IMC_Campaign

PRESENTED BY: TERESA M COMPTON
IMC 610 EARLY FALL 2015
INTEGRATED MARKETING
COMMUNICATION PLAN FOR 2016
GET CONNECTED WITH THE HOME DEPOT AND GET CONNECTED TO YOUR HOME.

The Home Depot Integrated Marketing Campaign 2
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Get Connected with The Home Depot and Get Connected to Your Home. ...........................................................................1
Executive Summary.................................................................................................................................................................3
Background Information.........................................................................................................................................................4
Competitors ..........................................................................................................................................................................11
Target Audience....................................................................................................................................................................14
SWOT Analysis.......................................................................................................................................................................17
Marketing Objectives and Strategies....................................................................................................................................20
Creative Strategy Statement.................................................................................................................................................22
Creative Brief ........................................................................................................................................................................24
Sample Creative Content ......................................................................................................................................................25
Media Objectives ..................................................................................................................................................................26
Media Flow Chart..................................................................................................................................................................34
Public Relations.....................................................................................................................................................................35
Direct Marketing...................................................................................................................................................................38
Sales Promotion....................................................................................................................................................................42
Evaluation Plan......................................................................................................................................................................45
Conclusion.............................................................................................................................................................................46

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
The Home Depot, Inc enjoys the top spot among home improvement retailers in the United States. The
success the company has seen over the past 37 years has been built on offering quality products and service.
The commitment to customer and community service has solidified their place as a household name in
America.
As a home improvement store, competitive atmosphere for The Home Depot is shifting. The dependence on
the housing market is a problem, as over the past 10 years it has been volatile. A shift in homeownership to
renting could threaten The Home Depot’s profitability over the next 10 years.
That is why this integrated marketing campaign aims to get ahead of the challenge. It aims to develop a
relationship with an entirely new type of customer who will become the core customer of our future.
Millennials are the next upcoming generation, and they are rejecting the ideals of their parents by delaying
childbirth and homeownership. This is the ‘connected’ generation. Acclaimated to technology, impatient, and
creative. We will adapt our message to appeal to their lifestyle and start a relationship with them.
This plan is a comprehensive Integrated Marketing Communications plan. It not only covers the objectives,
execution, and evaluation of the campaign, but encompasses a completely rounded approach to reaching our
target market. Traditional and digital media, Public relations, Direct Marketing, and Sales Promotion will all
work together to compel our target audience to get connected to The Home Depot.

BACKGROUND INFORMATION
BEGINNINGS
The Home Depot has been incorporated since June 29th
, 1978, and opened the first store in Atlanta, GA in 1979 (The
Home Depot, Inc.). It was founded by Bernie Marcus and Arthur Blank (The Home Depot, Inc., n.d.). The company has
its roots in do-it-yourself philosophy, and in the early days, emphasis was placed on empowering customers to
complete their own home improvement projects.
The company’s financial history is also important, the company’s stock went public on September 22, 1981 for $12 a
share and is now a publicly traded company on the New York Stock exchange. The company has split its stock 13 times,
and the last stock split was on December 30th
, 1999 (The Home Depot, Inc.). It was originally traded on the NASDAQ,
and moved to the New York Stock Exchange in the late 1980’s.
The Home Depot, Inc. has made several important acquisitions throughout its history. They expanded into Canada with
the purchase of Aikenhead Hardware in 1994 (The Home Depot Canada, n.d.). In the mid-2000’s they acquired
National Waterworks Supply, a supply company for maintaining wastewater systems (Cleary Gottlieb, 2005), and also
several closely held construction companies (Cleary Gottlieb, 2005).
More recently, The Home Depot acquired the web company Redbeacon, a networking site for consumers to connect
with professionals for home maintenance, in 2012 (Cleary Gottlieb, 2012), and also invested in acquiring could-based
software company Black Lotus (Cleary Gottlieb, 2013).
CORE VALUES & MISSION STATEMENT
The Home Depot has 8 value statements that guide the actions of the company, and they also serve as the company’s
mission statement. They are quoted as follows:
“The Home Depot is in the home improvement business and our goal is to provide the highest level of
service, the broadest selection of products and the most competitive prices. We are a values-driven company
and our eight core values include the following (The Home Depot, Inc., n.d.):

• Taking care of our people:
The key to our success is treating people well. We do this by encouraging associates to speak up
and take risks, by recognizing and rewarding good performance and by leading and developing
people so they may grow.
• Giving back to our communities:
An important part of the fabric of The Home Depot is giving our time, talents, energy and
resources to worthwhile causes in our communities and society.
• Doing the right thing:
We exercise good judgment by "doing the right thing" instead of just "doing things right." We
strive to understand the impact of our decisions, and we accept responsibility for our actions.
• Excellent customer service:
Along with our quality products, service, price and selection, we must go the extra mile to give
customers knowledgeable advice about merchandise and to help them use those products to their
maximum benefit.
• Creating shareholder value:
The investors who provide the capital necessary to allow our company to grow need and expect a
return on their investment. We are committed to providing it.
• Building strong relationships:
Strong relationships are built on trust, honesty and integrity. We listen and respond to the needs
of customers, associates, communities and vendors, treating them as partners.
• Entrepreneurial spirit:
The Home Depot associates are encouraged to initiate creative and innovative ways of serving our
customers and improving the business and to spread best practices throughout the company.

• Respect for all people:
In order to remain successful, our associates must work in an environment of mutual respect, free
of discrimination and harassment where each associate is regarded as a part of The Home Depot
team. (The Home Depot, Inc., n.d.)
FIGURE 1 - VIA THE HOME DEPOT
The Home Depot’s value statements make it clear that the IMC campaign must be family, community, and relationship
oriented. The annual report and investor relations team place a heavy emphasis on highlighting community
involvement and charitable giving in reports and communications to investors and stakeholders (The Home Depot,
Inc., 2015).
FINANCIAL SNAPSHOT
As of the Second Quarter of 2015, The Home Depot had reported $24.8 billion in revenue, which was an increase of
over 4% from the Second Quarter of 2014. In other comparisons to 2014, gross margin has increased 6 points, and
earnings were up by 100 million dollars, to $2.2 billion (The Home Depot, Inc.).
Earlier in 2015, The Home Depot, Inc. made a major acquisition they expect to increase their earnings by the end of the
fiscal year. The company acquired Interline Brands, a facilities maintenance and repair company. This was a strategic
move to take advantage of the increase in renters and decline in homeownership (Reuters, 2015).

Right now, The Home Depot is coming off of a very successful summer, with big-ticket items leading the way for high
summer earnings. The improving economy and housing market are given some credit, but the decline of competitors
and a recent expansion in product offerings is also to be credited (Kell, 2015).
The company now owns and operates over 2,200 stores in the US, China, Mexico, and Canada. It also maintains a web
presence at www.homedepot.com, and other localized domains (The Home Depot, Inc., n.d.).
Currently, the Home Depot is the 5th
largest retailer in the world, the 4th
largest in the US. They are the largest Home
Improvement Retailer globally (The Home Depot, Inc., n.d.).
PRODUCTS AND SERVICES
The Home Depot views its customers’ homes as not only a financial investment, but an emotional one as well. For this
reason, The Home Depot aims to provide all the products and services necessary to create their dream living space,
with innovation at the forefront of their product strategy. Each store has an in-store inventory of up to 40,000
products, and The Home Depot is able to special order 250,000 other products not offered in store. The average store
is 105,000 square feet, with an outdoor space of 23,000 square feet. (The Home Depot, Inc., n.d.).
The Home Depot’s product inventory primarily consists of building materials, home improvement supplies, appliances
and lawn and garden products. They also stock exclusive and house brand products that cannot be found anywhere
else, such as tools from Ryobi and RIDGID, paint from BEHR, appliances from LG, and lawn equipment from Toro and
Cub Cadet (The Home Depot, Inc., n.d.). They have also created brands when no national brand exists, such as Its
Hampton Bay brand ceiling fans, and they have also on a limited basis developed licensed branded products such as
Thomasville kitchen cabinets (Engal, 2002).
Services are also a part of The Home Depot’s offering. These services are broken down into four categories: Home
Services, Serving the Pro Customer, Free How-to Clinics, and Kid’s Workshops. Home Services allows access to pre-
screened independent contractors to complete jobs for them. The consultations are often free and on-site. On the
other side of the equation, Serving the Pro Customer targets the contractors and workers themselves, offering service
and support to make them more successful. They enjoy a dedicated service desk, loyalty program, credit, and other

