“It took me nearly four years of debating with Scott Hawthorne, owner and CEO of Mathews Brothers, to convince him on the merits of radio advertising versus television,” says Bob Maynes.
Bob is the genius behind the radio commercials that aired on New England talk radio from 2014 to 2023 – a total of 154 spots in all.
The commercials, which ran during the morning and late afternoon drive times, were funny, original, offbeat – and as Bob says, “also cringeworthy and in poor taste.” They triggered people to call or email radio stations, or Bob directly, to complain.
But boy, did they work! Suddenly, everyone knew about “Mathews Brothers – with one T – America’s oldest window manufacturer” in Belfast, Maine.
The last time I interviewed Bob, it was during the tour I did of the company in 2015. I didn’t learn the full campaign backstory until recently, however, and found it so compelling, I knew I had to share it.
Why regional talk radio
Bob came up with the idea for running the radio ads based on his 25 years of sales experience. During his hours on the road, he got hooked on talk radio – sports, news, politics, etc.
“I loved talk radio but hated the commercials,” he says. “They were so boring.”
He vowed that if he ever had the opportunity to create radio ads, he’d make them interesting. “You’re not going to sell anything in a 30-second radio spot, so you might as well make your intrusion into listeners’ lives interesting.”
Scott Hawthorne, Bob’s boss, didn’t get it. “Why radio?” he wanted to know. It’s not visual. People can’t see the windows being made. The ROI just isn’t there. TV is better.
Bob didn’t let the subject drop – and after several years of working to change Scott’s mind, he got the ok.
The initial 30-second spots ran on WGAN (Portland) and WVOM (Bangor/Augusta): Two during the morning shows, (Morning News with Ken and Mike and The George Hale Ric Tyler Show, respectively), and two in the afternoon, on The Howie Carr Show. Howie Carr broadcast out of Boston, but was syndicated on the two Maine stations.
Bob’s instinct proves right
According to Bob, commuters driving to and from work tend to be in the same location, at the same time, each day. If you give them the same message, they get bored and tune out.
“We always produced three new commercials, every two months. We started with 30-second spots and moved to 60-second spots. We began with three days a week and quickly moved to five. But we always used the same rotation: four spots a day, two AM, two PM, in the order of A/B, C/A, B/C, A/B, so they’d always be out of sync with the commute.”
Here’s one of the original 30-second spots:
Bob says he was surprised at how quickly the ads worked. He was three weeks into the campaign and making his annual pilgrimage to D.C. to get in front of the Maine Congressional Delegation. (Mathews Brothers is one of Maine’s largest employers.)
While seated on the plane, his seat mate struck up a conversation: “Where do you work?” etc. When Bob said, “Mathews Brothers,” the guy said, “Oh, with one T?”
“You’ve heard the ads?!” Bob asked incredulously.
“I hear them all the time,” his seat mate replied. At that time, only a handful of 30-second spots had actually aired.
“It told me I had something because the guy listened to the commercials until the end, and he remembered the last line – ‘Mathews Brothers with one T,’” he says.
“It told me the tag line worked. But more importantly, he listened to the end and remembered it. That was huge.”
Bob began rolling the spots out to the New England region through Howie Carr’s radio network. Just before Carr ended his contract with WRKO and went out on his own, he paid Bob a visit at Mathews Brothers.
“We were Howie’s sole sponsor his first month solo,” says Bob. “The ads literally opened doors for us. One of our sales guys, Howard Hurd, he started at Mathews the same year Apple was founded. One of our markets is architects. He always had a hard time getting past the gatekeeper at the firms he visited.
“But the commercials paved the way. After a day on the Cape making sales calls, he called me. ‘You won’t believe what happened! Everyone knew our name and welcomed me right in!’”
