IMC 610 - The Home Depot IMC Campaign

ASHLEY SANTOREWest Virginia University

IMC 610 - The Home Depot IMC Plan

EXECUTIVE SUMMARYToday, more and more consumers are taking to online purchasing for their retail needs. According to a study by Fortune, in 2016 51% of shoppers make 51% of their purchases online versus 47% in 2014 (Farber, 2016), In order to retain the status of number one home improvement retailer, The Home Depot will need to push those consumers within their target market outside of their comfort zone, and onto the World Wide Web. This Integrated Marketing Campaign (IMC) contains three parts in order to procreate an increase of digital sales, and social media reach throughout the brand.

1. Social Media. One of the brands main focuses with this campaign will be to push to create compelling social media posts across various social platforms such as Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and Pinterest. Through creating compelling posts, it will create a larger reach for the product as a whole, and allow the brand to increase both the value of its owned media, as well as the amount of earned media.

2. Public Relations. In order for the brand to gain more public recognition, The Home Depot will need to put focus on the good that they are doing in the community. Consumers are much more likely to shop at a store where they agree with the beliefs of the company. Getting people talking is its own battle, but focusing on positives such as The Home Depot Foundation will give The Home Depot a leg up in the competition.

3. Rewards. One of the fundamental projects with this campaign will be to roll out a digital rewards program. The more the consumer spends, the more they get back. This would be a great incentive to buy online versus in store.

With these three tools, The Home Depot will be able to break free of the brick and mortar of their stores, and bust further into the digital era. With the following IMC campaign, the brand will see an increase of online sales through its e-commerce channels, as well as gain a larger following on all social media accounts.

With the help of The Home Depot, we can do anything.

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TABLE OF CONTENTS1 Executive Summary2 Table of Contents3 Introduction4 Company Values5 Services & Offerings6 Competition7 SWOT Analysis9 Target Audience10 Marketing Objectives11 Marketing Strategy12 Creative Brief13 Integrated Creative Strategy Statement14 Creative Execution15 Media Objectives16 Media Strategy & Tactics18 Media Flow Chart19 Public Relations Objectives20 Public Relations Strategy & Tactics22 Measurement & Evaluation23 Conclusion24 References

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Among home improvement retailers, none stand quite as tall as The Home Depot. Since its founding in 1978, The Home Depot has become a leader within this competitive industry. With noble beginnings, the retail giant has grown to boast a staggering 2,275 stores within the North American continent and remains the largest home center retailer in the United States. But how did it gain such a renowned, illustrious image?

THD was founded in 1978 by Bernie Marcus and Arthur Black of Atlanta, Georgia. After having been let go from the Handy Dan home center chain (“Our History,” 2016), the two had high dreams of creating the Sears of home improvement, and hoped to create a business that would inspire not only the construction professional, but the at home do-it-yourselfer. By the end of the 1989 year, The Home Depot had overpassed its industry leader, Lowe’s, in sales.

“We believed from the start that if we brought the customer quality merchandise at the right price and offered excellent service, we could change retailing in the United States. Today, we are the model of what retailing should be.”

- Bernie Marcus, Co-Founder The Home Depot

Today, The Home Depot is a model of what the home improvement industry can be, and should be. According to Forbes Magazine’s “The World’s Biggest Companies” list of 2015, The Home Depot had a market capital of $169.8 billion, which

makes it the 112th largest company in the world. (“The Home Depot: The World’s Biggest Public Companies,” 2016). In comparison, The Home Depot ’s largest competitor, Lowe’s has a market capital of $68.3 billion and is currently the 205th largest company in the world (“Lowe’s: The World’s Biggest Public Companies,” 2016). In Q1 of 2016, The Home Depot crowed earnings of $1.8 billion, and a revenue of $22.8 billion. The Home Depot also employs approximately 385,000 associates. (“Financial Overview,” 2016).

Beyond its stores, The Home Depot also plays host to multiple educational programs that reaches both the do-it-yourselfer and the construction professional. Tutorials, workshops and more are available both instore and at the touch of the consumer’s fingertips (“In Our Stores” 2016).

In 2002, The Home Depot Foundation was created in order to improve the homes of U.S. military veterans and those affected by natural disasters. (“The Home Depot Foundation,” 2016).

The Home Depot is a company with a conscience, and it was built upon a set of core values that are still instilled within the company today. Bernie Marcus and Arthur Black not only went above and beyond to create a company that was innovating within its products, but they also developed a company that constantly pushes the envelope of the home improvement industry.

