Grainger taps the power of emotion

This event report shows how W.W. Grainger, an industrial supplier selling over a million products, successfully put emotion into business-to-business marketing.

Grainger taps the power of emotion

Stephen WhitesideWarc

"We're an industrial supplier," Victoria Morrissey, W.W. Grainger's director/brand strategy and advertising, told delegates at the Association of National Advertisers' (ANA) 2014 Masters of Marketing conference.

"Do you know what that means? It means we don't make anything. And everything we sell you can buy somewhere else – and probably for less money."

Grainger is a Lake Forest, Illinois-based business-to-business retailer offering more than a million products, from pool tables to office chairs to batteries. Alongside the logistical issues involved in handling such a vast portfolio, the firm competes with...

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