• by Aaron Baar , December 21, 2017

With the winter weather come the storms, and with the storms comes a need for quality windshield wipers. 

Taking advantage of the upcoming stormy season and a week filled with college football games, Bosch is hitting the airwaves to advertise its Icon windshield wipers. 

“The deep winter months of January and February, when drivers are dealing with lots of precipitation, are when [Bosch] sees the most sales conversions,” says Michael Johnson, creative director at Bailey Lauerman, the agency behind the campaign. “We also know that the folks who are going to be proactive about wiper replacement and maintenance also happen to index high for sports in general, and football specifically.”

A new television spot that begins airing the day after Christmas depicts a bad weather driving scenario, intercutting pouring rain with knuckles gripping a steering wheel, semis passing by and gathering clouds. As a beating heart soundtrack increases in pace, the cuts become quicker. Once the Icon wipers are shown, however, the pace calms down and a family is seen driving undisturbed, and a voiceover presents the blades as “the calm in the storm.”

“The strategy was to demonstrate the relief that Bosch Icon windshield wipers provide during those tense, anxious moments when drivers are caught in extreme weather,” Johnson tells Marketing Daily. “By reflecting not just one instance, but a montage of all the different kinds of conditions that driver’s might find themselves in over the course of their life, we create a real emotional response that’s not based on product features but actual human experience.”

Through its tense situations and quick cuts, the commercial is intended to capture the attention of sports fans. In addition, the company is using weather targeting to run the commercial in markets where it will be most effective. 

“If you’re in Boston and there’s snow in the forecast for tomorrow, there’s a pretty good chance you’re going to have an ad for Bosch Icon windshield wipers delivered to you,” Johnson says. “It just makes sense to deliver windshield wiper ads to people who might be prepping for bad weather.”