BACKGROUNDINFORMATIONINTRODUCTION

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As a company, The Home Depot prides itself on taking care, and giving back of the people that made it successful, and since its founding, has created 8 values to guide the cooperation to success.

These values, encompass what the company is all about, and targets taking care of its employees, giving back to their community, doing the right thing, delivering excellent guest service, creating shareholder value, entrepreneurial spirit, having respect for all people and building strong relationships with its clients through trust, honesty and integrity, or being ‘orangeblooded’ (“The Home Depot Values,” 2016).

Since 2002, The Home Depot has been giving back to the community through means of The Home Depot Foundation, a charitable organization created to assist in repairing, and refurbishing homes and other facilities that serves underprivileged people within its communities, and between 2011 and 2012, pledged over $80 million dollars to United States Military Veterans (“The Home Depot Foundation,” 2016).

The connection between The Home Depot and their responsibility to their consumer, and their communities are also displayed in their stores as well, and social media accounts as well; between educating guests on their product, and offering free workshops and clinics to the community (“In Our Stores” 2016), and becoming actively engaged in the preservation of the environment (“The Home Depot and the Environment,” 2016).

BACKGROUNDINFORMATIONCOMPANY VALUES

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As the largest home improvement retailer, it’s no wonder that The Home Depot offers a variety of services and offerings to its consumer, from innovative merchandise including ecofriendly items, to its personal workshops and clinics, to the various home services. It’s the relationships that the brand builds with its clients is what makes The Home Depot as successful as a business and has the consumer returning time and time again.

The term DIY (do-it-yourself) actually spawned through The Home Depot’s marcom campaigns, and revolutionized the industry.

As a company, they believe that “for most people, their home is the biggest financial and emotional investment they make,” (“Stores and Services Overview,” 2016) and The Home Depot goes above and beyond to ensure that all guests received the lowest price on all of their home improvement needs.

The stores themselves are customized to the needs of its local consumer. For example, a store in Florida might not carry winter items such as salt, and snow plows, while a store in Morgantown, West Virginia would. The Home Depot boasts a specific Eco Friendly category of product, which has over 4,500 items included. It also includes services for both the novice and professional do-it-yourselfer.

In 2006, The Company recognized the need for a different kind of clinic outside of the brick and mortar stores, and created a set of online tutorials at their own unique website of homedepotclinics.com. These online workshops allowed its consumer to participate and learn this trade without ever leaving their couch, eventually inspiring a marcom campaign to inspire women to “do-it-herself.”

Beyond the adult consumer, The Home Depot also recognizes children in their workshops too, and offers kids workshops monthly at their stores in addition to a Do-It-Yourself 1, 2, 3® book series.

Beyond the in-store and out-of-store educational programs, the Company also offers a series of tool rentals for its consumers.

The customer can rent approximately 325 tools for both the D-I-Y’er and the professional consumer at the lowest rates, guaranteed. (“Store and Services Overview,” 2016).

BACKGROUNDINFORMATIONSERVICES & OFFERINGS

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BACKGROUNDINFORMATIONWhile The Home Depot is the number one home improvement retailer within the United States, it does not do so without competition. The largest competitors of The Home Depot are Lowe’s, Sherwin-Williams, True Value, Menards, and Ace Hardware. What once was a large gap, is slowly dwindling and it is becoming an exceedingly close race between The Home Depot and Lowe’s.

Today, The Home Depot retains 58% of the U.S. market share within the home improvement industry, whereas Lowe’s, its largest competitor Lowe’s has a 39% market share (“Home Improvement Retail Industry,” 2016).

Since its introduction in 1978, The Home Depot had grown to operate 2,275 stores within North America. In comparison, over 70 years, Lowe’s has developed to reach 1,840 stores globally.

Between the two largest competitors, The Home Depot sustains a market capital of 166 billion, whereas Lowe’s holds a market capital of 72 billion

(“NASDAQ: Home Depot, Inc. (The) Competitors,” 2016). The competition does not end there, in 2014 The Home Depot boasted a larger total revenue, with $21.8 billion over Lowe’s (“About Lowe’s,” 2014) and $68.5 billion over Sherwin-Williams (“Sherwin-Williams: 2014 Annual Report,” 2014).