programs. How-To Clinics and Kids’ workshops are demonstrations and interactive classes that train on specific
projects. These are offered every Saturday and Sunday (The Home Depot, Inc., n.d.).
PRICING STRATEGY
The Home Depot has a low-cost strategy, and aims to offer the lowest prices of its competitors. In fact, the Home
Depot offers a 10% low-price guarantee, so if a competitor does have a lower price, home Depot can beat it (The Home
Depot, Inc., n.d.). Home Depot has both big and small ticket items, and with serving individuals, families, as well as
large companies, the amount per ticket must vary widely.
CURRENT MARKETING EFFORTS
The Home Depot’s current marketing employs the slogan “More Saving. More Doing” and utilizes a consistent orange,
white, and black color pallet.
PUBLIC RELATIONS
The Home Depot, in line with its values, demonstrates a commitment to charity and philanthropy.
The Home Depot Foundation provides grants, donates products, and facilitates volunteer projects that build or
improve housing for US military veterans. The Home Depot publishes the information about these efforts online (The
Home Depot Foundation, 2015).
Home Depot sponsors veteran education support program sponsorships, accessibility projects to help disabled people,
and the Home Depot can be found helping at nearly every natural disaster nationwide. The most recent were the Sand
Springs tornado and the flooding in Texas in Oklahoma. Recently, Home Depot gains publicity for these efforts, as well
as when a milestone passes for these disasters. For instance, the tenth anniversary of Hurricane Katrina, so The Home
Depot was able to release photos of how they have been involved (The Home Depot, 2015).
In other areas of public Relations, Home Depot also is prepared with a crisis management plan. In 2014, the company
suffered a massive data breach, and customers’ card information was compromised. The company quickly moved to

create a website section devoted to the breach, send out a press release, and set in motion identity protection for
affected customers (The Home Depot, 2014).
PRINT
Weekly print ads are still utilized by The Home Depot, but they are moving away from it. They are seeing better returns
on interconnected retail technology and interactive channels of marketing. This time last year, the company had cut
print ad spending by 60% since 2010 (Gara, 2014).
TELEVISION
The most recent TV spots for The Home Depot featuring the slogan “Let’s Do This” have been released in both English
and Spanish, demonstrating commitment to reaching the Hispanic community though the television medium. The ads
inform consumers on value added services that The Home Depot offers, such as their mobile paint color app,
workshops for home improvement projects, and warranties on carpet. Pricing information or special offers are always
presented at the end of the commercial (The Home Depot TV Ads, 2015).
SOCIAL MEDIA
Home Depot manages multiple social media channels for different aspects of its business. The company’s YouTube
channel posts daily short videos with guides, news, and corporate information. The corporate twitter posts
information on workshops, charity work, and specials. Home Depot provides customers with inspiration on Pinterest,
pinning their own products in styled settings. The company’s Facebook page is only updated every few days, the
majority of the effort being funneled into answering customer service complaints and interacting with customers in
the comments.
WEB
Several websites and subdomains are managed by The Home Depot, and they all have their own design, layout, and
content structure. A few of their more distinct web properties are:

The Home Depot Foundation (thehomedepotfoundation.org) – dedicated to informing people about the programs
offered for veterans.
Built from Scratch (builtfromscratch.homedepot.com) – another blog style site that showcases The Home Depot’s
disaster relief efforts and other philanthropic efforts and charity work.
Red Beacon (http://www.redbeacon.com/) – connects homeowners with licensed and pre-screened professional
contractors.
Of course, there is also the major main e-commerce sites where the company sells nearly 250,000 products. These are
thehomedepot.com, thehomedepot.ca and thehomedepot.com.mx.

COMPETITORS
LOWES
Lowes is considered the leading competitor to Home Depot, because it is the largest store of similar mission and
product offering. However, comparing information for both companies, Lowes has about 400 less stores, and has less
square footage for store. The company had $56.2 billion dollars in 2014. The slogan for Lowes is “Never Stop
Improving.” (Lowes, n.d.)
Financial - Lowes is doing excellent financially. Their Q2 2015 earnings were 8.4% higher than this time last year. They
made headlines by declaring a dividend in August because they were doing so well, that dividend will be paid
November 5th
and should raise their stock price. Earlier in the year, they had an excess of cash and returned $5 billion
to shareholders, and declared another dividend. They have purchased 13 old leases from Target this year, meaning
they are set on expanding even more (Lowes, 2015).
Current Marketing Efforts - One of Lowes biggest strengths is its direct marketing and sales promotion thorough its
MyLowes loyalty program. The program connects customers to a database that tracks their instore and online
purchases. Lowes has designed several email campaigns based on a user’s purchasing history, and delivers targeted
communications based on what they have bought, and actually makes an attempt to predict what they will buy next
(Henneberry, 2013).
Lowes also has a comprehensive digital and social media marketing strategy. Lowes has made efforts to optimize its
ecommerce mobile site for ease of use (eMarketer, 2014). Lowes made headlines by having the first Instagram time-
lapse video during the Superbowl in 2014. Lowes continues to advertise on Instagram as well as maintain a presence
on other major social networks such as Twitter, Facebook, and Pinterest. They actively respond to mentions and
comments, publish original content, and consistently takes risks on new social platforms (Williams, 2014).

ACE HARDWARE
“Ace is the Place with the Helpful Hardware Folks.” The company is more global than Lowes or Home Depot, and
operates more than 4,700 stores. However, the product selection is more limited, as is the average square footage of
each store. Ace Hardware stores are locally owned and operated, so a unified marketing effort on their part is perhaps
somewhat harder to coordinate (Ackroyd & Venhuizen, n.d.).
Financial – Ace Hardware’s earnings are much lower than that of Home Depot or Lowes, because it deals mainly in
wholesaling and franchising its retail locations. However, their net income from both aspects of their business has
grown over the last 3 years, totaling 131 million in 2014 (Earnst & Young PLLC, 2015).
Current Marketing Efforts – As a value-added service to their franchisees, Ace Hardware Corporation provides
advertising, marketing, and merchandising services. They heavily rely on their retail partners to deliver on their brand
promise of helpful, neighborly service to every customer, every time. To enhance that brand promise, they began
testing express delivery from Ace Hardware stores in 2015 (Smith N. , 2015). Ace Hardware provides support to its

franchisees trying to develop their own marketing plan including help with brand development, traditional media, local
store marketing, community involvement, public relations, and consumer loyalty programs (Ace Hardware, 2015).
They have also secured a multi-year sponsorship deal with the PGA Tour making it the "Official Hardware Store of the
PGA Tour and Champions Tour." (Lazare, 2015)
OTHER COMPETITORS
While not considered direct competitors, Wal-Mart, Best Buy, and similar stores all have product selection overlap
with The Home Depot. Wal-Mart has much overlap on smaller ticket items like fixtures, tools, gardening, and basic
necessities. Best Buy would be a competitor for the appliances department.

TARGET AUDIENCE
CURRENT CUSTOMER BASE
The Home Depot currently describes its target market as homeowners, both do it yourself and do-it-for-me. In the US,
on average, the home ownership rate increases as age does, and the home ownership rate doesn’t get over 50% until
you pass into the above 35 cohort. There are more homeowners over the age of 75 than in their 20’s or 30’s combined.
Therefore, we can conclude The Home Depot is getting much of their business from that demographic (Brown,
Homeownership Rates by Age Group, 2015).
The independent contractor that The Home Depot tries to reach with its Pro program is most likely a male over the age
of 35 (TED: The Economics Daily, 2005).
POTENTIAL MARKET
Millennials have not historically been interested in The Home Depot. This challenging market is characterized by low
rates of home ownership and delayed milestones such as having children (Fromm, 2014). However, they can no longer
be ignored, they’re the most diverse generation in the US Population, as well as the largest (The Council of Economic
Advisors, 2014). In addition, Home Depot has, by the demographic makeup of the construction profession, in the past
attracted more male consumers, but more women are involved in the do-it-yourself trend than ever before. In order to
increase sales and secure their future, Home Depot needs to gain market share among the new generation of family,
and target men and women equally. The specific subsection of millennial we will target is full-time working, college
educated men and women ages 25-35.
DEMOGRAPHIC
According to the US Census, women aged 25-34 with an associate’s degree who work full time earn an average of 36k
a year. Women with a bachelor’s degree or higher earn 52k. Men in our target age range are earning a bit more, 48
and 67 thousand a year with associates or Bachelor’s degrees, respectively (US Census Bureau, 2012).

