By JANE L. LEVERE
October 26, 2007
The Halo UV-ST, a new high-end vacuum cleaner, is the centerpiece of a campaign aimed largely at the sort of people who are never without their trusty bottle of hand sanitizer.
Photo Caption: A billboard in Times Square promotes Halo vacuum cleaners. The company says they use light, not chemicals, to kill germs.
Halo Technologies, a small private manufacturer based in Charlotte, N.C., calls its latest model, the company’s second product, “the world’s only germ-killing vacuum.” Halo says the vacuum uses ultraviolet C light (as opposed to chemicals) to kill germs, and the company is using this feature to try to gain share in a market full of well-established brand names.
Halo’s advertising campaign, which began last week, has a budget for the first year of $20 million, a figure dwarfed by some of its competitors’ spending. According to TNS Media Intelligence, Dyson spent $45 million to advertise in the United States last year, and Hoover $41 million, while Electrolux spent $20 million for its Electrolux and Eureka brands.
But Halo Technologies is betting that its germ-busting claims will appeal to the cleanliness enthusiasts among us. The Halo UV-ST Ultraviolet Vacuum is a 42-inch-tall upright with a 14-inch wide cleaning path and the germicidal light in its base. The manufacturer says the light, which switches on and off, “safely kills germs, dust mites, viruses, bacteria, fleas, lice and mold with clinically proven effectiveness.” The vacuum sells for $499 at retailers like Sears, Best Buy, Amazon.com and Bed Bath & Beyond.
Halo was started by Ken Garcia and his wife, Carrie, after the premature birth of their triplet sons six years ago. Their doctor recommended they get rid of the carpet in their home to make it as clean as possible for their children, whose immune systems were weak.
After his sons’ birth, Mr. Garcia became chief financial officer of Ecovation, a wastewater treatment company in Victor, N.Y. He observed that Ecovation advised its clients to use UV-C light to disinfect water, and that hospitals also used it to disinfect surgical rooms and equipment. So he thought, “Why not put ultraviolet light into a vacuum to disinfect while it vacuums?” he said.
Halo introduced its first vacuum, the UVX, in June. It is priced at $399 and has a smaller cleaning path and fewer attachments than the UV-ST; the latter is the focus of the new ad campaign, by BooneOakley, an agency also based in Charlotte.
The campaign includes a billboard in Times Square, on display until early next January; full-page ads in publications like Parenting, People and O, The Oprah Magazine; and 30-second commercials on shows like “Today,” “Ellen,” and “Wheel of Fortune” in New York, Dallas and Minneapolis.
The campaign, aimed at women with children under 10, focuses squarely on the germ-killing properties of UV-C light. One print ad asks, “Is it a vacuum cleaner that kills germs? Or a germ-killer that vacuums?”
The ad continues: “Studies show that traditional vacuums can’t kill the millions of germs living in your carpet. That’s why Halo created the UV-ST, the only vacuum that combines the germ-killing power of ultraviolet light with industry-leading suction.” The ad further points out that Halo had the same technology used to disinfect hospitals, but not “harsh chemicals.”
Phil Smith, president of BooneOakley, said his agency was inspired by the efforts of brands like Lysol and Clorox “to educate their audience about how they kill germs in the home.”
Jeff Collins, Halo’s vice president for sales and marketing, said the company “is creating a new category in the floor-care market.”
“Any vacuum, by Dyson, Hoover, Bissell, can’t kill germs while it vacuums,” he asserted. “We’re not going after any maker or model. We don’t see any competition.”
Halo does not see its products as replacements for other vacuums, Mr. Smith said. Rather, the pitch is: “You should get this regardless, because of its germ-killing properties. We consider this the final frontier.”
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Vacuum cleaner industry executives and analysts gave Halo’s campaign mixed reviews.
Peter Goldman, president of the home business unit of NPD Group, a market research company based in Port Washington, N.Y., said that Halo’s advertising concept “fits really well with the healthy living and home environment trends we’re seeing in floor care.”
Allen P. Rathey, president of the Healthy House Institute, a multimedia company specializing in home environment issues, said UV-C light was “known to be effective technology for killing germs,” but noted that Halo’s Web site, www.gethalo.com, does not discuss any scientific research that proves its vacuum’s efficacy.
Peter S. Fader, a professor of marketing at the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania, called it risky for Halo to emphasize “a benefit that people can’t see or measure.”
And William Aulet, a senior lecturer at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology Entrepreneurship Center, questioned Halo’s media strategy.
He called the Times Square billboard “not targeted at all, and extremely expensive,” and suggested that Halo’s budget would be better spent seeking customer testimonials. “I’d rather they spend $20 million on highly targeted messages to parenting groups and scientific studies validating their value proposition to their selected customers,” Mr. Aulet said.
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Focusing on cleanliness is a tried and true approach for vacuum marketers. Indeed, the Halo campaign coincides with a new campaign for Hoover, whose goal is to overtake the market leader, Dyson.
Hoover is manufactured by TTI Floor Care North America, a subsidiary of Techtronic Industries. TTI Floor Care and its agency, Martin/Williams Advertising, part of the Omnicom Group, have just introduced a spot called “Dogs” on prime-time shows on ABC and CBS.
As a shaggy dog shakes itself, tiny dogs pop off it and scatter across the room, leaving fur everywhere. A voice-over says: “Hoover understands that no mess is a small mess. Hoover’s patented WindTunnel technology picks up the dirt that other vacuums scatter back onto your carpet.”
Chris Gurreri, president of TTI Floor Care, said the new campaign, aimed at consumers ages 25 to 38, deliberately differs from Hoover’s previous advertising, which played up specific product benefits. “We’re trying to paint Hoover in a different light, gain people’s attention,” he said.
Mr. Gurreri also said Hoover’s advertising budget in the current quarter would exceed the $9 million that TNS Media Intelligence said it spent in the fourth quarter of 2006. Techtronic Industries bought Hoover’s floor-care business from Whirlpool last January.
Executives at some other large vacuum companies said they did not consider Halo a competitive threat. John Case, who heads Electrolux’s North American floor-care operation, called Halo an unknown and added, “To start a new product line in a fairly stable market is a big undertaking.”
Gordon Thom, president of Dyson Inc., the United States division of United Kingdom-based Dyson Ltd., said that Halo “is not something I’ve paid any attention to.” He added: “There’s potential for lots of sorts of unusual brands popping up, and this is just one other machine that’s come into the market.”