When it comes to media, The Home Depot plays host to a large amount of paid, earned and owned media; however, in this regard, competitor Lowe’s takes the lead. Lowe’s has a significant lead in the regards of owned media, for example its Pinterest account has 3.4 million followers, 2.9 million more than The Home Depot . In 2014, Lowe’s was ranked the third most popular account on all of Pinterest (“Lowe’s sees traction on two tricky social platforms: Pinterest and Vine,” 2015).

COMPETITION

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S W O T ANALYSIS

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S W O T ANALYSISStrengthsThe Home Depot fosters a strong brand image, from its construction orange logo to its various social media accounts. The Home Depot is a brand that has become the face of the home improvement industry, as an innovative competitor within the North American market. The stores themselves foster various educational programs, such as do-it-yourself workshops to online tutorials.

Beyond the educational programs, The Home Depot also hosts an extremely strong community outreach program with The Home Depot Foundation. The Home Depot also has a large social media following with 2.4 million likes on Facebook, 331K followers on Twitter, 229K followers on Instagram and 484.1K followers on Pinterest.

Weaknesses While The Home Depot plays host to a rather strong social media game, competitors such as Lowe’s does have a significant larger following, due to their creative and engaging content. For the most part, the owned media accounts of The Home Depot are dry, and unengaging. Its website, HomeDepot.com, is extremely cluttered and difficult to navigate, which can reduce the amount of online sales for the company.

Another weakness of The Home Depot is that is not currently a global presence, and its retail stores can only be found within North America. In 2014, The Home Depot also experienced a major data breech, which resulted in a large amount of negative publicity for the retail giant.

OpportunitiesIn order to grow, The Home Depot should continue to reach outside of its target market, and target demographics outside of the specifics. For example, the home improvement industry primarily targets adult males, and while the female demographic is a huge asset within the industry. Another demographic to target would be children, which The Home Depot is already doing though its kids workshops; however, they could branch out and create more engaging social media that could bring in a younger demographic.

Currently, Lowe’s leads The Home Depot when it comes to owned media. While the younger demographic isn’t going to be purchasing homes anytime in the near future, they will be the future of the home improvement business, and creating customer loyalty while they are young, will result in continuing to be the number one retailer of home improvement goods in the future. Another opportunity for The Home Depot , would be to roll out a rewards program for its frequent consumers. This program would allow the company to reward those who return, and create more brand loyalty.

ThreatsThe largest imminent threat to The Home Depot is the current weak U.S. economy, and less people buying their homes, and an increase of renting. With that, there has also been an increase of online buying, due to the increase of websites such as Amazon.com and Ebay.com where the consumer does not need to leave their home.

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TA R G E TAUDIENCEAmelia and Rory have been high school sweethearts, and best friends since they were children. They grew up together in Atlanta, Georgia, and now have plans of growing old together.

Recently, after dating for over ten years and with college far behind them, Rory finally proposed to Amelia, and their dreams of living ‘happily-ever-after’ are finally beginning to become a reality. Things seem to be falling into place for the lovebirds, and with Rory having just accepted a new job as an RN at a hospital in Tampa, Florida.

Amelia and her fiancé Rory decide to embark on their next adventure together: home ownership.

After looking for homes for what seemed like ages, they finally decided on a home that was right for them. The only problem? It’s a fixer-upper. Amelia who has always liked do-it-yourself projects is intrigued by the idea of creating their own space. In fact, she has been Pinteresting ideas for her future home since she was in high school ago and frequents HGTV.

Rory on the other hand, is less than enthralled. He had hoped to find a home that was turn-key and the only thing that had to be done was move-in all of their furniture.

In order to turn their new home into their dream home, Amelia and Rory turn to The Home Depot for their new home needs. Together, with a household income of approximately $100,000 per year, they

create a plan to give their home a makeover and give it the life it so desperately desires. Amelia and Rory want to use this as a learning experience, and with Amelia’s encouraging, have decided to take the do-it-yourself route, without hiring outside contractors.

The do-it-yourself route is ideal for Amelia and Rory, because it allows them to work at their own pace, which is incredibly important, especially since they will be having a new addition to their family in a mere six months.

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MARKETINGOVERVIEWOver the next year, The Home Depot will be boasting a new Integrated Marketing Communications (IMC) plan designed to drive consumers within its target market to utilize The Home Depot’s online and mobile facets, and increase its digital footprint.

