Another Advertising Star Is Born as Viewers Embrace Dell's Pitchman --- `Dude, You're Gettin' a Dell' Is in Gen X's Vernacular, Echoing `Where's the Beef?'
Wall Street Journal; New York, N.Y.; Jan 10, 2002; By Suzanne Vranica;
Column Name: / Advertising
Start Page: / B.1
ISSN: / 00999660
Subject Terms: / Advertising campaigns
Actors
Personal Names: / Curtis, Benjamin
Companies: / Dell Computer CorpTicker:DELLDuns:11-431-5195Sic:334111Sic:334111Duns:11-431-5195
Abstract:
The new campaign comes at a dark hour for the home PC industry. Domestic sales of consumer PCs declined 31% for the first three quarters of 2001, according to the Gartner Group, a technology research firm. But thanks in large measure to the [Steven] ads, during that period Dell has managed to increase its share of the market to 16.5%, more than double the 7% share Dell had for the same period last year.
A large portion of the spending has gone to support the ubiquitous Steven ads, although Dell won't specify exactly how much. "Dell was previously known as a company that dealt with large enterprise customers and not necessarily a company consumers would relate to," says Erin Nelson, Dell's marketing director.
"I would choose a Dell over a Gateway because Steven is cuter than Gateway's cow," says Libby Marie LeForce, a 17-year-old student from Chandler, Ariz. Chas McAvoy, a 35-year-old Web site designer, has created a site dedicated to Steven. Mr. McAvoy, owner of a Sony Vaio computer, has recommended Dell to clients. "I am much more aware of the company because of the commercials," he says.
Copyright Dow Jones & Company Inc Jan 10, 2002
"You're the Dell guy," shouts French restaurateur Alain Denneulin across a crowded room in his trendy Manhattan eatery, Felix. Heads turn and people point at Benjamin Curtis, a 21-year-old college student -- and star of a popular ad campaign for Dell computers -- who smiles and moves hastily to a table.
Dell Computer Corp., of Austin, Texas, has made a celebrity out of Mr. Curtis in commercials admired for their clever blend of humor and salesmanship. Mr. Curtis plays "Steven," a blonde surfer dude, who gives expert advice to people shopping for a home computer.
Steven is the first fictional Generation X pitchman to rise up from Madison Avenue and win wider acclaim since "Stuart." Stuart, some TV viewers will recall, was the red-headed know-it-all who turned his geezer boss onto online stock trading with Ameritrade Holding Corp. -- a glamorous and exciting thing to do back in March 1999, when that campaign hit the airwaves.
Now, it's Steven's turn to generate buzz. The "Dell Guy" boasts one of the largest advertising fan club message boards on Yahoo, with 535 members. Louie, Anheuser-Busch Cos.' popular Budweiser lizard, claims only 15. A New York radio station, WHTZ-FM's Z100, recently yammered on about him for days. The station eventually tracked him down through his agent and got a call from him.
Steven first appeared in late 2000, in a spot created by Interpublic Group's Lowe Worldwide in which he makes a video for his parents to explain why they should buy him a Dell. Dell switched agencies, hiring the Chicago office of Omnicom Group Inc.'s DDB, but Steve and the campaign survived.
In July, DDB added the quip: "Dude, you're gettin' a Dell." The line hasn't quite achieved the status of Anheuser-Busch's "Whassup?" or Wendy's International Inc.'s "Where's the beef?" But it is slowly seeping into the pop-culture vernacular, a kind of all-purpose "Good Job!" for slackers.
For the 2001 holidays, "Steven" wore a green elf suit and hawked Dell's $899 desktop computer. Now, Mr. Curtis is getting ready to shoot new ads in Los Angeles.
The new campaign comes at a dark hour for the home PC industry. Domestic sales of consumer PCs declined 31% for the first three quarters of 2001, according to the Gartner Group, a technology research firm. But thanks in large measure to the Steven ads, during that period Dell has managed to increase its share of the market to 16.5%, more than double the 7% share Dell had for the same period last year.
Hewlett-Packard Co. remains the leader in consumer PCs, with a market share of 21.9%. But Dell is a major advertiser, spending $196 million on ads for its brand in 2000. For the first nine months of 2001, Dell's advertising outlays totaled $137 million, up 18.1% from the same period earlier, according to CMR, an ad tracking unit of London-based Taylor Nelson Sofres PLC.
A large portion of the spending has gone to support the ubiquitous Steven ads, although Dell won't specify exactly how much. "Dell was previously known as a company that dealt with large enterprise customers and not necessarily a company consumers would relate to," says Erin Nelson, Dell's marketing director.
Dell rival Gateway Inc., whose market share declined for the first nine months of 2001 to 15.4%, has run ads that also emphasize the personal side of PC shopping, with the tagline, "You've got a friend in the business." And International Business Machines Corp., though not a major player in consumer PCs, has been using its own Generation X pitchman, "Leon," in commercials for IBM.com.
"I would choose a Dell over a Gateway because Steven is cuter than Gateway's cow," says Libby Marie LeForce, a 17-year-old student from Chandler, Ariz. Chas McAvoy, a 35-year-old Web site designer, has created a site dedicated to Steven. Mr. McAvoy, owner of a Sony Vaio computer, has recommended Dell to clients. "I am much more aware of the company because of the commercials," he says.
Gartner Group analyst Charles Smulder credits Dell's tactic of targeting second-time computer buyers with direct marketing methods, leaving first-time buyers to continue seeking guidance in retail stores. The Steven campaign is "icing on the cake of a business model that they carefully crafted and used successfully to take market share away from the competition," Mr. Smulder says.
The ads are appearing on shows such as "Who Wants to Be a Millionaire," which airs on Walt Disney Co.'s ABC, and "Friends," on General Electric Co.'s NBC. Mr. Curtis hasn't appeared in radio or print ads but has made appearances at Dell events to rally employees and at Comdex, the giant computer industry show.
All the attention has taken Mr. Curtis a bit by surprise. "I wasn't ready," he says. "People look at me and stare." He got the role at an audition and declines to say how much money he earns as Dell's pitchman but notes it is paying for half of his tuition at New York University, where he is studying acting. He got the role in an audition, after having appeared in a local TV commercial for a Long Island, N.Y., crisis center.
Already, some Hollywood doors have opened. Two weeks ago, he read for a role in "Terminator III." But he worries about being typecast. "I have been training in theater for years not to be typecast as a surfer dude," he says.
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