Overall, Millennials are less likely to be homeowners, get married later, and are less likely to be parents. Our specific
subset of college educated millennials are flocking to urban areas, and they are more likely to have studied a social
science than previous generations.
This age group makes up an estimated 13.5% of the US population (United States Census Bureau, 2014). Close to 80
percent of workers in this age group are a part of a dual-income couple in which both parties work full time (Schute,
2015). Millennials number over 80 million in the US and have an estimate 200 billion in buying power per year
(Schawbel, 2015).
PSYCHOGRAPHIC
The great news for Home Depot is that millennials highly value creativity, community, and family. They report that
creativity is important both at work and home. They are also highly motivated to make a social impact and make the
world a better place (The Council of Economic Advisors, 2014).
POTENTIAL CUSTOMER PROFILE
This is Jeremy, 29 and Candace, 31.
Jeremy and Candace are a married couple renting an apartment in the suburbs of Jacksonville, FL. They met in college
on a dating website, and moved in together shortly after graduation. Jeremy earns $48,000 a year, is a veterinary
technician at a local animal hospital, and Candace is an executive director of a small nonprofit with a salary of $42,000.
They also have a small dog, Albus.

Jeremy and Candace have both considered home ownership, but like many millennials, are still paying off student
loans, and are not ready to purchase yet. However, their middle class income with no kids allows them to afford a
townhome in the suburbs, with a large yard, garage, and back porch. They like to spend money on travelling and
experiences, rather than things.
Jeremy and Candace value family, so they like doing things together. They also value community, and on weekends
often make elaborate meals for friends that they found on Pinterest. They are extremely creatively, and take pride in
their home and decorate as much as possible to reflect their individual personalities. They are gluten-free, love to shop
local, and are very socially progressive in comparison to their parents.
Jeremy and Candace are still forming attitudes about home improvement and do-it-yourself retailers. There is a huge
opportunity for someone to create a relationship with them and earn their loyalty, which they will carry into their
home-owning years.

SWOT ANALYSIS
Strengths
- Exclusive and proprietary products
- Currently leading home improvement retailer
- Most Locations
- Biggest Selection
- More Resources
- Strategic Acquisitions
- Proactive with multilingual communications
Weaknesses
- Inconsistent/Unresponsive Web Presence
- Recent PR Troubles
- High level of debt
Opportunities
- Leverage Tech acquisitions to reach new customers
- Flexible interactive channels to engage and teach
customers on their time
- Willingness of Millennials to share personal
information
- Renting on the rise
Threats
- Homeownership in decline among target market
- Competition also targeting our target market
- Strong financial performance from competitors
- Dependent on US economy conditions
- Bad weather
STRENGTHS
Ryobi and RIDGID tools, BEHR paint, LG appliances, and Toro and Cub Cadet lawn tools, and Home Depot’s national
brands, all provide them with a competitive advantage, as these products can only be purchased from Home Depot.

With 2200 locations, and over 250,000 products available in-store and for special order, The Home Depot is the leader
in its industry. Q2 2015 revenues are already over 4% more than in 2014. It is clear they are poised for a successful
year (The Home Depot, Inc., n.d.). The Home Depot has also made strategic acquisitions in tech recently, including
website RedBeacon (Cleary Gottlieb, 2012), and software company Black Lotus (Cleary Gottlieb, 2013). Since 25% of
our target age range speak a language other than English at home (Egan, 2015), the Home Depot’s proactive approach
to multilingual signage and communications puts them ahead.
WEAKNESSES
The Home Depot, Inc. operates a plethora of web sites, including thehomedepot.com, thehomedepotfoundation.org,
and builtfromscratch.com. In addition to an inconsistent design, most of the sites have limited responsiveness to
mobile and tablet devices:
Image via Google
Consistent design throughout corporate web communication can make our target market feel at home no matter
which The Home Depot site they find themselves on. Less clicks to get to what they need is crucial to converting to
sales (Smith T. , 2010). Responsiveness is important now more than ever, with Google penalizing sites that are
considered “Not Mobile Friendly” (Google, Inc., 2015).
In 2014, The Home Depot had a data breach, and millions of customers had their data compromised. The fallout of
that left customers questioning their security shopping there (The Home Depot, 2014). Consumers need to have
confidence that their data is safe at The Home Depot. Another public relations problem emerged this year from
confusion about its Veteran’s discount policy (Cipriani, 2015). They changed the policy to include only certain types of
veterans. Despite their efforts with The Home Depot Foundation, the company still faces backlash on social media, and
articles emerge as The Home Depot becomes an easy target for the media.

The Home Depot is in a disproportionate amount of debt, and could negatively impact The Home Depots ash flow in
future years. They currently carry 16.9 billion dollars in debt versus Lowe’s 10 billion (Trefis Team, 2015).
OPPORTUNITIES
The Home Depot’s recent acquisitions could possibly position them to lead the way in bringing home improvement and
technology together, therefore reaching tech-savvy customers. To suit the millennial attitude of “do-it-for-me,”
RedBeacon could be the new go-to site for hiring professionals. With a massive library and backlog of instructional
materials and DIY tutorials, Home Depot could expand their interactive trainings to beyond the weekends and reach
customers on their own schedule. After all, technology use, especially mobile, is prevalent among our target market
(Egan, 2015).
Our target market is more willing to give up their personal information, making a Customer Relationship Management
program more effective. Also, nearly 87% of our target market is on Facebook, so we can gather information abd
interact with them that way as well (Egan, 2015).
Also, as homeownership declines in the target market (Brown, Homeownership Rates by Age Group, 2015), Home
Depot has the opportunity to also target landlords and property maintenance staff, and cater products and services to
make loyal customers.
THREATS
As mentioned before, homeownership in our target market is low, and so they may not have the power to make large
home renovations, a major source of The Home Depot’s business. Lowes has joined Pinterest and Vine, so it can be
concluded that they also have their sights set on gaining a following with millennials on social media.
The Home Depot faces strong financial performance from its competitor Lowes. Lately Lowes has been gaining press
and more investors since they have declared a dividend twice this year, and bought back an excess of $5 billion in
stock. Bad weather can also have an effect on The Home Depot’s sales since weather generally has to be nice to build
and do work outdoors. January is normally the worst month for The Home Depot (Caplinger, 2014).

MARKETING OBJECTIVES AND STRATEGIES
In order to guide The Home Depot’s Integrated Marketing Campaign over a year’s time, a set of measurable marketing
objectives have been set.
INCREASE THE PERCENTAGE OF SALES COMING FROM THEHOMEDEPOT.COM FROM 4.5% IN 2014 TO 7% BY
TARGETING A YOUNGER GENERATION (25-35) THAT PREFERS SHOPPING ONLINE.
 To increase online sales, we will drive traffic to our site with a well-rounded and targeted digital strategy.
 We will leverage our website and new interconnected retail business and logistics model and create awareness
of our BOPUS (Buy Online, Pick Up in Store) and BOSS (Buy Online, Ship to Store) shopping options.
 Integrate all of our creative content across owned media to easily drive the customer to purchase the products
featured.
Measurement: Use our internal accounting to determine the percentage of sale generated from our online store.
Use loyalty program and geographical data to estimate percentage of age group.
INCREASE THE PERCENTAGE OF THEHOMEDEPOT.COM SALES ORIGINATING ON MOBILE DEVICES BY 10% IN
12 MONTHS BY TARGETING MILLENNIALS 25-35 WHO ARE ALREADY FAMILIAR WITH MULTI-DEVICE
SHOPPING.
 To increase sales on mobile devices, we will highlight its usability and show that it is an organic part of the in-
store shopping process.
 Multi-device shopping will be a central idea around which our marketing communications will be centered.
Measurement: Online analytics focused on our checkout process can tell us how many sales originated from mobile
and tablet devices using media queries. Use loyalty program and geographical data to estimate percentage of age
group.
INCREASE EXPOSURE TO OUR INTERACTIVE TRAINING BY 25% AMONG TARGET AUDIENCE IN 12 MONTHS
BY BROADENING OUR CHANNELS OF DELIVERING THAT CONTENT, AND GEARING IT TOWARDS RENTERS
AND HOMEOWNERS ALIKE.
 To increase exposure to interactive trainings and tutorials, we will create a content strategy to disperse this
information across multiple channels where our target audience will be most receptive.

 By broadening our definition of training, we can treat the creative content we produce to inspire and instruct
our audience as a chance to earn their trust and loyalty, just like our in-store training.
 To relate this content to our target audience of millennials 25-35, we will shift from major renovation projects to
projects that a renter would be allowed and equipped to do.
Measurement: Compare attendance numbers from 2014 in-store training workshops and online tutorial views with
the same numbers from 2015, but include blog traffic (where most of our creative content will live.)
INCREASE THE RATE OF ENROLLMENT IN OUR LOYALTY PROGRAM BY 5%.
 To grow the enrollment in our loyalty program among our target market, we use exclusive discounts, and make
synonymous with registration to purchase from the Home Depot online channels.
Measurement: Compare the number of checkouts vs. checkouts that resulted in loyalty enrollment in the last year,
and do the same at the end of our campaign.
INCREASE SALES FROM OUR TARGET AUDIENCE BY 15% IN 12 MONTHS.
 To increase sales, online and in-store with our target market, we will specifically cater an advertising and
promotion strategy to highlight projects appropriate for renters, the selection of everyday essentials available,
and ease of shopping in store with the mobile app.
Measurement – Conduct study at the beginning of campaign using survey methods at 5 different Home Depot
stores across the country as well as after-checkout surveys on thehomedepot.com. This is in addition to loyalty
program data that can compare purchases and captures age data as well.

