CHICAGO - The ETL SEMKO division of Intertek launched the second phase of its aggressive industry awareness campaign, Superstitions, reinforcing the ETL Mark as an alternative to the UL Mark for product safety certification. With a series of ads, mailings, a Website, and a promise of future surprises, the campaign calls into question the belief that a company needs the UL Mark to sell its product in North America.

"The belief that you need a UL Mark to sell your products in North America is as irrational and untrue as the superstition of the Boogeyman," said Nancy Medas, director of global marketing, Intertek ETL SEMKO. "There are a number of certification mark alternatives. In the case of the ETL Listed Mark, it's preferred by thousands of manufacturers who seek fast testing turnaround from our network of more than 50 laboratories around the world."

Drawing parallels to superstitions such as "Kids who play with toads get warts" and "The boogeyman is going to get you," the campaign seeks to dispel the notion that you must use the UL Mark exclusively. "We set out last year in phase one of our campaign to inform manufacturers of their alternatives in product safety testing and certification," said Medas.

"With a 150 percent increase in ETL Mark awareness and a 10 percent increase in products bearing our mark, it's clear that our messages of speed, responsiveness and flexibility are getting through to a frustrated market."

Publication date: 03/06/2006