- Increase THD Associates knowledge of online benefits by 90 percent over the next six months, through the implementation of a new digital training program. - Roll out a digital rewards program in order to increase online sales by 30 percent. - Increase mobile/online purchasing by 30 percent over the next twelve months.

OBJECTIVES

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MARKETINGOVERVIEWIn order to better meet the needs of its consumers, and to create a larger digital footprint, The Home Depot will need to utilize the following marketing strategy in order to make their IMC campaign a success. Over the next year, by following this strategy, the brand will not only see an increase in digital sales, but a larger audience for online media.

Increase THD Associates knowledge of online benefits by 90 percent over the next six months, through the implementation of a new digital training program.

By completing an eLearning or a workshop, The Home Depot would be able to offer a low-cost solution that would increase product knowledge within its associates. With the new digital training programs, associates will be better suited to meet the needs of the consumer by allowing them to educate them on the various digital offerings.

Roll out a digital rewards program in order to increase online sales by 30 percent

The addition of a rewards program focused on online purchases will assist in boosting mobile/online sales throughout the company. It will also create an added sense of brand loyalty, as it would also promote return buyers. Bringing people into the digital world is vital to the evolution of the company, and detrimental to retaining the edge on the competition.

Increase mobile/online purchasing by 30 percent over the next twelve months.

To increase online/mobile purchasing, The Home Depot’s in-store associates will play a vital role in the promotion of this campaign, as well as the addition of paid, earned and owned media. Advertisement is key.

MARKETING STRATEGY

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CREATIVE B R I E FWhy are we advertising? To increase sales through online media for The Home Depot.

Whom are we talking to? People who are buying their first, second and/or dream homes and those who are interested in improving their current home, or just want to take on a do-it-yourself project.

What do they currently think? The Home Depot is place to shop for their home improvement needs.

What would you like them to think? There is a world of opportunity through the online world of home improvement, through the use of The Home Depot app, website, and tutorial websites, they can achieve their home improvement goals and obtain the lowest price.

What is the single most persuasive idea we can convey? The Home Depot is a leader within the home improvement industry, and offers innovative products both online and in-store.

Why should they believe it? The Home Depot offers various innovative Eco Friendly products, tutorials, and programs both in-store and online.

Are there any creative guidelines? Full-Color Magazine Advertisement, :30/:60 TV Advertisement, :30 Radio Advertisement, Facebook Advertisement.

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INTEGRATEDCREATIVE STRATEGY

REJECTED STATEMENTSWe got this.Become a leader at D-I-Y.High Quality? Always.How’d you do that? Convenience at your fingertips.We did it!

Be a leader.“Wow!”Learn. Earn. Do.Learn to Save.DIY at your fingertips.

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CREATIVE EXECUTION

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M E D I A OVERVIEWAt the end of 2014, 25% of THD’s sales were from online or mobile purchasing (Brohan, 2016). In order to further boost online and mobile sales, THD will create a new media campaign to target new families, with branding with the mantra ‘together, we can do it.’ With this campaign, THD will seek to obtain the following media objectives:

- Gain a 20-percent following on the following social media accounts in a 12 month period: FacebookCurrent: 2.4M likes - Target: 2.9M likes Twitter: Current: 331K followers - Target: 397K followers Instagram: Current: 226K followers - Target: 271K followers Pinterest: Current: 479K followers - Target: 575K followers YouTube: Current: 120K subscribers - Target: 144K subscribers - Utilize broadcast media to drive a 25-percent increase of visitors to THD’s social media accounts, website and mobile apps in the next 12 months. - Reach 40-percent of the target audience through social media and broadcast advertising over the next year.

MEDIA OBJECTIVES

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M E D I A OVERVIEWCurrently, The Home Depot’s largest social media accounts are Facebook (2.4M likes), Pinterest (479K followers) and Twitter (331K followers). In order for The Home Depot to grow its social media following, and drive its consumers to social media accounts, the official website, and mobile applications, The Home Depot will utilize the following media strategies:

Gain a 20 percent following on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Pinterest, and YouTube in a 12 month period.

In order to gain a 20-percent following on The Home Depot’s social media accounts as a whole, it must create compelling and engaging material for the consumer. With that objective in mind, The Home Depotwill create a number of fun, stylistic graphics: “How do you Home Depot?” as a part of the ‘Together, we can do it’ campaign. These posts will feature creative ways D-I-Y and will also include links to purchase the materials needed for the projects.

- The graphics will be clear-cut, and simple, utilizing The Home Depot’s font, and images of the project itself.

