This heat is making me angry. I want to blame someone for it. Mother Nature, my neighbor who drives an ’82 VW van, Al Gore? No matter who or what you attribute to our record-setting summer, it’s flippin’ hot. Mitsubishi Electric Cooling & Heating (Mitsubishi Electric), a division of Mitsubishi Electric & Electronics USA, Inc. – focus on the cooling, people – is here to solve your heating issues this summer.

For the past 30 years, Mitsubishi Electric has enhanced people's lives by improving comfort, conserving energy and promoting environmental sustainability with advanced technology.  In 2011, Mitsubishi Electric launched the first “Cost vs. Comfort” commercial featuring a homeowner literally throwing himself around his house as he suffers through the heat. Online media leveraged the TV creative and supported the campaign, which generated a 554% increase in site visits and 461% in contractor searches (leads).

This year Mitsubishi Electric has kept the battle theme going by using recognizable faces for its marketing. Actor Jerry Stiller starred in the first cooling campaign ad rolled out in May where he fought himself about paying for air conditioning or comedy lessons. Leveraging their PGA sponsorship, golfers Fred Couples and Fred Funk starred in a handful of commercials that feature them in uncomfortable moments. 

In the second phase of its cooling campaign which launched this June, Mitsubishi Electric used another spirited TV spot to feature the struggle everyone has with cooling costs. In the fencer TV spot, a flustered home owner fights herself over whether she wants to save money or stay cool. I can appreciate this because every time I get up from my living room I want to inch the thermostat down a bit. Shame, shame.

To support offline efforts and deliver not only additional impressions, but also educate and engage the audience throughout the cooling campaign, Mitsubishi Electric used a unified digital approach comprised of display media and paid search. The goal for the campaign was to drive traffic to the corporate consumer site and generate contractor searches (leads). To showcase the entertainment of the TV creative, rich media expandable ads and pre-roll video were used, but that messaging is more tactical, focusing on product solutions. Targeted flash ads, mobile display and paid search advertising was also used to increase frequency and reach with both residential and professional audiences. Ad network technology across all media allows for behavioral and look-alike targeted display media. This maximizes the reach to all those folks that are also battling cost versus comfort.

The results to date – hot or cool?

• Contractor searches (leads) are up 15,000+ year over year.
   
• Through retargeting, increased lead volume and decreased overall cost per lead.
   
• Custom weather feed banners and weather-triggered display media have been performing very strong with a high engagement rate.