Shooting Stars: 12 Brands to Watch in 2014
Brand: Lowe’s
Idea to Steal: Help people six seconds at a time.
How can a rubber band help you deal with a stripped screw? How can a coffee filter prevent soil from draining out of your freshly planted flowerpots? How can a Post-It help catch dust when you drill a wall? And how much time do you need to answer these questions and share other home-improvement tips?
For Lowe’s the answer to the last question is six seconds.
In its quest to help and inspire customers, Lowe’s and its ad agency BBDO saw Vine as a viable medium through which it could share some valuable and actionable tips using six-second stop-motion videos. Using the hashtag “#LowesFixInSix,” the home-improvement brand has generated a library of Vines shared via Twitter, Pinterest and Tumblr, each providing relevant, educational and shareable content.
“We want people to feel like they learned something new and that Lowe’s assisted them in the process,” says Brad Walters, director of social media and emerging platforms for Lowe’s. “Through these Vines and within our social media content, we strive to provide information that is of value to our customers, helps make their day or project a bit easier, and inspires them to think of home improvement in a new way.”
Just because these videos are six seconds long doesn’t mean producing them isn’t hard work. Walters says the stop-motion nature of these Vines adds a layer of complexity to the process. “We focused on creating an animation sequence that was engaging while also clearly providing the home improvement tip to our audience,” Walters says. “After producing the first round, we quickly understood and developed an appreciation for the time and skill it takes to create a really engaging Vine video.”—JH
