ANN ARBOR, MI — This week we hear from Jeff Stauffer, senior vice president of global group marketing for Affinia Group, Inc. Prior to joining Affinia in September 2006, Stauffer was vice president of marketing for the consumer products division of Old World Industries. In that position he managed all aspects of product development and brand management for a diverse portfolio of products, including PEAK Antifreeze and Mr. Clean Auto Care. Before moving to Old World in 1997, Stauffer had worked at Moog Automotive/Cooper Industries for 13 years. He began his career at Tenneco Automotive in 1976. His 30 years in the aftermarket also have included extensive experience in sourcing, research, sports marketing, public relations, advertising, as well as category management.

Stauffer is a board member of the Automotive Sales Council and has served on the AAIA Marketing and Membership committees. He earned a B.B.A. degree in Business Management and Accounting from Northwood University, where he serves on the Board of Governors for Michigan and the Automotive Aftermarket Advisory Council.

Join us as Stauffer shares with aftermarketNews some of his branding philosophies and some of the key strategies behind Affinia’s restructured marketing organization.

Your professional background includes extensive experience managing the marketing and branding for the consumer product division of Old World Industries, a position that required intimate familiarity with category management and trends in the retail sector. How will this experience help guide you in the opportunities and challenges that come with the more application-specific brands of Raybestos, Spicer and WIX within Affinia?

Applying brand management techniques and category management approaches to Affinia’s products and brands is very similar. It’s applying the same disciplines and processes to data gathering, information partnering, market analysis and brand management to a category of products to help drive more sales to end users, whether they are consumers or professional repair technicians.

How does your approach to branding and marketing differ now that you are in a wholesale environment? Are there experiences/techniques from the merchandising of more retail-oriented products that can carry over?

How we go about building our brands and driving end users to our products does involve different strategies and tactics when your end user is a professional technician vs. a regular “Joe” consumer. You have to understand and then “satisfy” the needs of the technician just like you do the consumer. Those needs are obviously different for each end user … so you must adapt your “merchandising” accordingly to those needs.

What in your opinion are the keys to successful category management in the “behind the counter” world of application-specific hard parts, where consumer behavior analysis, even technician behavior analysis, is more nebulous?

Category Management (CM) and the word “nebulous” cannot co-exist. The whole idea of successful category management is to “understand” the market drivers. So having accurate data and the appropriate research in your hands is mandatory to even begin the CM process.

Can you share with our readers the strategy behind the newly realigned and streamlined friction product categories under the Raybestos brand?

[It’s a] pretty simple strategy to be honest: make it easier for the counter people and the technicians to be able to recommend the right friction or brake system product for the right vehicle and/or customer need. In the past, we had way too many lines and choices, which caused a lot of confusion on what to sell. Now it’s simple. Raybestos offers three lines of friction — Advanced Technology for the super premium/severe duty applications (i.e. light truck, police vehicle, luxury foreign name plate), Professional Grade for the everyday driver who wants OE or better premium quality products and finally, Service Grade (our Opening Price Point (OPP) line) for the more value-conscious customer looking for a good quality product at a good price. That’s our new 1-2-3 friction strategy.

What has the reception to this new strategy been like in the marketplace?

In a word, awesome! We spent more than 18 months gathering information from technicians, counter people and consumers on what their needs are in the entire brake category offering to formulate this strategy, and then we applied all the data and input into refining our product lines into one line of hydraulics, two lines of rotors and three lines of friction. Our channel partners are telling us we are right on with our new program.

With regard to the new Raybestos approach, what are your thoughts on parts proliferation and the pressure that sub-brands place on efficient inventory management? How will you assist your customers in transmitting the benefits of these new product categories out to their customers (the shops that will, in most cases, be installing them)?

One of the many benefits to our new 1-2-3 program is exactly to improve parts proliferation in the brake offering. Minimizing the line offerings, having the right products for the right applications without a lot of duplication is key and we have accomplished that. On the communications side, our sales people are armed with presentation/leave behind materials, new catalogs, product feature/benefit info, product samples, new POS, promotional incentives and so on. And, we are also utilizing the trade pubs, direct mail and the Internet to inform and educate our customers as well.

As for sub-brands, where do you see this type of product management strategy heading in the next five to 10 years?

If that is what the end user requires to meet the demands of their customers, it will continue to expand in other categories. We have obviously seen an expansion and growth into “OPP” offerings. In addition there is demand for advanced technology, premium products, so sub-brands will thrive as long as the end user requires various product/brand options to meet their needs.

Despite the availability of strong ‘all makes, all models’ product lines, there seems to be a tendency today among customers to ‘cherry pick’ their suppliers to suit their needs. Is this, in your mind, a growing trend? And if so, how does Affinia position itself and its brands to win more, or all, of a customer’s business?

[That’s an] excellent question! Many customers have begun to buy direct from LCC’s in certain categories, especially on the top/fast movers. But they have to have the proper infrastructure, inventory management, distribution, systems support and product support to do it successfully. At Affinia, we are very active in global manufacturing and sourcing to put us and our channel partners in a competitive position, while offering all the other “value added services” required to support the lines such as cataloging, first to market/full line, sales people, product management, technical support, marketing programs and so on. Someone has to provide these services and there is a cost to do that. This is where the biggest concern and challenge is with cherry picking today.

As a marketer, what are your thoughts on the types of media available today to reach your audience (traditional print publications, direct mail, digital publications, online videos, etc.)? Do you have a sense that there is more impact in traditional media (print, direct mail) or more current media (such as online videos, electronic publications, etc)? Or, do you feel that a good marketing strategy includes both?

I think you answered your own question. Smart marketing must involve multiple communication tactics to reach your traditional audience today. We’re fortunate to have strong trade publications that allow us to communicate to our various audiences. We also combine that with some of the electronic mediums, as well as the database management we do in house for our own e-news and direct mail vehicles. There is a place for diversity as long as they are all integrated in consistent messaging, branding and effectively reaching and appealing to your audience’s interests.

Speaking of digital media, Affinia recently launched a new website. What went into the development of this new site and what were your goals for the website?

Actually we’re launching all new websites for Affinia, Raybestos and Wix with the goal in mind to provide a more user friendly, information-based, interactive site with a lot more bells and whistles than we had before. Whether it’s the latest technical info or product application data or the latest and greatest new product specifics, there is something for everyone.

Affinia, like all auto parts manufacturers, faces many challenges in order to remain competitive and thrive. But, unlike many auto parts manufacturers, Affinia has three tremendously strong brand names in Wix, Raybestos and Spicer. As the leader of these three powerful brands, what is the single most important task you must perform to enable them to grow and prosper?

It’s applying very disciplined, strategic and tactical brand management to each one. That involves, protecting their intellectual property as well as putting the right support behind the brands to the end users.