NFL partner Lowe’s, which as well as being a league’s home improvement retail sponsor also served as presenting sponsor of the ESPN and NFL Network telecasts, activated around the 2020 Draft through an integrated, multi-phase campaign which sought to highlight the importance of the home.
An idea which emerged from the reality of COVID-19 #StayHome lockdown living.
In the week ahead of the Draft, the home improvement retailer tapped two leading prospects – Joe Burrow (the Heisman Trophy and National Championship winning LSU quarterback and Tuanigamanuolepola ‘Tua’ Tagovailoa (the much touted University of Alabama quarterback – for a series of surprise thank you video calls to Lowe’s staff.
The calls were promoted ahead of the draft on Lowe’s social channels and via the players’ Instagram accounts.
“I wanted to personally say thank you for everything you’re doing to keep the community running” – @Tuaamann
We’re immensely proud to call our Red Vest associates our home team. We’d like to join Tua in thanking them for tirelessly serving their neighborhoods day in and day out. pic.twitter.com/fSKOqrdkVc
— Lowe's (@Lowes) April 22, 2020
“As I look forward to getting a call I’ll never forget later this week, I wanted to call a few special people at @loweshomeimprovement in my hometown to thank them for everything they do for our community,” said a post on Burrows Instagram.
An additional local Lowe’s worker social video call spot saw Carolina Panthers star running back Christian Jackson McCaffrey surprise Charlotte associates, ask them what it was like to be at Lowe’s right now and thank them.
These were followed by a set of three television commercials which celebrate the comforts of home and reflected disrupted routines and quieter days.
The first spot debuted on ESPN on the opening day of the draft, 23 April, and the other two aired throughout the rest of the draft (24 and 25 April) and beyond.
All three ads celebrate the hard work of the company’s 300,000 employees and all feature the end line “Home is what unites us”.
One describes the Lowe’s workforce as the ‘home team’, another focuses on how employees have helped their communities during other crises and a third shows images of different kinds of homes – from an apartment in a city to a house in a suburban neighbourhood – to emphasise the commonality that everyone shares at the moment as Americans are stuck at home.
The message aims to resonate with the football fans, draft picks and sports commentators.
Outcome:
With the spots running during the three-day telecast, the television reach across the NFL Network, ESPN, ABC, ESPN Deportes and digital channels, totaled more than 55m viewers (according to an NFL press release) – with the average audience for the weekend of over 8.4m viewers 35% up on the 2019 draft.
In terms of social media statistics, the spots alone generated more than 266,000 views on Lowe’s own social platforms.
Comment:
This gutsy campaign shows a degree of strategic and economic bravery in the midst of a global crisis.
The 2020’s Draft was a remote, virtual affair due to the coronavirus pandemic, which meant plenty of challenges but also opportunities to start enacting a turnaround strategy.
According to Marisa Thalberg, Lowe’s Executive VP Chief Brand and Marketing Officer, it enabled to the retailer to adjust its marketing response accordingly and Lowe’s seems to be taking a bolder approach than before the crisis.
Lowe’s was planning on advertising during the Draft, but when ESPN approached with an offer to become the presenting sponsor of the event the company saw an opportunity.
“When the business landscape changed [due to coronavirus], ESPN lost its original presenting sponsor and approached us,” recalled Thalberg. “We said yes. As people are pulling out, we will lean in even more. It became clear that the best story for us to tell was who we are as a brand and a company. Lowe’s is the intersection of homes, community, and people, especially during times of crisis. Not just this pandemic, but tornadoes and hurricanes.”
“It’s this very curious situation where it’s the first live sports event in weeks – the players will be in their own homes finding out what their new home team and new home city will be,” said Thalberg (who previously worked at Taco Bell, Estee Lauder and Unilever Cosmetics International). “This campaign is a combination of just telling the story of who we’ve always been and who we are right now.”
The retailer’s stores have stayed open as it sells categorised ‘essential goods’, but the Spring usually sees a sales spike as customers come to Lowe’s to buy gardening items and get ready for renovation projects.
“We’ve always been here to help people everywhere improve, sustain, realize the potential of their homes,” added Thalberg. “That is what we do at a moment in history where home is the one place we’ve asked everyone to be. Home is what unites us right now.”
Of course, shooting, producing and edited ads during a pandemic is itself challenging and Lowe’s aimed to minimise fresh shooting where possible and use a smaller film crew. It supplemented this by digging out employee photos and footage from its archives, she said.
Lowe’s itself has not revised or withdrawn its previous investor financial guidance and t in March said that it is difficult to predict revenue patterns during the pandemic but still expected modest growth in the fiscal year despite the challenging business climate.
Perhaps because it defines two-thirds of its business is ‘nondiscretionary’ – such as items needed for home repairs and maintenance.
The Draft campaign follows on from its very much more in-person, physical-presence focused ‘Home Town’ big build fan zone activation at the 2020 Super Bowl (see case study).
Links:
Lowe’s
https://www.facebook.com/lowes
https://www.pinterest.com/lowes/
https://www.instagram.com/loweshomeimprovement/
https://www.youtube.com/user/Lowes
NFL
http://www.nflshop.com/source/bm-nflc…
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