Wherify Launches DR Blast for Kid Finder

A high-ticket product that helps parents track their children has been brought to market with a multimedia direct response campaign.

Introduced in August by Wherify Wireless Location Services, GPS Locator for Kids is being sold for $399.99 through several channels. The marketing effort, which sources estimate will cost around $5 million, includes DRTV spots and roughly 10 million direct mail pieces.

Buyers are likely to become long-term customers because the product requires monthly back-end service.

Early response has been strong, especially to the TV ads, said Mark W. Hurst, director of brand planning for the San Francisco office of DDB Worldwide Communications Group, which created the campaign.

The TV spots broke in the San Francisco Bay area on Oct. 7, and nationwide on Oct. 14. Except for some regional buys in the Bay area and Santa Monica, all the spots are appearing on national cable shows such as Court TV, according to Hurst.

The spots, which have a strong branding component, communicate the idea that “there really has to be a better way to keep track of kids.” One shows a child wearing reflectors, another depicts a girl with cow bells. Still another pictures a kid on a skateboard tethered to a spool.

“We've taken it to a metaphorical level,” said Hurst.

But the ads are also designed to sell the product. All feature a toll-free telephone number and the firm's Web site address (www.wherify.com).

“We believe you can sell a higher-end product direct,” Hurst said.

The direct mail pieces carry a similar theme, and also are designed to drive sales. They're aimed at parents with computers and parents who are frequent Internet users.

Hurst explained that the firm is trying to avoid scaring people with its ads.

“It's not about scare tactics,” he said. “It's about comfort and convenience.”

Redwood, CA-based Wherify is also sending from 200,000 to 250,000 e-mails, using outside e-mail lists on a “bounty” basis, and is also inserting some freestanding inserts in California markets, according to Hurst.

DDB's sister agency at Omnicom, Direct Partners, is helping with the back end and online portions of the effort, said Hurst, who added that Wherify is now looking for call centers and back-end fulfillment providers.

The product originated several years ago when company founder Timothy Neher briefly lost track of his niece and nephew at a zoo and “went into a panic,” said Hurst.

Neher, president of Missing Children's Network, started Wherify in 1998, and spent the next several years working on research and development.

The Internet-based product consists of a bracelet that is worn on a child's wrist. It can only be removed with a key or a special code.

Available in two colors, galactic blue or cosmic purple, the bracelet has a one-way pager feature that allows the child to contact 911 in an emergency.

In addition, a parent who wants to find a child can go online and access a map pinpointing the location within 60 seconds.

Hurst added that parents also can get “real-time aerial photographs” of the area. And they can subscribe to a “bread-crumbing” service that beeps them when the child leaves school, and continues doing so until they reach home.

The back-end features cost from $24.95 to $49.95 per month.

Hurst predicted that the product eventually will be sold to a much broader audience at a more affordable price. The next wave of ads probably will be designed to drive retail traffic, he said.