In his 18 years in business, Jeff Bacon has tried different marketing approaches for gaining new customers. His store’s affiliation with NAPA Auto Parts has provided him with a variety of projects, but the latest one really connected with the community at large — providing the Pinewood Derby kits for local Boy Scout troops.
Located in Hampden, Maine, Bacon Auto Parts is one of 76 NAPA stores in the state. Eleven of the 76 border New Hampshire, so when officials at NAPA’s Westbrook Distribution Center decided to pursue a community-focused marketing drive last fall, they knew it had to be something with broad appeal.
Sam Surprise, president of Surprise Advertising in Portland, Maine, spearheaded the project.
“I probably interviewed half-a-dozen different non-profit organizations, all of which had a good depth of community history and outreach,” he says, adding that NAPA also did a separate initiative in 2005 with the Make-A-Wish foundation. “But it couldn’t be a Maine-exclusive organization — that’s always the mandate, to serve all the stores. The Boy Scouts were looking for a sponsor for their Pinewood Derby kits and I said perfect, there are Boy Scouts in every community we serve.”
The NAPA stores’ market encompassed three area scouting councils, including Pine Tree and Katahdin in Maine and Daniel Webster in New Hampshire. Surprise reports that the councils did much of the legwork, with NAPA giving some added support with posters in its stores and troop meeting locations, as well as some radio ads.
“We started promoting this in the middle of summer and around Aug. 1, we started running the radio ads,” he says. “The Scouts have a big recruitment push in October, and so it meshed well with their recruitment campaign. We ran it through mid-November.”
The three councils posted a record recruitment number for 2005, and Surprise says they attribute it in part to the extra exposure.
“We were all pleased with that,” he says. “Besides, it was a lot of fun. The stores liked it, because whether you’re a private owner or a corporate-owned store, all managers come from the community. The project directly touched people they knew — the Scout masters, the kids.”
New faces
Bacon, who notes that his son is a former Scout and thus no stranger to the derby kits, liked the project not only because it brought in new customers, but because it was an easy initiative to carry through.
“We just kept the kits behind the counter, they showed their coupons and we handed them the kits,” he says. “There was nothing to it.”
Bacon adds that his store’s Christmas sales were going on as well, so while not everyone who walked in the door for a kit left with extra purchases, sales were up slightly. With the sale prices and variety of merchandise, the store had its best foot forward while the Scout project was going on.
“Many of them were retail customers coming in with their kids, but we had our wholesale guys in, too,” he says, adding that he believes it strengthened the community bond. “It was a project for both sides.”
Surprise notes that the kits, which consist of a block of pine wood and a bag of wheels packaged in a bright blue lunch box “NAPA-tized” with some corporate logo stickers, were put together by the Scouts’ corporate district office, less than two miles away from NAPA’s distribution center. “We then encouraged store managers to put them in NAPA bags and include coupons or other promotional materials they may have for the Scouts to share with their families,” he says.
Surprise says the costs were more than feasible — averaging about $3.26 for each of the 3,500 kits that they gave away. “I think that this is an easy way to reach out to the community,” he says. “We were actually the first solo sponsor the Scouts had for this project. In previous years, sponsors would only do a section of the state, for example. But because we had stores in all areas, it made sense for us to sponsor the entire state.”
Surprise recommends that smaller stores consider teaming with colleagues in the same state association, or linking up with a car dealership or garage to “get more clout” when proposing a similar Scout program sponsorship.
“The Boy Scouts are a good organization, very well planned and organized,” he says, adding that both NAPA and the Scouts are eager to continue the program.
Surprise says he could even see taking it a step further, into other Boy Scout programs and even reaching the Girl Scouts through their Car Care badge program. Not only is it a way to market to parents, but also to kids — some of whom stay in the program until they are teenagers.
“As an ad agency, we traditionally dream stuff up that hasn’t been done before, try to make it work and see how it goes,” he admits, adding that 2006 will give them a chance to refine the program even more. “We’re going to meet with the Boy Scouts’ executive director soon to plan for next year, and I’m also calling our store owners to get feedback.”
Bacon is a satisfied storeowner. He notes his one suggestion might be to turn it into a point-of-purchase display, so that Scouts could still get one free with their coupons and non-Scouts could purchase the NAPA version of the kit for their own use. Proceeds could still benefit the Scouts.
Surprise agrees that the kits have universal appeal, and that the suggestion will be taken under consideration for this year.
“We had enough kits this year that we didn’t want any kid going without,” he says. “There’s no such thing as abuse, because any kid that’s going to carve it up is going to race it. It’s another win-win.”
The Vital Stats
Years in business: 18
Number of employees: 3
Wholesale/retail ratio: 50/50
Snapshot of Bacon Auto Parts: Jeff Bacon is a first-generation owner serving Hampden and the surrounding area.
Affiliation: NAPA
Competition: CARQUEST and some independents
Facility size: 5,000 sq. feet