CREATIVE STRATEGY STATEMENT
RATIONAL BENEFITS
- Consistent access to The Home Depot on all our devices
- Products that are useful for renters
- Education on our time
- Lowest Prices
- Largest Selection
- Ease of Shopping in Store
EMOTIONAL BENEFITS
- Making our space our own
- Creative Expression
- Personally connected to our space
- Pride in the things we create ourselves
ACCEPTED STATEMENT
“Get connected with The Home Depot,
and get creative with your home.”

CREATIVE BRIEF
Why are we advertising?
The Home Depot enables us to easily access what we need to be creative with our home.
Whom are we talking to?
Millennials, who work full time, and may rent their home.
What do they currently think?
The Home Depot isn’t easily accessible or consistent on all my devices, ordering is cumbersome, and they
only have products for people who own their homes anyway.
What would we like them to think?
The Home Depot is easily accessible from wherever I am, and they sell what I need to make my home my
own, whether I rent or own.
What is the single most persuasive idea we can convey?
The Home Depot fits perfectly into their lifestyle, and so does home improvement.
Why should they believe it?
Shopping from The Home Depot will be easy from anywhere, and we will show them projects for renters and
homeowners alike.
Are there any creative guidelines?
 Logo must be in the corner with no border around it.
 Design according to flat design principles, minimal drop shadows, minimal beveling, and simplicity. Less
is more.
 Any solid background behind the logo must extend outward from it and use color PMS 165 (orange)

SAMPLE CREATIVE CONTENT
 Shows The Home Depot is available on a mobile device
 Showcases simple, lightweight design
 Article that is featured is applicable to renter or homeowner
 Woman featured appears to be in our target age range
 She is engaging with the page she is on
 She is with friends, appealing to the Millennials that value community.
(Zoomed in picture of Website Mock Up below with example content.)

MEDIA OBJECTIVES
It is the job of our paid media plan to accomplish several objectives related to meeting our overall goals for the IMC
campaign. The goals of this campaign center on our e-commerce and digital solutions, so in large part the campaign is
digital and social in nature.
OBJECTIVE 1: REACH 60% OF THE TARGET MARKET 12 OR MORE TIMES OVER A 12 MONTH
PERIOD VIA DIGITAL MEDIA, SOCIAL MEDIA, AND MOBILE. MEASURED IN CLICKS,
IMPRESSIONS, LIKES, AND FOLLOWS.
STRATEGY A: CONTENT MARKETING
A paid content marketing plan that include DIY How-To’s and Tips that are relevant to our target market and can
apply to renters or homeowners. This content lives on The Home Depot owned media channels.
Tactics
We will produce listicles and how-to’s to empower the renting DIYer. These posts will spark inspiration
into our target market and be achievable and relatable. The content marketing strategy also includes
promotion of this content by millennial influencers.
This content is the driving force behind our message that by connecting with The Home Depot,
millennial renters are getting more intimate with their space and making it theirs. While our other
marketing efforts push that idea, this content must be there in order to live up to that promise.
Listicles
Examples: 13 DIY Projects To Make The Most of Your Small Porch, 10 Cool Birdhouses That Adults Will
Actually Want To Build
Listicles should be concise and subject matter catchy and different. They can be novel, but still mostly
relevant and realistic. The actual projects can be sourced from other sites and DIY influencers, with a
call to action at the end that purchasing everything for these projects is easy at The Home Depot, Inc.
These should be relevant to renters especially.

Timing: 12 throughout the year. These shareable listicles must have sufficient time to be produced and
be shared before we introduce another one. The hope is to create a list digestable and catchy enough
for it to go ‘viral’ and a month between posts gives us time to evaluate that.
Budget: $25,000 for photography and materials needed for the production of these listicles.
How-To’s
The marketing team should brainstorm and come up with 12 safe, easy Do-It-Yourself projects that will
make millennials lives easier. These should be functional furniture pieces, storage solutions, or enhance
the social spaces in their home. These projects should be made into blog posts with step by step
instructions, as well as tutorial videos.
Timing: 12 throughout year, second week of every month. Once again, these require time to be
produced, and we want to give everyone a chance to try the how-to, ask questions, or share the how-to
before we introduce another. The second week of every month staggers it with the listicle so we are
not putting out content on the same day.
Budget: $75,000 for videography, photography, and materials for production of this content.
Blog Posts
Examples: Must-Have Products For Protecting Your Floors, This Storage Hack is Life Changing!
These posts shouldn’t be projects, but more tips and tricks for everyday efficiency and protection. The
Home Depot stocks essentials like cleaning supplies, furniture pads, adhesive hooks, that renters can
use to protect their apartment from damage. They also have storage solutions, cooking gear, and other
products that are useful. These blog posts should be presented as ‘hacks’ that our target audience can
implement right away. These posts will be promoted both by our paid media and PR tactics.
Timing: Every other week throughout the campaign. This is to allow significant time to pass between
posts to maximize engagement and reply to comments and questions.
Budget: $25,000 for photography and supplies for content creation.

Promotion
Several of the listicles should be ‘partner’ or ‘sponsored’ posts on sites like Buzzfeed, Refinery29,
HelloGiggles, and anywhere else our target audience gets their inspiration from.
Timing: Approx $100,000 gets us 5 articles promoted on sites like these, since you have to sign a
contract for multiple articles. We will do two contracts, for 10 total promoted articles. These will be
placed strategically throughout the year before our big social media sponsorships such as our youtube
front page promotion, out sponsored hashtag, and our sponsored snapchat day.
Budget: $500,000 (Shafer, 2013).
Evaluation
This content will live on The Home Depot’s owned media channels where we can easily have analytics tell us
the unique page views and where traffic came from. However, it will not tell us ages or occupations of these
people, so a pre- and post- focus group should be conducted every 4 months. (3 Times)
Budget: $38,400 (iTracks, 2015)
Total Budget For Strategy A: $663,400
STRATEGY B: PAID SOCIAL MEDIA MARKETING
A paid social media marketing plan that promotes our content and also drives likes and follows for the various
company pages. Budget: 25% for Facebook Ads, Twitter for Business, Instagram Ads, Snapchat Advertising,
YouTube, as well as paying millennial influencers to promote our content. Our paid social media marketing plan
promotes both our content and the idea that connecting with The Home Depot, Inc. is easy and useful.
Tactics
Instagram
Instagram has over 400 million users, and more than 60% of them fall into our target market.
Therefore, we should spend advertising dollars here to promote ads. Instagram ads are rare and cut
through clutter, doing 7x better with ad recall than other mediums according to Neilson (Giustino,
2015).
Our Instagram ads should have a ‘story’ feel to them. We should aim to leave an impression and aim to
get them to follow our account, which will be what our call to action links to. Example: A scrollable ad

that has projects and pictures “Get Inspired.” “Do More” “Customize Your Space” “Follow Us for
Inspiration”
Timing: Two Instagram ads spaced evenly throughout the year, after TV ads have run for the first one
and after the snapchat feature and youtube home page promotion for the other.
Budget: $700,000 for production and sponsorship (Hejny, 2015) (Giustino, 2015).
Twitter
We should have our account promoted among the Twitter accounts in our target market. We should
also specifically target those interested in interior design or home décor. Promoted tweets should
reinforce the idea that our account is useful for getting inspired, and should use twitter’s targeting
ability based on keywords and interests (no age targeting is available). In addition, we should also
promote tweets about our mobile app with direct links to it in the iOS and Android App Stores, because
60% of Twitter’s 200 million users log in from mobile devices (Raehsler, 2014). We are also going to
sponsor the hashtag #HomeDepotDIYChallenge when our contest begins (talks about in the Direct
Marketing section).
Timing: Sponsored Tweets will change out every 2 weeks, this is to keep promoting new content
produced by our content marketing strategy, and also to adjust our strategy as we go along.
Budget: $500,000
Facebook
Facebook Ads should be the most specifically targeted, due to Facebook’s ability to break accounts
down beyond demographic information and into interests and income. Our targeted ads should be
tailored to different interests. Example, we segment our target market even further by having higher
income audience see ads for more luxurious and expensive projects, and lower income could see an ad
for our listicle for DIY’s to save them money.
The content of the ads should be sales promotion such as a coupon, or promoting a cool DIY project we
have on our owned media channels.