- To create community engagement, and boost social media following, The Home Depot will also reach out to its consumers, and ask for them to submit their own creative projects.

- This could also include short :30 spots showing the making of the projects.

- The Home Depot will aim to post at least one of these posts per social media account per week.

With social media, The Home Depot will also partner with popular social media websites such as BuzzFeed to create posts about D-I-Y projects and other home improvement projects. BuzzFeed has over 7 billion monthly viewers, and hosts to over 200M unique visitors per month and would aid in increasing social media outreach for The Home Depot (“BuzzFeed by the Numbers,” 2016).

Utilize broadcast media to drive a 25 percent increase of visitors to THD’s social media accounts, website and mobile app within the next 12 months.

The Home Depot will create a series of :30 commercials to air on partner networks such as HGTV and the DIY network. These commercials will focus on highlighting The Home Depot’s target audience using the mobile application and website to meet their home improvement needs. These commercials will feature consumers shopping on the website, and mobile applications pushing the idea that ‘together, you [and The Home Depot] can do it.’

MEDIA STRATEGIES & TACTICS

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M E D I A OVERVIEW

- The Home Depot will partner with home improvement networks such as HGTV and the DIY network, and will also be shown on the ‘big four’ TV networks: ABC, CBS, NBC and Fox.

- These commercials will increase during primetime viewing, and prime seasons. The frequency of the message will be higher during peak seasons such as Christmas.

Reach 40 percent of the target audience through social media and broadcast advertising over the next year.

In order to reach 40% of the target audience, The Home Depot will utilize both traditional and online media outlets for its advertisements. By utilizing the series of :30 commercials on through both traditional and online media outlets, The Home Depot can gain significant audience reach throughout its target audience. Most of these will be utilized during peak seasons, such as Christmas and late spring, and early summer. Some, such as advertising on HGTV, will be year-round advertising.

- By partnering with online streaming websites such as Hulu and Amazon Prime, The Home Depot would receive advertising specific to its target market, boosting awareness of product.

- To further insure that The Home Depot’s message reaches the appropriate audience, it will also ensue in paid advertising from social media outlets such as Facebook and YouTube.

- The Home Depot will continue to utilize traditional broadcast outlets such as HGTV, DIY Network, ABC, CBS, NBC and Fox to drive product knowledge.

- Online music streaming services such as Pandora will also be utilized to increase reach during peak seasons.

MEDIA STRATEGIES & TACTICS (CONT.)

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M E D I A OVERVIEWMEDIA FLOW CHART

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P U B L I CRELATIONSWith paid and owned media, it is extremely simple to control the message that your company is giving out. For The Home Depot, it pushes to do-it-yourself, to build, create, be a partner with the planet, be responsible, do the right thing. However, the message that is obtained from earned media for a company can be significantly different than their pushed message.

One of The Home Depot’s largest strengths when it comes to earned media is The Home Depot Foundation, a foundation aimed at improving the homes of U.S. military veterans and their families, and aiding communities affected by natural disasters (“Giving Back,” 2016). In order to solidify the success of this IMC plan, The Home Depot will need to utilize the following Public Relations objectives:

- Increase the visibility of The Home Depot Foundation by 40-percent over the next year. - Gain a 20-percent increase of product reviews on the following websites by the end of the next fiscal year: • TheHomeDepot.com • ResellerRatings.com • iTunes Store • Yelp.com • Facebook - Over a year period, generate 10-percent more reach through media pertaining to THD ‘going green.’

PR OBJECTIVES

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P U B L I CRELATIONSPR STRATEGIES & TACTICSIncrease the visibility of The Home Depot Foundation by 40-percent over the next year.

The Home Depot Foundation is already an extremely successful organization and since 2011, has given nearly $138 million and transformed over 25,000 homes for U.S. Veterans and those affected by disasters (“Giving Back,” 2016). In order to increase the visibility of the foundation by 40-percent, The Home Depot will need to push for both community and associate engagement with the program. Currently, approximately 300,000 THD associates make up Team Depot.

According to Forbes, as a whole, employees approximately 385,000 people (“The World’s Biggest Public Companies,” 2016), which means 78% of all associates have volunteered with The Home Depot Foundation.

- In order to boost visibility, The Home Depot will aim to increase the percentage of associates volunteering from 78% to 90%. With this, The Home Depot will roll out a prize system, for a specific amount of hours logged, the associate will be able to obtain a specific prize.

