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True Value is a national collective of independently owned and operated hardware stores. But many consumers, especially Gen Z and younger Millennials, are unaware of the True Value brand and the benefits of shopping at their local hardware store. To win them over, True Value needed to tap into shared values with DIYers to rebuild awareness, drive consideration and, ultimately, increase store traffic.
By combining first- and third-party data, we found that DIYers and True Value had a shared grounding principal that no big-box hardware store could claim: independence—the drive to be self-reliant and the joy of accomplishing things for themselves. From that insight, we created the “Your Project, Your Way” campaign focused on how True Value fuels the independence of DIYers to make every project possible.
The campaign needed to connect with DIYers in such a profound way, it would change the way they approached every home project and shift their preference from much larger competitors to mom & pop True Value shops. The search for that catalyst started and stopped with Nick Offerman.
From Offerman’s role on Parks & Rec to his real-life love of woodworking, he was an authority in the space and had become this generation’s icon for doing things yourself and doing them your way. Not to mention, he has a known dislike for big-box conglomerates. His brand of humor was also perfect to poke a little fun at the big box behemoths while conveying the benefits of smaller, locally owned stores.
By using Offerman’s no-nonsense tone, dry wit and reputation as an expert DIYer, we created a series of spots that play off the frequent issues people have with big-box and online retailers—that expert guidance is hard to find, employees don’t know where things are, and there are too many choices instead of a curated selection. We also used a tone geared toward portraying hardware projects the way Offerman sees them—as fun achievements that feel great to accomplish.
We backed up the brand videos featuring Offerman with streaming-pause ads, digital placements, paid Meta, TikTok and Pinterest, pre-roll, streaming audio and paid search. As a whole, the campaign showed people everywhere that they too could become, as Nick put it, “a self-sufficient mammal.”
In only the first 13 days of the campaign being live, website traffic increased by 144%. And within 4 months, awareness among Gen Z and Millennial shoppers had jumped by 12%. Even our click-through rates beat industry benchmarks by 52%, showing that the next generation of DIYers were seeking out their local True Value to fuel their own independence.
NOTE: RESULTS LISTED ARE CONFIDENTIAL