The average cost per click for retail stores on Facebook is $0.31, which is why this and other social
media demand such a large portion of the budget. However, they also have the most robust reporting
tools regarding impressions and clicks, so we can very early on adjust our strategy if something isn’t
working.
Timing: Facebook ads should be changed bi-monthly to coincide with holidays, seasons, and other
milestones that could possibly prompt a DIY project and to keep the content posted fresh.
Budget: $500,000
Snapchat Feature
One Snapchat feature post will invite users who attend a Home Depot Workshop on one Saturday
during the year nationwide to post snapchats to their featured event. This will be a 24 hour promotion.
Since it is our goal to increase sales instore and online, this will give visibility to our target market
actively being in our stores and learning. Other category leaders have been using snapchat in similar
ways, and with nearly 100 million users, most of them under 35 (Sloane, 2015), we should see a great
return on investment.
We will promote the day a few weeks in advance with instore signage and through local and national
PR.
Timing: One snapchat sponsorship
Budget: $760,000 (Sloane, 2015) for snapchat sponsorship and signage design
You Tube
We will have 2 YouTube Front Page Promotions at the beginning of the campaign and half way through.
These will promote our tutorials to the front page and generate traffic to the blog and website.
According to historical numbers, our video could see as many as 45 million views, 10 million watching
to the end, and as many as 100,000 clicking through to the website link (Sacks, 2011).

The front page promotions will showcase the best of our DIY content creation, and be a compelling
project that encourages those in our target market not only to watch but to click through and see how
they can do it themselves.
We will also run targeted ads on DIY Influencer channels that are short versions of our TV Spots that
remind viewers to get everything they need for their project on thehomedepot.com.
Timing: Two YouTube front page sponsorships, spaced evenly throughout the campaign for maximum
effectiveness.
Budget: $160,000 for Youtube Front Page Promotion and Ads (Sacks, 2011).
Evaluation
We will rely on the measurement and targeting tools of these social media channels to evaluate our
performance when we can. However, we should still do pre- and post- online surveys to determine the
effectiveness of Snapchat sponsorships.
Budget: $20,000
Total Budget for Strategy B: $2,620,000
STRATEGY C: PAID DIGITAL MEDIA MARKETING
A paid digital media plan that include banner images, and promotional videos on targeted pages with Google
Ads. As well as a contextual and targeted search campaign. The main drivers of traffic directly to The Home
Depot e-commerce site and app will be through digital media.
Tactics
AdWords & Search
Google AdWords will be utilized to display banner and splash ads on appropriate, targeted pages on the
web. The message will be consistent with our TV ads and social media and feature the slogan. These
ads will link directly to the Home Depot Website landing pages appropriate for the ad.
Examples: Become highest bidder on “Do It Yourself” our ads will appear at the top of search results
and on relevant pages that have those keywords. We should also target words like “Apartment” and
“Townhouse” Not that we want our ads showing in those search results, but it will cause our ad to be
on sites that are returned with those results like Apartments.com and Zillow.com.

In order to support the idea that being connected to The Home Depot means being connected with
their home, these ads will not just say “Shop at Home Depot” or “Lighting Fixtures at The Home Depot”
we will more to more emotional appeals in our language: “Get inspired by the Pros at The Home
Depot” “The Home Depot: For a Stress-Free Move.” All of these ads should go to dedicated landing
pages with those products specifically.
Timing: This is a constant throughout our entire campaign, starting two weeks into the year.
Budget: $500,000 for AdWord bids and landing page design.
Evaluation
We will be billed per click so we should be getting accurate numbers from google on how many people
we are reaching. We should prompt every use who comes to the landing pages to take a quick survey
on how old they are and if they work full time.
Budget: Included already in Digital Media Strategy
Total Budget For Strategy C: $500,000
OBJECTIVE 2: REACH 20% OF THE TARGET MARKET 5 OR MORE TIMES OVER A 12 MONTH
PERIOD THROUGH TRADITIONAL PAID MEDIA. MEASURED IN VIEWS BY BROADCAST
MONITORING SERVICE NEILSON.
STRATEGY A: TV COMMERCIAL
A short paid television commercial campaign on shows our target audience watches on cable TV to jumpstart
the awareness of the campaign. Due to the digital nature of our goals such as increasing online sales and traffic,
we will only be spending a small portion of our budget on traditional media. To get the most of this relatively
small budget we must be targeted and specific with our efforts and aim to cut though clutter effectively.
Tactics
Television
We will have a short TV run on shows that are popular in our target market. With a limited budget
allocated for this medium, we are going after shows that are popular and primetime, but with costs

that allow us to run multiple ads. Shows like Family Guy which are in the top 18 shows among
millennials (Consoli, 2015) but still only charge $150k per ad are ideal (Steinberg, 2014).
The content of the ad will be heavily focused on our theme: Get Connected with The Home Depot and
Get Connected to Your Home. We should feature couples in our target market beginning DIY projects
by finding them on their mobile phone or laptop, then showing snippets of the process with them
laughing and having a good time, and then finally the finished product. The call to action should deter
away from The Home Depot’s usual strategy of announcing a sale product, and instead ask viewers to
visit The Home Depot social channels or blog.
Timing: Twice: The very beginning of the campaign to build hype and awareness that the rest of the ads
are coming. After Halloween but before black Friday for sharing DIY Christmas gift inspiration.
Budget: $8 million (Steinberg, 2014) for 20-25 ads and production.
Evaluation
Neilson data should give us a good idea of the number and ages of people reached. However to
determine the effectiveness of the ad, we should conduct focus groups before and after each run (4
times)
Budget: $48,000
Total Budget for Traditional Media: $8,024,000
Total Media Budget: $10,983,000

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 52
Traditional
TV Ads Two runs
Content Marketing
Blog Post Every other Week Excluding First Week
Listicle 12 Throughout Year, not interfering with Blog Post
How-To Video Second Week of Every Month Exept First 2
Promotion 5 on 2 channels throughout
Social Media
Instagram Ads Two Throughout Year
Facebook Ads Ongoing
Snapchat Feature Once, in summer
Twitter Sponsored Hashtag Once, Few weeks before Snapchat Feature
Twitter Sponsored Tweets Ongoing
Youtube Influencer Only 4 Times, to retain authenticity
Youtube Ads Ongoing
Youtube Front Page Twice after we have some significant amount of content
Digital Media
AdWords and Search Ongoing & as soon as we start PR.
Total $:
August September October November December
MEDIA FLOWCHART
April May June JulyJanuary February March

PUBLIC RELATIONS
OBJECTIVE 1: GENERATE AN AVERAGE OF 3 POSITIVE LOCAL MEDIA MENTIONS PER HOME
DEPOT STORE IN THE US THROUGH COMMUNITY INVOLVEMENT.
STRATEGY
Empower local store management to organize community involvement events with the ‘The Home Depot: Connected
to our Community’ theme. Empower them to interact and reach out to local media outlets as well with a PR template
“toolbox” developed just for the campaign.
Tactics
- Charge local and regional store management with the organization of store employee volunteer events using
national marketing staff as support and guidance.
- Train local and regional store management to deliver a message in line with The Home Depot’s values and also
the idea of their store being a central part of the community (i.e. the jobs it creates, ect.)
- Develop a toolbox of forms, press releases, logos, graphics, and guidelines for local and regional store
management to go by.
- Hold small live webinars to train local and regional store management on how to go about the project, and
allow them to ask questions.
- Encourage a local media presence at volunteer events organized by the local stores.
Budget: $2,500 for training and materials for 2,200 stores = $5,500,000
Evaluation
Part of the training for “The Home Depot: Connected to our Community” will include a reporting form which the
store management will attach their media mentions and send to National HQ.

