• by Karl Greenberg , July 9, 2009

If an emergency-rescue helicopter pilot trying to extract tornado victims at night uses Duracell batteries in his night-sight goggles, you can trust those batteries in your electric toothbrush. That's the message behind the message in a new campaign by the Procter & Gamble battery brand.

The effort, under its eight-year-old "Trusted Everywhere" mantra, comprises "True Cops"-style footage encompassed in 30-second and 15-second ads featuring Air Life Denver, an emergency rescue service doing airborne rescue.

Duracell says the effort also includes a 60-second radio ad highlighting an amateur radio station located at the National Hurricane Center operated by volunteer ham radio operators who talk to first responders in hurricane alley in South Florida.

The first new TV spot, airing on cable and network, shows an Air Life Denver pilot in night-vision goggles saving tornado victims waving from their totaled home.

In a revised look at its 2007 battery forecast, Chicago-based marketing firm Mintel predicts flat battery sales this year because of the recession, with some recovery in 2011. The firm says batteries will take a hit this year because consumers want to cut non-essentials. Batteries are essential, but only for discretionary items, Mintel suggests. The firm says consumers are buying fewer new products requiring primary batteries, and are also declining to buy batteries for the products they have.

"However," says Mintel in the report, "consumers refraining from replacing products that use specialty batteries like a cordless landline or a laptop can result in an uptick in this arena," says Mintel in the report.

The firm says rechargeables are, for the same reason, likely to see an uptick in sales as consumers look for long-term savings.

Using its own statistics as well as those from the Consumer Electronics Association, Mintel predicts the market will rise from an estimated $6.5 billion this year to about $7.1 billion in 2013. While the firm sees sales of batteries off half a percent this year, the industry, per Mintel, will increase by 0.8%, 1.6%, 2.7% and 3.1% year over year through 2013.