STEEL INDUSTRY'S ADS SEEK TO WOO PUBLIC.

Byline: Skip Wollenberg Associated Press 

The steel industry is appealing directly to automobile and home buyers in a new $100 million advertising campaign aimed at expanding its business over the next five years.

The campaign is unusual for the industry, which is going over the heads of its traditional manufacturing customers and taking its case to people who aren't in the habit of buying I-beams and rolled sheets of steel.

The ads include network television commercials that show a child in a safety seat as traffic rushes past the car on either side, hurricane-force winds toppling buildings and a diver protected by a cage from a shark.

In each case, the industry hopes to remind consumers of the strength, durability and security of steel in hopes they will demand it when buying a car or van, having a home or addition built or making other purchases.

Detroit automakers will get the message from their dealers if auto buyers start asking if new models are reinforced with steel and go elsewhere if they are not, said John Correnti, vice chairman and chief executive of Nucor Corp., a steelmaker based in Charlotte, N.C.

``The New Steel. Feel the Strength'' is the theme of the advertising being launched this month by a coalition of 78 North American steel producers, suppliers and related businesses calling itself The Steel Alliance.

The group is led by Nucor, LTV Corp., USX Corp. and Bethlehem Steel Corp. and is said to account for more than 75 percent of the steel produced and shipped in the United States and Canada.

Thomas Usher, chairman and chief executive of Pittsburgh-based USX, said the industry has invested $50 billion on building new production facilities and technology over the last 15 years, bringing down the cost of making steel and causing less damage to the environment than a decade ago.

Curtis H. Barnette, chairman and chief executive of Bethlehem Steel, told a news briefing here the industry faces still ``an awareness problem'' because consumers don't know how much has been done to make steel more appealing.

The advertising never mentions alternative materials to steel but they include lumber, plastics and aluminum.

The campaign is also aimed at educating consumers about the environmental progress steelmakers have made in producing steel and how it can be recycled. Usher called steel ``the most recycled material on earth.''

One commercial shows an older woman hauling a blue basket of recyclables to the curb. As she walks back to the house, the shell of a car falls on the basket as the announcer says some things that can be recycled are too big for the bin.

Roy Spence Jr., founder and president of the advertising agency GSD&M which created the campaign, said consumer research showed ``latent sympathy'' for the steel industry and ``fondness'' for its role in economic history.

He said steel elicited much fewer negative reactions that must be overcome than other industries like plastics, beef, eggs, milk or pork.

Spence said consumers also showed willingness to make ``radical shifts'' in how they view the industry when told how it has changed from being inefficient and a big polluter.

Correnti said housing offers a major growth opportunity for the steel industry because it uses so little now. Usher said Japan uses 44 percent more steel per person than the United States does and he would be satisfied to see U.S. consumption narrow the gap.

The television advertising begins this weekend on the NBA playoff telecasts. Steel ads are also slated for magazines like Sports Illustrated, Life and Better Homes and Gardens.

The steelmakers said they will look to sales figures to see if the advertising campaign worked.

But Spence said the industry's five-year commitment to the campaign shows it is ``not looking for a quick fix.''

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Photo

Photo: Nucor Corp. CEO John Correnti, left, USX Corp. CEO Thomas Usher and Bethlehem Corp. CEO Curtis H. Barnette helped announce the formation of The Steel Alliance.

Associated Press