does ultimately pay for that high-priced repair. More importantly, it opens the door for contact with an interested party that may have a need that Belron can fill or motivate the caller to act upon.
The ad still is good marketing. It may contain half-truths and overstatements but most commercials of any kind do. It does the job of raising awareness to the general public and while independents will benefit as tag-a-longs, brand recognition is slowly being built. Belron is not afraid to spend money and time will tell if America will buy the effort that Safelite is making to become the de facto leader in auto glass in the States.
One brief addendum. Last week the topic of this column was the poor quality of auto glass that we the retailers and techs have to deal with on an every day basis. This past Friday, my last job was to install a front door glass on a 04 Nissan X-Terra. My first call to a distributor revealed that they only carried a brand in which I have little or no confidence. I called my alternate distributor and ordered what I thought would be their in-house brand of glass and had it delivered. When I drove back to my shop to pick up the door glass I found out that also was the same DOT I had tried to avoid. It was too late in the day to even try to find another source so I took it to the jobsite. As soon as I dropped the glass inside the door and lined up the threaded tabs I was in trouble since I could not get both tabs to line up exactly with the bolt holes on the regulator. Once I resolved that problem, I became even more angry and disgusted with the fact that the inside tab would not accept the factory 10-mm bolt. I actually had to re-thread the tab to get the bolt to go in it. In short, I spent about 45 extra minutes trying to resolve basic manufacturing shortcomings and assuming potential warranty problems that I never should have had. Let’s say that incident hardened my opinion on this particular brand.