A company you could trust
“Anytime in radio that you can reach somebody on an emotional level, you’re really connecting.” – Radio DJ Casey Kasem, American Top 40
Funny, cheeky, and self-deprecating, the radio ads featured Bob’s voice and a story of some sort. They almost always included three statements:
- “Wicked awesome Maine made windows”
- “Available at better lumber yards and window professionals across New England”
- the tag line, “that’s Mathews Brothers — with one T”
From my perspective, the campaign was brilliant marketing. It takes some dedication and commitment to stay on message for nine years — and to create radio ads that get people to smile when they air and also remember the message.
Window + Door Magazine awarded Mathews Brothers a Crystal Achievement Award for the campaign. Industry awards are a great measure of success — as are increased sales, of course.
But more importantly, I think, Mathews Brothers won the hearts and minds of radio listeners across New England. People took the time to call or email – to share their feedback on the ads, schedule a tour, or rave about their new windows.
Architects made the drive to attend workshops about window technology. One day, a busload of tourists from Iowa pulled into the parking lot. (Given where Belfast is located, that’s saying something!) An inflight magazine’s marketing team paid a visit and wrote a feature.
Whether you loved or hated the ads, they did one thing consistently: they created connection between the company and its listeners.
- You knew Mathews Brothers was a “down home” folksy company that took care of its employees while also building some pretty damn good windows.
- You knew to look for the Mathews Brothers logo and that the windows were available at “better lumber yards and window professionals across New England.”
- You knew the windows incorporated the latest technology for surviving hurricanes and that the company was constantly improving its product.
You learned a lot of things about Mathews Brothers – and in the process you learned one thing many companies forget in their push to exponentially increase growth and profits: Mathews Brothers – with one T – was a company you could trust.
“Trust your instincts”
Marketing is about communicating a message in order to get people to take a desired action — whether it’s attending an event at your local library or buying all new windows for your home.
When I asked Bob what he learned from the campaign, he replied without hesitation, “Trust your instincts.”
“I encountered a lot of pushback because people want immediate ROI. They’re impatient. Often, they don’t understand marketing or the long-term value it provides.
“The campaign worked because I relied on a very simple formula: Sender, receiver, message, and platform.”
How it works:
Sender — Mathews Brothers (‘with one T’ — the tag line)
Receiver — Residential homeowners in the greater New England region
Message — Wicked awesome Maine-made windows; available at better lumberyards and window professionals; America’s oldest window manufacturer
Platform — Talk radio
“Understand who your audience is, the story you want to tell them, and how you’ll reach them. Then, don’t be afraid to be different. That’s all successful marketing really is.”
Postscript
Bob and I kept in touch over the years. The ads ran until 2023 – a full nine years – and then stopped once Bob retired. I still miss them, but understand why it was time for him to move on. The company had grown beyond what anyone envisioned.
A couple of years after retiring and moving to Florida, Bob announced on LinkedIn he was back in the game. Some of his old contacts have hired him for gig work. He’s created a new YouTube channel (link below) where he’s posting and curating all the Mathews Brothers commercials. He also has a new cooking channel.
Whatever he ends up doing, you can be sure it will be different from what is standard fare, so be sure to keep an eye on him.
Links
Bob Maynes, LinkedIn profile
Mathews Brothers website — Mathews Brothers windows are 100% made in the USA. Be sure to read my 2015 write-up of my visit to the factory. 👇 (This was actually my second Made in USA interview with a manufacturer.)
Mathews Brothers (with one T) increases sales with radio ads – My 2015 write-up of my factory tour plus first interview with Bob Maynes about the ads
Introduction: The Story Behind Our Radio Commercials — YouTube video featuring Bob Maynes and the feedback he received from listeners about the ads.
With One T – Classic Mathews Brothers Radio Commercials — Compilation of Mathews Brothers ads on YouTube. Bob adds three new ones each week.
Full Disclosure
I’m not paid nor asked to write about products or the companies that make them. All links in this piece are FREE — meaning, they’re not sponsored or paid for.
My mission is to keep manufacturing jobs stateside and this blog is my way of giving back. We like to think a “small” choice, such as purchasing something made in the U.S. by American workers, won’t make a difference. It does.
