Lowe's Uses Vine and Instagram to Showcase DIY

Lowe’s has launched a video marketing campaign, using social media to teach consumers how to do home improvement projects.

With BBDO New York, Lowe’s used Vine to showcase the projects – a shelf made of pipes, a backyard fire pit, and a tile backsplash for the kitchen – from start to finish, with detailed how-to steps. With two taps at a time, users can pause on each frame, lingering on each instruction for as long as they need.

The campaign also uses Instagram, whereby videos are made with the Hyperlapse app that allows users to make time-lapse videos. These serve more as trailers for some of the home improvement brand’s more popular Pinterest projects, such as under-bed drawers, a lattice picture display, and the aforementioned pipe shelf.

Using video, the goal is to inspire people in a way that a static image couldn’t by showing them the project from start to end, says Bob Estrada, senior vice president at BBDO New York.

“I think when you see [the project] in six seconds, you see that it’s achievable and it demystifies it a bit,” Estrada says. “Seeing someone else enjoying the final version of the project in their home may bring people closer to action and spur someone to do the project themselves.”

Estrada thinks social media is a fun way to engage consumers – Lowe’s is extremely popular on Pinterest, with nearly 3.5 million followers – but for Kate Ryan, vice president of integrated communications firm Diffusion, using these video platforms is also a smart way to engage the coveted Millennial demographic, in particular.

“Lowe’s use of Vine and Instagram is a smart move in reaching today’s younger consumers with notoriously small attention spans,” Ryan says. “Millennials love bite-sized content, but to truly engage them long-term, marketers need to take them seriously and develop content that’s authentic to the way they live their lives.”

Image via Shutterstock.