- The Home Depot will partner with Habitat for Humanity, and other organizations such as The House That Theta Phi Alpha Built, and other nonprofit groups that aim at other philanthropic missions.

- Host a series of philanthropic events that align with the ideals of The Home Depot Foundation to increase visibility and favorability within the public.

- Release a number of press releases to various news sources to highlight the philanthropic activity.

- Distribute to media outlets and newsrooms.

- Make media available on The Home Depot’s Corporate Newsroom for news agencies and consumers to pick up

Gain a 20-percent increase of product reviews by the end of the next fiscal year.

The Home Depot is already a leader within the industry; however, when shopping, consumers tend to gauge their interest in an item online based on the amount of stars that it has. A product that lacks in stars, either isn’t popular, or will not be viewed as a good, genuine product.

Through increasing product reviews on various websites, it will boost the products visibility within Google, Yahoo!, MSN, and other search engines, and increase the amount that THD is selling. In order to boost product reviews, THD must complete the following:

- Add a prompt on receipts to push customers to leave reviews for their specific products.

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P U B L I CRELATIONSPR STRATEGIES & TACTICS (CONT.)- Produce a system of coupons for the customer, with one review on The Home Depot’s main website, you receive 5% off of your next purchase.

- Allow guests to share their stories through social media. For example, if someone hashtags #orangeblood, or #thehomedepot with a positive interaction with an associate, the company could retweet/share that post to create more community engagement. With the reach of The Home Depot’s social media accounts, the post would have an opportunity to go viral and thus reach more and more consumers.

Over one year, generate 10% more reach through media pertaining ‘going green.’

The Home Depot is constantly giving back to the community, and one of the ways that The Home Depot gives back, is through promoting eco-friendly options in its stores. The Home Depot carries a variety of environmental friendly, energy efficient products that are recommended by ENERGY STAR® and WaterSense®. Over a year period, THD saved its consumers over 8 billion kilowatt hours (“Eco Options,” 2016). Today, consumers are continuing to integrate their environmental values into their purchases (“Go Green! Green Marketing,” 2016).

- Release press releases/news briefs on what The Home Depot is doing to ‘go green’.

- Partner with various environmental organizations such as NRDC (National Resources Defense Council), 1% for the Planet, Co-Op America, and the Environmental Defense Fund to back the eco-friendly options.

- Partner with third-party websites, such as BuzzFeed, and Pinterest to create fun lists such as “Ways to D-I-Y to be eco-friendly.”

- Create sustainability factsheets to distribute to the consumer about what The Home Depot is doing, and what they can do too, include a hashtag where the consumers can share their eco-friendly projects over social media.

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MEASUREMENT& EVALUATIONMeasuring the effectiveness of The Home Depot’s $20 million IMC plan is detrimental to the success of this campaign, and will offer advantages such as avoiding costly mistakes, increasing efficiency for advertising, determining whether or not objectives are met, and possibly evaluating alternate strategies (Belch, G., Belch, M., 2015).

The overall objectives of this campaign is to increase online sales, and create a larger digital footprint for the home improvement retailer. In order to effectively measure the efficiency of the campaign, The Home Depot will utilize Test Marketing and Online Measurement & Evaluation.

For the test marketing, The Home Depot will utilize the following four geographic markets (“U.S. Census 2015,” 2015): 1. Orlando, FL - Population: 270.9K2. Salt Lake City, UT - Population: 192.6K 3. Pittsburgh, PA - Population: 304.3K 4. Peoria, IL - Population: 115K

Prior to the introduction of the campaign, market researchers will pretest the market to establish a baseline by distributing surveys on customer’s receipts, e-mail, conducting spot interviews, and websites that reward the consumer for taking surveys (such as Swagbucks and Toluna). This test will last two months.

- The survey will include questions pertaining to the consumer’s shopping habits both online and

in-store, and their motivation.

- The survey will also ask questions about the consumer’s opinion on The Home Depot’s social media channels, and what they believe would make it more engaging.

Once the pretest is complete, advertisements will be introduced into these specific geographic regions for a period of four months.

After six months, a post test will conclude for another two month period and final data will be acquired.

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CONCLUSIONIntegrated Marketing Communications plays a vital role in the planning, development, execution and evaluation of marketing campaigns for brand communications (Belch, G., Belch, M., 2015). With this IMC campaign, The Home Depot will hope to see an increase of digital sales and online presence within a one year span. Targeting a demographic of first-time homebuyers this campaign will make the consumer believe that they, along with the aid of The Home Depot can do anything.

