For the English Canada branding effort, the home improvement retailer, along with its agency, Dallas, Texas-based Richards Group, have given life to Home Depot’s orange box icon—to be used across all advertising vehicles including radio, print and in-store signage, said Home Depot Canada’s director of marketing, Jason Reilly.
The talking orange box is meant to represent the partnership between the chain and its customers during home renovation projects, a brand attribute that sets Home Depot apart from competitors, said Reilly. “That icon is designed to symbolize all of the resources we’re able to provide to our customers in terms of our associates, what we offer online, workshops, tool rental, all of those project facilitators,” he said.
The national effort utilizes the Quebec-based strategy that built the “C’est Beaux” campaign, now in its second year.
Before launching the new advertising, the agency presented elements of the campaign to focus groups in Ontario and the western provinces. Consumers connected with the orange icon and “overall empowerment and enabling strategy message of the campaign,” Reilly said.
The Home Depot icon campaign will include a series of 30-second commercials featuring projects big and small.
In one spot, a man is standing in his unkempt and bare backyard.
“Well, here it is, pretty lame backyard huh?” the man asks the orange box, placed beside him. The box describes the backyard’s party potential—an amazing deck, stainless steel barbecue and lounge chairs.
“Wow, you see all that?” asks the man. “I’m not like other stores. Your yard doesn’t scare me,” answers the box.
To give the box a distinct personality, the Home Depot enlisted Canadian actor Dave Foley to voice the icon, said Reilly.
The ads demonstrate the retailer’s commitment to helping consumers “complete a project right from inspiration through to completion,” he added.
The campaign launched this week and will run throughout the year. Initiative Media in Toronto handled the media buy.