OBJECTIVE 2: INCREASE ORGANIC NON-PAID SOCIAL MEDIA REACH BY 15% IN OUR TARGET
MARKET AND INCREASE AWARENESS OF THE “CONNECTED TO HOME DEPOT” CAMPAIGN.
Strategy
Regularly share our content across social media in an engaging and interesting way, encourage and empower our site
visitors and blog readers to do the same. Posts about our created content, sales promotions, direct marketing, and
other PR efforts should be included.
TACTICS
- Cut through social media clutter by delivering original content and using pictures, videos, and gifs.
- Post 2-3 times per day on each channel: Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram
- Include social media sharing on the blog and encourage sharing of our original content.
- Tweet, comment, and ‘like’ posts by DIY influencers to try and strike up conversation and engagement of the
top DIY accounts already being followed by our target market.
Budget: Content is already budgeted for.
Evaluation
While social media analytics will give us a good idea of reach and engagement on our non-paid posts, we should
conduct online focus groups and research the comments and likes to determine the overall sentiment towards the
campaign on social media at the beginning and end of the campaign.
Budget: $24,000
OBJECTIVE 3: IMPROVE ATTITUDES TOWARDS THE HOME DEPOT’S TREATMENT OF
VETERANS OVER THE NEXT 12 MONTHS.
STRATEGY
Inform our customers about the efforts of The Home Depot Foundation by increasing positive national, local, and
social media mentions of the foundation by 25%. This will reduce distraction and improve the clarity of our message by
decreasing the number of negative mentions our brand gets for this confusion.
Tactics

- Equip store associates and managers with a script for denying a veterans discount that addresses the specific
reasons and is straightforward and thanks them for their service.
- Use owned media to release stories on social media in digestible image or post format of veterans we have
helped.
- Engage influencers, national news analysts, and even our critics with our national PR team to face the issue
head on and release a statement about the confusion of our Veterans discount policy.
Budget: $15,000 for content creation
Evaluation
We will have to measure comments, likes, and replys on social media, as well as conduct surveys and focus groups to
evaluate whether or not there was an improvement in the attitudes of our customers and the media.
Evaluation Budget: $30,000
Total PR Budget: $5,569,000

DIRECT MARKETING
Direct Marketing and will be a supporting component of our IMC campaign. Both email and direct mail will be used to
reach out to millennials nationwide and call on them to take immediate action.
OBJECTIVE 1: ACHIEVE A 12% PERCENT RESPONSE RATE USING A ONE-STEP APPROACH
OVER EMAIL ONCE PER MONTH FOR 12 MONTHS, TO A DATABASE OF MORE THAN 50,000
PEOPLE WITHIN OUR TARGET RANGE.
STRATEGY
By building our email database up and using targeted data to reach our audience when they are ready to buy, we will
motivate our target market to visit thehomedepot.com or their local store to get started. We will be able to leverage
our creative content to save time and money producing hyper-targeted emails.
Tactics
Build Email Database – Offer incentives to employees for rewards program signup at checkout. This will also
capture age range and gender, allowing us to further segment and customize emails.
Combine Direct Marketing with Sales Promotion – Incentivize emails with special offers and discounts based on
our sales promotion objectives to compel our recipient to click through.
Leverage Creative Content – Cut through the clutter of our recipients’ inbox by leading with content from our
design inspiration posts and videos. This is just another way to leverage this content for maximum visibility and
return on the investment to create it.
Budget
$250,000 for employee incentives, $6,000 for email campaign design.
Evaluation
We will direct clicks from the emails to a special landing page, where analytics will show how many people
clicked on our email. We can continue to track purchases based on whether or not the visitor originated on the
email landing page, and calculate our CPO. In store tracking will be possible with unique coupon codes for each
email.

Example

OBJECTIVE 2: HAVE A 5% INCREASE IN SALES OF MOVING RELATED ITEMS BY PARTNERING
WITH USPS WELCOME KIT IN MAJOR COLLEGE-AREA MARKETS THAT THE HOME DEPOT
SERVES TO PROMOTE EVERYDAY ESSENTIAL ITEMS FOR MOVERS.
STRATEGY
By partnering with USPS and getting out material into the hands of movers, we will be reaching our target market at a
time when they both need our products and are receptive to trying new things.
Tactics
Welcome Kit – The welcome kit is delivered after a mail recipient changes their address. Movers spend $8,700
on average during a move, are 4 times more likely to try a new brand, and have a 90% likelihood of repeating
business (Imagitas, 2015). As an alternative to every door direct mail, this approach is more targeted.
Informational Approach – The theme of the cards will be “Movers Essentials” and it will have a checklist of
things people moving should purchase for their new home.
Relevant Timing – This partnership will last from July to September, when most leases are up in college towns
due to the start of the school year.
Target Selectively – Specific locations in 20 major college area cities, with a percentage of 25-35 year old of
25% or more.
Avoid Being Invasive – Material delivered will be a simple postcard.
Budget
$20,000 for printing (55 Printing, 2015), $2,500 for post card design, $250,000 for sponsorship of welcome kit
(estimate) (US Postal Service, 2015).
Evaluation
Compare sales of specific items listed from July-September of 2014 to their sales in 2015.

EXAMPLE
Direct Marketing Budget Total: $528,500

SALES PROMOTION
Sales promotion serves as an accelerator to the other components of our campaign to push our target audience to
make a purchase. We will be focusing on consumer oriented sales promotion. Our loyalty program will serve as the
avenue for our sales promotion efforts, and digital media will be an important disseminator of promotional offers.
OBJECTIVE 1: OBTAIN A TRIAL FROM 10% OF OUR TARGET MARKET USING SALES
PROMOTION GEARED TOWARDS BRAND NEW CUSTOMERS, AND HAVE A REPURCHASE RATE
OF 50% BEFORE THE END OF THE 12 MONTH CAMPAIGN.
STRATEGY
Using our rewards program, which also builds our database for direct marketing, we will distribute coupons and sales
to our target market with our specific “Connected to Home Depot” theme. While all of our customers will continue to
get deals, the message will be geared towards our target market and offered on products renters may need as well.
Tactics
Unique Discounts for New Rewards Customers – Offer a deep, 15% one-time discount to customers who sign
up for our rewards program for the first time.
Placing Coupons for Repeat Purchase – Using our database of those registered for the program, send a
targeted coupon 30 days after signing up for the program if they have not made a second purchase yet.
Promotion – The new offer should be promoted instore by employees and signage, and also with a rotating
slider on the home page. This is also the ‘deal’ that should be mentioned in our television spots at the
beginning of the campaign.
Budget
$5,000 for targeted email design, $5,000 for web page collateral design and $5,000 in-store display design. (TV
Spots are budgeted for in Traditional Media Section) $110,000 for printing of in-store sign ($50 per store) for a
total of $125,000
Evaluation
Compare Rewards Enrollment in our target market from the beginning to the end of the campaign.

OBJECTIVE 2: HAVE AN ONLINE COUPON CODE REDEMPTION RATE OF 15% OVER OUR 12
MONTH CAMPAIGN.
STRATEGY
Focus on smaller peripheral items that renters use and offer deep discounts to motivate our target market to redeem
them. Set our coupons up for success by promoting them across our owned media and making them easy to redeem.
Tactics
Keep Things Fresh – 4 different deals associated with our specific campaign should run for 3 weeks throughout
the year. The discount should apply to smaller, peripheral items that are used in DIY projects or by renters.
Large-purchase items like appliances and grills can be excluded so as to be able to offer a deeper discount of
15% on purchased of $30 or more.
Publicize Deals Across Owned Media – Coupon redemption link, when made available, should be published on
all social media and email lists. In addition, a banner on The Home Depot homepage should let visitors know
there is a coupon available.
“Check Out With Ease” – Enable coupons to be saved in the Home Depot mobile app, and easily bring them up
at checkout in store. Coupons should automatically refresh each deal.
Budget
$2,500 for mobile app modifications made by our developers, and $2,500 for designing of promotional
collateral each different deal, for a total of $20,000.
Evaluation
Rather than display the coupon in our posts and site directly, we will give a link to get the code. The analytics
from that page will give us the number of people who took the time to view the coupon, and we will compare
the redemption against that number of unique page views.