Today, approximately 70% of consumers prefer to shop online, rather than going to the physical stores themselves (Morris, B., 2013), in response, it is vital for the success of a company to evolve with the times. In this age of smart phones, internet, tablets, and even smart watches, it really is a digital world out there.

While millennials are slowly grasping the ideals of home ownership, the share of first-time buyers in today’s market has increased by 34% from 2013-2015 (Braverman, 2015). In order to meet the needs of the new generation of homeowners, The Home Depot needs to create compelling social media, and create new innovative methods of battling rivals such as Lowe’s, True Value and Sherwin-Williams.

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REFERENCESAbout Lowe’s. (2014). Retrieved from http://media.lowes.com/about-lowes/ Belch, G., Belch, M. (2015). Advertising and Promotion: An Integrated Marketing Communications Perspective (Global ed.). New York, NY: McGraw-Hill.Braverman, B. (2015). 4 reasons millennials still aren’t buying houses. Retrieved on July 5, 2015 from http://www.forbes.com/sites/bethbraverman/2015/09/24/4-reasons-millennials-still-arent- buying-houses/#5183b7cc3b47BuzzFeed by the numbers. (2016). Retrieved on June 19, 2016 from https://www.buzzfeed.com/ aboutEco options. (2016). Retrieved on June 27, 2016 from http://www.ecooptions.homedepot.com/ Farber, M. (2016) Consumers are now doing most of their shopping online. Retrieved on July 6, 2015 from http://fortune.com/2016/06/08/online-shopping-increases/Financial overview. (2016). Retrieved from https://corporate.homedepot.com/MediaCenter/PressKit/ Documents/Corp_Financial_Overview.pdfGiving back. (2016). Retrieved on June 26, 2016 from http://corporate.homedepot.com/community Go green! Green marketing. (2016). Retrieved on June 27, 2016 from http://www.avsgroup.com/ articles/articletype/articleview/articleid/12/go-green-green-marketing Home improvement retail industry. (2016). Retrieved on July 5, 2016 from http://www.bidnessetc.com/ subindustry/home-improvement-retail-industry/overview/In our stores. (2016). Retrieved from https://corporate.homedepot.com/CorporateResponsibility/InO urStores/Pages/default.aspxLowe’s: The world’s biggest companies. Retrieved on July 5, 2016 from http://www.forbes.com/ companies/lowes-cos/Milnes, H. (2015). Lowe’s sees traction on two tricky social platforms: Pinterest and Vine. Retrieved on July 1, 2016 from http://digiday.com/brands/lowes-sees-traction-two-tricky-social-platforms- pinterest-vine/Morris, B. (2013). More consumers prefer online shopping. Retrieved on July 5, 2016 from http://www. wsj.com/articles/SB10001424127887324063304578523112193480212NASADQ: Home Depot, Inc. (The) Competitors. (2016) Retrieved from http://www.nasdaq.com/sym

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REFERENCESNASADQ: Home Depot, Inc. (The) Competitors. (2016) Retrieved from http://www.nasdaq.com/sym bol/hd/competitors Our history. (2016). Retrieved on June 1, 2016 from https://corporate.homedepot.com/OurCompany/ History/Pages/Sherwin-Williams 2014 annual report. (2014). Retrieved from http://investors.sherwin-williams.com/ pdf/annual-reports/2014-annual-report.pdfStore and services overview. (2016) Retrieved from https://corporate.homedepot.com/OurCompany/ Documents/Store_and_Services_Overview.pdfThe Home Depot: The world’s biggest companies. (2016). Retrieved on July 3, 2016 from http://www. forbes.com/companies/home-depot/The Home Depot and the environment. (2016). Retrieved from https://corporate.homedepot.com/ CorporateResponsibility/Environment/Pages/default.aspxThe Home Depot Foundation. (2016). Retrieved from https://corporate.homedepot.com/Corporate Responsibility/HDFoundation/Pages/default.aspxThe Home Depot values. (2016). Retrieved from https://corporate.homedepot.com/ourcompany/ values/pages/default.aspx U.S. Census. (2015). Retrieved on July 5, 2016 from http://www.census.gov/quickfacts/table/PST0452 15/1759000,4967000,4805000,1253000,12

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