In-a-Snap
Lowe’s Home Improvement
Issue 40 | September 2016
Agency
BBDO New York
Creative Team
Chief Creative Officer, BBDO Worldwide: David Lubars Chief Creative Officer, BBDO New York: Greg Hahn Executive Creative Director: Tim Bayne Senior Creative Directors: Mike Sweeney/Molly Adler ACD/Art Director: Carolyn Davis ACD/Copywriter: Matthew Page Creative Technologists: Bear Collins, Filip Williander
Production Team
Director of Integrated Production: David Rolfe Executive Producer: Kristin Tomborello Group Project Lead: Michael Gentile Agency Producer: Andrew Osborne Production Assistant: Jeff Reagan Production Company: Humble Director: David Bell Executive Producer: Persis Koch Producer: Chelsea Conklin
Other Credits
Account Team: Jim Reath/Bob Estrada/Antoinette Del Rio/Tyler Harris Senior Communications Planner: Nicole Landesman
Date
April 2016
Background
US home improvement chain Lowe's, affectionately known as the Big Box, is an experienced player in the content game, producing short videos to help homeowners improve their properties.
For the last few years it has been a big user of up-and-coming social media platforms (see previous entry, ‘Flipside’), targeting Millennials via Vine and Instagram. The trick is to find the right platform or channel in the right way for the right audience, complicated by the profusion of new vehicles and the way they develop additional features and applications.
This time it has used Snapchat, aiming to explain simple ways for householders to refresh their homes.
Idea
People go to Snapchat for the Stories, a feature that allows users to tap through a series of random videos from people they follow. The core is a tap-to-skip facility.
Lowe's used the tap-to-skip feature to create a physical reaction on the screen. A hand-held arrow showed users exactly where to tap, so they would feel like they were chiselling, drilling or sawing their way through several complete DIY projects.
By tapping in the right place, they could build a study nook, re-tile their kitchen backsplash or turn a hallway into a mudroom.
Each Snapchat Story contains up to 45 videos, all shot in-camera overnight, and ready to be consumed the following morning.
Each one was live for only 24 hours.
Results
Lowe's first foray into Snapchat attracted 8,700 followers and 300,000 views in just three days. Four out of five viewers interacted with each story right to the final frame. No paid media was involved.
Our Thoughts
It’s always tricky when brands use new(ish) platforms. If they don’t get it right, users are not only turned off the brand but the platform suffers too.
It feels to us that Lowe’s and BBDO NY got this first foray into Snapchat Stories bang on. The key is that the DIY films really do depend on the ‘tap’ function that is so integral to the platform.
To use an old-fashioned way of looking at it: medium and message (and brand) have come together as one.
As usual, there’s some subtle humour, notably the invitation to ‘tap’ the kettle on if you’ve done a good job.