OBJECTIVE 3: GAIN 500 ELIGIBLE ENTRIES INTO OUR CREATIVE CONTENT BLOGGING
CONTEST OVER A 3 MONTH PERIOD.
STRATEGY
We will hold a “Get Connected” contest for bloggers to contribute their own creative ideas to our marketing campaign,
giving us more visibility to those already interested in the DIY Blogosphere and beyond. We will appeal to millennials
sense of community that blogging fosters as well as promote original ideas for renters and homeowners alike.
Tactics
Accessible Contest – The rules should be simple and straightforward. 1 DIY project originally created, with a
helpful tutorial to go along with it. 5 winners will be selected for a $4,000 prize, based on creativity, quality of
tutorial, and usefulness.
Flexible – Entries can be pictures and text, or videos for maximum flexibility.
Partner with Influencers in the DIY Blogosphere – Pay 3 influential DIY bloggers to create their own sample
entries to promote the contest.
Publicize On Owned Media – Announce and promote contest throughout on our own blog, social media
channels, and in store signage.
Encourage Sharing – Add the ability to share the contest entry page easily to social media or email.
Budget
$4,000 for 5 winners for a total of $20,000. $5,000 for 3 influencer endorsements for a total of $15,000
(Strugatz & Robinovitz, 2012). $5,000 for collateral and promotional material design.
Evaluation
Links will be submitted to The Home Depot via electronic form, so we can easily count the entries.
Sales Promotion Budget Total: $185,000

EVALUATION PLAN
Throughout our campaign certain measurements will need to be taken in order to determine the effectiveness of our
IMC campaign.
TOOLS AND RESOURCES NEEDED
The measurement of the campaign should begin immediately after the end of the year. The metrics should be
compiled in the month following in order to assess the success of the campaign.
Social Media Reporting - The Home Depot will needs to invest in robust social media reporting tool such as Simply
Measured to measure and break down views, impressions, engagement, and mentions.
Budget: $2000/mo (Simply Measured, 2015) for 13 months: $26,000
Web Metrics Reporting – We will need another layer on top of google analytics to help us distill information quickly
that we need to measure such as InfoTrust so that we can aggregate data across all our web channels and mentions
from outside online sources.
Budget: $25,000
Focus Group Moderator – With more than 10 focus groups planned for the year, it is a good idea to put one on
retainers
Budget: $10,000 for retainer, moderating cost included in budgets already
METRICS NEEDED
These are the metrics and measurements we need before the campaign begins (use the last year) as well as throughout
and after.
AVG FACEBOOK POST REACH AMONG 25-25 YR OLDS
AVG TWITTER IMPRESSIONS AMONG 25-35 YR OLDS
AVG INSTAGRAM LIKES/COMMENTS
AVG YOUTUBE VIEWS, LIKES, DISLIKES, AND COMMENTS

AVG PINTEREST REPINS AND LIKES
PERCENTAGE OF SALES GENERATED FROM ONLINE STORE ESTIMATE THE % OF THEM BEING 25-35
SALES ORIGINATING FROM MOBILE APPS AND ESTIMATE THE % OF THEM BEING 25-35
ATTENDANCE NUMBERS FOR INTERACTIVE WORKSHOPS IN 2014
ONLINE TUTORIAL BLOG POSTS, VIDEOS UNIQUE VIEWS
RATE OF LOYALTY PROGRAM JOIN AT CHECKOUT
SURVEY DATA FROM 5 HOME DEPOT STORES AND ONLINE REGARDING AGE OF CUSTOMERS AFTER CHECKOUT
POSITIVE AND NEGATIVE MEDIA MENTIONS FOR YEAR
ATTITUDES OF 25-35 YR OLDS REGARDING HOME DEPOT TREATEMENT OF VETERANS
BRAND AWARENESS AMONG 25-35 YR OLDS
COUPON REDEMPTION RATES
Evaluation Budget $61,000
CONCLUSION
This campaign is a start to sustaining the success of The Home Depot for the next generation. By introducing a new
‘connected’ Home Depot with this Integrated Marketing Campaign.
Integrated Marketing’s core function is to tie all of the pieces of traditional and nontraditional marketing and put them
to work to achieve a common goal. This campaign will be successful because the brand message will be consistently
delivered throughout the year across multiple channels, and the message will be clear: Get Connected to Home Depot,
and Get Connected to Your Home.
TOTAL CAMPAIGN BUDGET: $17,281,000

REFERENCES
55 Printing. (2015). Cheap Every Door Direct Mail. Retrieved from 55Printing.com: http://www.55printing.com/cheap-every-door-direct-mail-
eddm-printing/
Ace Hardware. (2015, October 17). Marketing. Retrieved from Ace International: http://www.acehardwareintl.com/retail/marketing/
Ackroyd, J., & Venhuizen, J. (n.d.). Corporate Overview. Retrieved August 29, 2015, from Ace Hardware:
http://www.acehardware.com/corp/index.jsp?page=about
Brown, J. M. (2015, March 11). Homeownership Rates by Age Group. Retrieved from The Reformed Broker:
http://thereformedbroker.com/2015/03/11/homeownership-rates-by-age-group/
Caplinger, D. (2014, December 9). 3 Trends That Could Threaten Home Depot's Record Run. Retrieved from The Motley Fool:
http://www.fool.com/investing/general/2014/12/09/3-trends-that-could-threaten-home-depots-record-ru.aspx
Cipriani, M. (2015, June 15). Veteran says he was denied a discount because he was not disabled. Retrieved September 5, 2015, from AOL:
http://www.aol.com/article/2015/06/15/veteran-says-he-was-denied-a-discount-because-he-was-not-disable/21196035/
Cleary Gottlieb. (2005, July 20). Home Depot in National Waterworks Acquisition. Retrieved August 25, 2015, from Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton
LLP: http://www.cgsh.com/experience/detail.aspx?experience=625
Cleary Gottlieb. (2005, February 28). The Home Depot and White Cap in Acquisition of Construction Supply Business. Retrieved August 25, 2015,
from Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton LLP: http://www.cgsh.com/experience/detail.aspx?experience=780
Cleary Gottlieb. (2012, January 20). The Home Depot in Acquisition of Web Company Redbeacon. Retrieved August 25, 2015, from Cleary Gottlieb
Steen & Hamilton LLP: http://www.cgsh.com/the_home_depot_in_acquisition_of_web_company_redbeacon/
Cleary Gottlieb. (2013, January 29). The Home Depot in Acquisition of BlackLocus. Retrieved August 25, 2015, from Cleary Gottlieb Steen &
Hamilton LLP | Experience: http://www.cgsh.com/the_home_depot_in_acquisition_of_blacklocus/
Consoli, J. (2015, April 01). MBPT Spotlight: The 18 Shows You Should be Advertising In To Reach Millennials. Retrieved from Broadcasting & Cable:
http://www.broadcastingcable.com/news/upfront-central/mbpt-spotlight-18-shows-you-should-be-advertising-reach-millennials/139335
Earnst & Young PLLC. (2015, February 24). Ace Hardware Corporation 2014 Annual Report. Retrieved from Our Company; ace Hardware:
http://ourcompany.acehardware.com/news/pdfs/2014Q4financialreport.pdf
Egan, J. (2015, January 22). 18 statistics that marketers need to know about millennials. Retrieved September 7, 2015, from LeadsCon:
http://www.leadscon.com/18-statistics-that-marketers-need-to-know-about-millennials/
eMarketer. (2014, April 28). Lowe's Digital Strategy Looks Beyond Ecommerce. Retrieved from eMarketer:
http://www.emarketer.com/Article/Lowes-Digital-Strategy-Looks-Beyond-Ecommerce/1011374
Engal, C. (2002, February18 2002). Home Depot, Brand Champ. Retrieved August 26, 2015, from Furniture Today:
http://www.furnituretoday.com/article/460791-home-depot-brand-champ
Fromm, J. (2014, October 2). Will The Millennial Generation Kill Home Depot? Retrieved from Forbes Leadership:
http://www.forbes.com/sites/jefffromm/2014/10/02/will-the-millennial-generation-kill-home-depot/
Gara, T. (2014, August 20). Home Depot Wants Fewer Print Ads, More ‘Interconnected Retail and Technology’ . Retrieved from The Wall Street
Journal: http://blogs.wsj.com/corporate-intelligence/2014/08/20/home-depot-wants-less-print-ads-more-interconnected-retail-and-
technology/
Giustino, N. (2015, August 10). Instagram Advertising and Costs. Retrieved from Penna Powers: http://www.pennapowers.com/instagram-
advertising-and-costs/
Google, Inc. (2015, April 21). Rolling out the mobile-friendly update. Retrieved September 3, 2015, from Google Webmaster Central Blog:
http://googlewebmastercentral.blogspot.com/2015/04/rolling-out-mobile-friendly-update.html
Gose, B. (2013). Home Depot pours millions of dollars into housing for men and women veterans. Retrieved from Chronicle Of Philanthropy.
Greenfield, R. (2014, June 2). Proven tactics to make your PR campaign a success. Retrieved from Fast Company:
http://www.fastcompany.com/3032529/most-creative-people/proven-tactics-to-make-your-pr-campaign-a-success
Hejny, C. (2015, January 2015). How Small to Medium-Sized Businesses Can Advertise on Instagram. Retrieved from Socially Stacked:
http://www.sociallystacked.com/2015/01/advertise-instagram-small-medium-sized-business/

