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Johnson Controls Inc. is considered the automotive battery industry's leading manufacturer in North America yet it has achieved that recognition through a behind-the-scenes presence making batteries that appear under name brands like DieHard and Energizer.
But Johnson Controls' acquisition last November of optima Batteries, Denver, gave Johnson executives the incentive to market its own name brand for the first time. Johnson Controls acquired Optima from Sweden-based Gylling Group for $62 million.
The Glendale-based manufacturer historically has produced replacement batteries for the automotive aftermarket under private labels, such as Diehard and Interstate, and batteries for automakers, including Ford and Toyota. It has never manufactured and sold its own line of batteries.
Johnson Controls is spreading the word on Optima via a national television and radio advertising campaign. The television commercial premiered Nov. 4 during Game 7 of the World Series and resumed Nov. 22 during the NFL's pre-game and game broadcast of the Green Bay Packers vs. Detroit Lions on the Fox network.
Radio ads will start running in Milwaukee Dec. 10 for about three weeks. Seven metro markets, including Detroit, Los Angeles, Dallas, Philadelphia, Chicago and Minneapolis/St. Paul, also will run the three -week radio ads. The advertising campaign is scheduled to run for 11 weeks.
"Optima already has a presence in certain markets and we didn't want to lose that customer base," said Paul Van Hoof, general manager of Optima Batteries. "It also was a very unique technology and we wanted to associate our name with this new technology."