Chicago-Based Beltone taps South Carolina branding firm ZWO as agency of record

Beltone North America, one of the largest manufacturers of hearing instruments and producer of the world’s first full family of made-for-smartphones hearing aids, has selected South Carolina-based ZWO as its agency of record. A leader in the four billion dollar global market of hearing instruments, Beltone supports a hearing health care network of 1500 offices in North America.

“ZWO has a number of strengths we have been looking for in an agency,” said Corrine Perritano, President of Beltone North America. “They have many years of experience in consumer marketing, and were able to precisely define our markets and articulate a distinct roadmap for reversing the stigma associated with wearing hearing aids. They have qualified expertise in the senior lifestyle market, which is certainly a part of our community. And they will focus primarily on reaching our various markets with the Beltone story through our customers, one of Beltone’s primary assets.”

ZWO’s clients have included Salt Life, a lifestyle apparel brand, The Game, a collegiate and fan apparel brand, Campus Crest, a worldwide student housing public company, Dreamworks, Topco, a co-op of regional grocery retailers, ACTS Retirement-Life Communities, and MD Complete Skincare.

“We are honored to be selected to share the Beltone story with the world,” said Tina Zwolinski, founder and CEO of ZWO. “There is surprisingly low market penetration rate for hearing aids, considering the numbers of people in every age group who suffer with hearing loss. Beltone has a rich heritage of satisfying their customers with a combination of technology and unmatched service. With that kind of brand legacy, the customers will always be the heroes of any successful marketing efforts. We will be using our deep experience in influencer and social channel branding to shift the conversation about hearing health and encourage others to embrace hearing health at a younger age.”

“Over the years we have broadly focused on consumer marketing, and then more narrowly on a few industries like apparel, student housing, retail, and senior lifestyle. We have also chosen to specialize in reaching and influencing millennials and seniors. We look forward to putting our experience to work for Beltone.”

“We are headquartered in a region of the country that offered a host of possibilities for good agencies,” said Perritano. “But we believed that ZWO could provide us the focus that we needed to reach our aggressive goals.”

Beltone’s most recent major product launch has been Beltone Legend™, the first full family of made-for-smartphones hearing aids, and a 2016 Edison Award nominee, a 2016 Webby Awards honoree in the Mobile Connected Product and Wearables category, and a winner of both a 2016 Stevie^® Award in the health and pharmaceutical products category and a People’s Choice Stevie^® Award for Favorite New Products.

ZWO

With offices in Greenville, SC and Laguna Beach, CA, ZWO is a branding & marketing firm that engages brands and consumers in remarkable ways. The ZWO team works to transform markets and customers into communities of thoughtful, involved, passionate advocates for our clients and their brands. ZWO accomplishes this by implementing cause, community, customer experience, influencer, and word of mouth marketing — particularly using web, social media, and web 2.0 tools. The company’s expertise in strategic counsel, marketing direction, and brand development for local, state-wide, national, and international clients has allowed it to serve clients in diverse industries, including apparel, student housing, retail, sports, senior life, events, youth, and non-profit segments. For more information on ZWO visit http://www.betalkable.com or contact them at 864.509.1057.