Henneberry, R. (2013, December). How Lowe’s Is Solving the Biggest Problem in Marketing. Retrieved from Onward: http://onwardmag.com/how-
lowes-is-solving-the-biggest-problem-in-marketing/
Imagitas. (2015). Why Movers? Retrieved from Imagitas: A Red Venture Company: http://www.imagitas.com/
iTracks. (2015). Cost, Leadtime and Sustainability of Face-to-Face and Internet Focus Groups. Retrieved from itracks: https://www.itracks.com/res-
portfolio/cost-leadtime-and-sustainability-of-face-to-face-and-internet-focus-groups-itracks-chat/
Kell, J. (2015, August 18). Big spenders boost sales at Home Depot. Retrieved from Fortune: http://fortune.com/2015/08/18/home-depot-big-
ticket-items-sales/
Lazare, L. (2015, June 2). Ace Hardware inks sponsorship deal with the PGA Tour. Retrieved from Chicago Business Journal:
http://www.bizjournals.com/chicago/news/2015/06/02/ace-hardwareinks-sponsorship-deal-with-the-pga.html
Lowes. (2015). 2015 Financial Releases. Retrieved from Lowes Investor Relations: http://phx.corporate-ir.net/phoenix.zhtml?c=95223&p=irol-
news&nyo=0
Lowes. (n.d.). About Lowes. Retrieved August 30, 2015, from http://media.lowes.com/about-lowes/
Marshall, J. (2013, February 22). What Online Ads Really Cost. Retrieved from DigiDay: http://digiday.com/publishers/what-online-ads-really-cost/
Raehsler, L. (2014, January 29). Twitter Advertising Guide. Retrieved from Searche Engine Watch: http://searchenginewatch.com/sew/how-
to/2190651/twitter-advertising-guide
Reference For Business. (n.d.). The Home Depot, Inc. - Company Profile, Information, Business Description, History, Background Information on The
Home Depot, Inc. Retrieved from reference For Business: http://www.referenceforbusiness.com/history2/23/The-Home-Depot-Inc.html
Reuters. (2015, July 22). Home Depot just made its biggest acquisition in nearly a decade. Retrieved August 26, 2015, from Fortune:
http://fortune.com/2015/07/22/home-depot-interline-brands-deal/
Sacks, D. (2011, February). HOW YOUTUBE'S GLOBAL PLATFORM IS REDEFINING THE ENTERTAINMENT BUSINESS. Retrieved from Fast Company:
http://www.fastcompany.com/1715183/how-youtubes-global-platform-redefining-entertainment-business
Schawbel, D. (2015, January 20). 10 New Findings About The Millennial Consumer. Retrieved from Forbes:
http://www.forbes.com/sites/danschawbel/2015/01/20/10-new-findings-about-the-millennial-consumer/
Schute, B. (2015, May 5). Millennials want a work-life balance. Their bosses just don’t get why. Retrieved from The Washington Post:
https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/millennials-want-a-work-life-balance-their-bosses-just-dont-get-why/2015/05/05/1859369e-
f376-11e4-84a6-6d7c67c50db0_story.html
Shafer, J. (2013, March 8). And Now, a word against our sponsor. Retrieved from Reuters: http://blogs.reuters.com/jackshafer/2013/03/08/and-
now-a-word-against-our-sponsor/
Shewan, D. (2015, May 21). How Much Does Google AdWords Cost? Retrieved from Wordstream: Online Advertising Made Easy:
http://www.wordstream.com/blog/ws/2015/05/21/how-much-does-adwords-cost
Simply Measured. (2015). Simply Measured Pricing. Retrieved from Simply Measured: http://simplymeasured.com/pricing/
Sloan, D. (n.d.). The Average Cost of National Advertising Campaigns. Retrieved September 25, 2015, from azCentral:
http://yourbusiness.azcentral.com/average-cost-national-advertising-campaigns-26091.html
Sloane, G. (2015, January 14). Snapchat Is Asking Brands for $750,000 to Advertise and Won't Budge. Retrieved from AdWeek:
http://www.adweek.com/news/technology/snapchat-asks-brands-750000-advertise-and-wont-budge-162359
Smith, N. (2015, March 6). Ace Hardware's Brand Promise Is Its Strongest Marketing Tool. Retrieved from Direct Marketing:
http://www.dmnews.com/customer-experience/ace-hardwares-brand-promise-is-its-strongest-marketing-tool/article/401926/
Smith, T. (2010, March 10). Consistency: Key to a Better User Experience. Retrieved September 3, 2015, from UXBooth:
http://www.uxbooth.com/articles/consistency-key-to-a-better-user-experience/
Steinberg, B. (2014, September 26). TV Ad Prices: Football, ‘Walking Dead,’ ‘Big Bang Theory,’ ‘Blacklist’ Top the List. Retrieved from Variety:
http://variety.com/2014/tv/news/tv-ad-prices-football-walking-dead-big-bang-theory-blacklist-top-the-list-1201314484/
Strugatz, R., & Robinovitz, K. (2012, June 5). To Pay or Not to Pay: A Closer Look at the Business of Blogging. Retrieved from WWD:
http://wwd.com/fashion-news/digital/a-closer-look-at-the-business-of-blogging-5942163/

TED: The Economics Daily. (2005, July 29). Independent contractors in 2005. Retrieved from Bureau of Labor Statistics:
http://www.bls.gov/opub/ted/2005/jul/wk4/art05.htm
The Cost of Advertising Nationally Broken Down by Medium. (2015, August 21). Retrieved from WebPage FX:
http://www.webpagefx.com/blog/business-advice/the-cost-of-advertising-nationally-broken-down-by-medium/
The Council of Economic Advisors. (2014, October). 15 Economic Facts About Millenials. Retrieved August 31, 2015, from Executive Office of the
President of the United States: https://www.whitehouse.gov/sites/default/files/docs/millennials_report.pdf
The Home Depot. (2014, November 6). The Home Depot Reports Findings in Payment Data Breach Investigation. Retrieved from The Home Depot
Corporate: https://corporate.homedepot.com/MediaCenter/Documents/Press%20Release.pdf
The Home Depot. (2015). Faces of Service. Retrieved August 29, 2015, from Built From Scratch:
http://builtfromscratch.homedepot.com/category/faces-of-service/
The Home Depot Canada. (n.d.). History. Retrieved August 25, 2015, from The Home Depot - Canada: http://www.homedepot.ca/corporate-
affairs/history
The Home Depot Foundation. (2015). Our Mission. Retrieved August 29, 2015, from The Home Depot Foundation:
http://www.homedepotfoundation.org/page/mission
The Home Depot TV Ads. (2015). Retrieved August 29, 2015, from iSpot TV: http://www.ispot.tv/brands/Afh/the-home-depot
The Home Depot, Inc. (2015). 2014 Annual Report. 26: March. Retrieved August 25, 2015
The Home Depot, Inc. (n.d.). Corporate and Financial Overview. Retrieved August 25, 2015, from The Home Depot:
https://corporate.homedepot.com/MediaCenter/PressKit/Documents/Corp_Financial_Overview.pdf
The Home Depot, Inc. (n.d.). Investor FAQ. Retrieved August 28, 2015, from THe Home Depot:
http://ir.homedepot.com/phoenix.zhtml?c=63646&p=irol-faq#37549
The Home Depot, Inc. (n.d.). Our Company. Retrieved August 25, 2015, from The Home Depot Corporate:
https://corporate.homedepot.com/OurCompany/Pages/default.aspx
The Home Depot, Inc. (n.d.). Stores, Products, and Services. Retrieved August 26, 2015, from The Home Depot:
https://corporate.homedepot.com/OurCompany/StoreProdServices/Pages/default.aspx
Trefis Team. (2015, October 6). Home Depot: Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats. Retrieved from Forbes Investing:
http://www.forbes.com/sites/greatspeculations/2015/10/06/home-depot-strengths-weaknesses-opportunities-and-threats/2/
United States Census Bureau. (2014). 2014 American Community Survey 1-Year Estimates. Retrieved from American Fact Finder:
http://factfinder.census.gov/faces/tableservices/jsf/pages/productview.xhtml?pid=ACS_14_1YR_S0101&prodType=table
US Census Bureau. (2012). Income, Expenditures, Poverty, and Wealth. Retrieved August 29, 2015, from US Census Bureau , Statistical Abstract of
the United States: 2012: http://www.census.gov/compendia/statab/2012/tables/12s0703.pdf
US Postal Service. (2015). Every Door Direct Mail. Retrieved from USPS.com: https://eddm.usps.com/eddm/customer/routeSearch.action
Williams, Z. (2014, February 16). 7 Lessons Lowe’s Can Teach us About Social Media. Retrieved from The DIY Consumer:
https://www.google.com/webhp?sourceid=chrome-instant&ion=1&espv=2&ie=UTF-8#q=lowes%20social%20media%20strategy

IMC_Campaign

More Related Content

What's hot

Viewers also liked

Similar to IMC_Campaign

IMC_Campaign