Terminix’s Thanksgiving campaign centers around customer conversations

Photo: kajakiki/E+/GettyImages

Chatter from pest control companies during the holiday season usually revolves around winter exclusion or protection from bed bugs during holiday travel. At Terminix, we’re always thinking of new ways to get people interested in pest control, and we wanted to take the opportunity to connect with consumers on a different level. After all, people are usually more concerned with hosting their in-laws for the holidays than they are about opening their home to unwanted pests. Beyond advising our customers to look out for rats and mice this winter, we want to help with a different kind of holiday pest: pesty dinner conversation.

Drew Blake, Communications Consultant, Terminix

While there’s plenty to love about Thanksgiving, the holiday can also bring awkward conversations from well-meaning relatives who want to get caught up on careers and social lives. That’s why Terminix created The Pest Way Out, a handy guide of pest-themed responses to common questions that help consumers pivot any awkward conversation away from them to bug facts. The Pest Way Out includes responses for questions related to dating, work, politics and more, to help match any awkward subject that might come up. For example, when someone asks if you’re seeing anyone, you can remind them that while you’re still single, most termite colonies have a king and queen that mate for life.

The Pest Way Out is a way for us to connect with our customers at a level beyond termites and mice, and hopefully decrease some of the stress around the holidays. Beyond fun pest facts, we wanted to acknowledge that we know removal can be the best solution for pest control sometimes.

That’s why, as part of The Pest Way Out, we’re offering consumers a chance to win a $2,500 gift card that can be used for a post-Thanksgiving vacation in case The Pest Way Out responses aren’t enough to recover from awkward conversations. (Click here to enter the contest, and for rules and restrictions.)

We know that the holidays can be stressful as much as joyful, and a post-Thanksgiving vacation is the perfect way to relax after the holiday. The giveaway closes on Thanksgiving, as we figured that vacationing during one of the busiest travel days of the year might actually be more stressful than hosting the big meal.

Between the pest facts and vacation giveaway, our biggest hope is to make our customers’ Thanksgivings lighter and brighter. Even if The Pest Way Out doesn’t perfectly shift the conversation away from an awkward topic, it can at least be a way to bring something fun and new to the dinner table. As we in the pest control industry know, there’s no shortage of interesting tidbits in this industry, and who knows what kind of conversation will start by sharing that certain species of ticks can swell to several times their original size while feeding?

Drew Blake is a communications consultant with Terminix.