Casio Loads Up Databank En mass

Brandweek, Nov 2, 1998 by Becky Ebenkamp

Casio is launching a $1 million print campaign for its Lady's Databank watch, which it claims is the first women's digital organizer-type line to be sold in the mass tier.

The December-January campaign, by Renegade Marketing Group, N.Y., hits seven women-skewing books, including Cosmo, Parents and Martha Stewart Living. The ad details a "Bad Hair Day Survival Kit," showing a frizz-beset woman and her coping tools: A hairbrush, a baseball cap and the Databank watch, with a dial that reads "salon" and lists a phone number. Smaller watch icons at the bottom of the page show additional styles and features such as a five-schedule alarm, phone directory that holds 30 numbers, stopwatch and backlight.

The nine watches, to retail at Wal-Mart, Target, J.C. Penney and Sears at $40-50, were developed after Casio's success with a men's Databank. But while that line is more of a business tool, Casio's research showed that career women felt they had the tech tools they needed in electronic organizers and such. Instead, the media buy targets a female who's mainstream, conservative and quality conscious of products at a good price, said Jeff Powers, marketing manager.