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Catalina Rebrands to Prove Its Varied Offerings

Catalina Marketing Corp. is plugging ahead with a marketing campaign to replace perception with reality in the minds of clients and prospects.

Its first advertising push in six years, Catalina's rebranding addresses an issue the company thought had been resolved during its 20-year history.

“We asked people specifically what they think when they think of Catalina Marketing, and the general response was 'coupons,'” said Susan Gear, executive director of marketing at Catalina, St. Petersburg, FL. “And that is a very narrow view of what we do.”

Indeed, Catalina now offers what it calls “behavior-based marketing services” for manufacturers, retailers and pharmaceutical firms. Those categories have divisions dedicated to servicing them, along with direct marketing services and research solutions.

Yet many prospects do not view Catalina as a grown-up, focusing instead on its in-store printers that dispense coupons. Even clients, in unaided awareness efforts, often are unaware of the company's overall offerings.

Perhaps clients and prospects should study Catalina's results for the year ending March 31, 2003.

Revenue rose 6 percent to $474.4 million, and net income was $43.4 million. Admittedly, Catalina Health Resource revenue for the company's fiscal fourth quarter dipped 34 percent from the year-ago period because of marketing cutbacks in pharmaceutical and retail spending. But the other divisions, and operations in Europe and Japan, grew 9 percent overall.

However, Wall Street is preoccupied. Catalina's share price is half of its 52-week high of $34.12. And a recent forecast by chairman/CEO Daniel D. Granger that revenue for the first quarter ending June 30 will be flat or down 5 percent from a year ago does not help, either.

An estimated 8,000 to 10,000 e-mails have dropped to clients and prospects. Calls to action include an invitation to www.catalinamarketing.com or to call a toll-free number. The site recently was revamped.

“The idea is to establish behavior-based marketing and the association with Catalina Marketing more than to generate interest about a specific context,” Gear said.

E-mails also invite executives to Catalina's booth at trade shows. The company is active in the grocery and packaged-foods areas, so it exhibits at shows organized by the Food Marketing Institute and others.

Paper mail supported online direct marketing. Catalina dropped about 10,000 mailers to clients and its vendor base. The mailers, however, may not have gone to the same recipient as the e-mail.

Ads appear in trade publications, too. The ads are headlined, “Change motivation with behavior-based marketing.” Copy urges readers to personalize communications, influence consumer behavior and maximize ROI. This can be done through Catalina services like incentives, sampling, market research, loyalty programs and direct mail.

A new logo — dolphins in a triangle — and a fresh tagline – “Targeting Change” — highlight the makeover.

To reinforce the sense of oneness, Catalina discarded the individual identities of its divisions. So, agency Market Logic was changed to Catalina Marketing Direct Marketing Services. Health Resource Publishing became Catalina Health Resource, and Alliance Research was dropped for Catalina Marketing Research Solutions.

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