Experiencing the Lowe's Brand
Lowe’s is a home improvement store that was founded in the 1946 in North Carolina. Sales grew so big over time that they expanded all across the United States, Canada and Mexico. Lowe’s has changed over time but still commits to offering high-quality home improvement products at everyday low prices, while delivering superior service. With more than 1,825 stores, they have 15 million customers each week.
Lowe’s states that they exist to help customers improve and maintain their biggest asset - their home. They do this by meeting the changing needs of their customers by providing inspiration and support whenever and wherever they shop. “Whether our customers shop in store, online, by phone, or if we’re meeting them at their home or place of business, Lowe’s is ready to help”.
The success of Lowe’s brand is largely due to it’s integrated marketing communication.
Lowe’s has synergy throughout all it’s advertising platforms. The interaction of its individual parts that results in the whole are greater than the sums of those parts.
Remember that it takes 7 touches for someone to take notice or act upon a call to action. The more channels you are on, the quicker this can happen. Lowe’s does this with perfection.
Lowe’s answers the customer’s question of “What is in it for me?” by being a brand that promises to improve your life.
In 2011, Lowe’s built a new brand strategy after a disappointing second quarter. The company ditched its “Let’s Build Something Together” tagline and replaced it with “Never Stop Improving”.
“‘Never Stop Improving’ is not just a tagline – it reflects our customer’s mindset about their homes and their lives,” said Tom Lamb, SVP marketing and advertising for Lowe’s. “Never Stop Improving is our promise to them that we will constantly be innovating and improving at Lowe’s so we can satisfy their ever changing needs. Our new campaign is our brand promise and our rallying cry for employees as we bring a continual stream of innovations to market over the next several years, like MyLowes.”
They launched their new brand with:
And a year later still continued with the promise of helping them improve their lives.
For the purpose of examining Lowe's IMC, we will take a Look at the their All for Fall campaign. Lowe's brand voice is friendly, inspiring, personal, fun and engaging.
Walking into a Lowe's you will their friendly help Do It Yourself inspirations for all things dealing with fall.
The best thing I saw at Lowe's was an inspirational tailgate for Gator fans. Look at the gallery of photos I shot while walking in Lowe's. The are so integrated that they share the same message that the have online even in their stores. Their use of advertisement is so great they once they got you in the store you will buy more than you planned to or get new ideas. I went in just to observe their marketing strategy and by the end I wanted to buy tiles!
In these days in which Do It Yourself projects seem like the only cheap reasonable option to redecorate a house or do quick fixes, home improvement stores have reigned. But just how does a home improvement chain remain relevant without shoving advertisements down our throats?
This week I shared on Twitter and Facebook a great article from Mashable. This article listed 15 brands that kick butt on Vine. I browsed through them and my favorite was Lowe's vines.
Lowes' uses Vine to show videos of cool home improvement tips and life hacks. The Business Insider said "the short videos strike a perfect balance between brand promotion and consumer usefulness".
Like Antony Young says in his book Brand Media Strategy context, relevance, and involvement have become important components in making communication more potent. Content is king, and consumers are who are in charge of what we want.
What I love about Lowe's vine videos is that they don't attempt to sell us products like some other companies instead they offer valuable content that we can put to use. With helpful life hacks they create a trustful relationship with the consumer.
But Lowe's doesn't only kick butt on Vine, surprisingly they get it right in social media aspects. I forget that I am looking at a huge home improvement company, when I look at their Pinterest account. Their 50 Project Under $50 board is shows budget friendly projects that in reality don't need you to come into their store but reinforce ideas of summer fun with grills and patios. Their Pinterest feels as if though you were following your friend's account and not a corporation's.
Facebook also reads as a DIY site. If they do post up their products they don't shove it in our faces but rather only post money saving deals.
Seriously go check out Lowe's social media accounts now! They are so great, definitely a company that is doing it right. So right that Tim Taylor would approve.
Lowe's follows the six components for IMC:
1. Brand: Their brand live in the hearts and minds of customers, not on the side of a package. They are their to improve the lives of their customers.
2. Brand messages: Their brand message are so helpful that the customer wants to engage with them
3. Marketing Communications: They have many types of planned messages to through many mediums to build their brand
4. Multimedia: The use of twitter, facebook, vine, newsletters, email blasts and advertisements help them advance their social media startegy.
5. Customer’s Brand Experiences: Just walking into Lowe's I begin to experience what they had promised all along. Easy do-it yourself projects that can improve my home.
6. Evaluating, Planning and Social Media: Lowe's is so great at monitoring their brand and perceptions that they are always responding to their customers through social media.