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Hoover's Campaign Leverages Its Value

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With the power of search engines and social media, it's possible to find any information you might want about a company or corporate structure -- but it can be time-consuming, and perhaps not up-to-date.

Hoover's, the online repository of company information, is launching a new branding effort that showcases its value to its customers, particularly its ability to help them work smarter and be more successful in sales, marketing and the business of business.

"Hoover's has always been about helping our customers do their jobs better," says James Rogers, vice president of marketing for Hoover's. "That's the promise that has always motivated our team -- whether we're publishing books, posting our data online, or feeding our information directly to mobile devices."

The campaign, which launches this month with online and print advertisements, as well as commercials through GoogleTV -- communicates the brand promise by asking the simple question: "Where are you?" In one commercial, a girl calls her father at his office, asking that question. The father answers back that he's at the office preparing for a "sales call" and that he can't make her game. The same spot shows golfers calling their buddy, who's stuck at the office looking for leads. Hoover's, the commercial says, is the "global leader in business information." The spot concludes with the tagline "We make it easier," while the voiceover asserts, "so you can have your life back."

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The campaign was born out of research asking professionals what they thought of the brand and its competitors, Rogers says. Hoover's consistently came back as the top-recalled brand in the category, he says.

"At the end of the day, when you think of business information, Hoover's had significant brand recognition," Rogers tells Marketing Daily. "The thing that was good for us is we had a strong brand, and we were aligned with all the brand essences. We needed to make it easier to bring all that information into [customers'] workstreams."

As such, in addition to the advertising, the new brand campaign also includes a redesigned Web site and revamped collateral materials to be used in presentations and at trade shows, Rogers says.

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