The document provides an executive summary for an IMC plan for The Home Depot. It discusses how The Home Depot will focus on increasing its digital sales and social media reach through three main parts: social media, public relations, and a digital rewards program. The goal is for The Home Depot to break into the digital era and see an increase in online sales and larger social media following. The plan also provides background on The Home Depot and discusses the target audience as engaged homeowner couples looking to complete DIY projects.

1. ASHLEY SANTORE
West Virginia University
IMC 610 - The Home Depot IMC Plan

2. EXECUTIVE
SUMMARY
Today, 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.
1

3. TABLE OF
CONTENTS
1 Executive Summary
2 Table of Contents
3 Introduction
4 Company Values
5 Services & Offerings
6 Competition
7 SWOT Analysis
9 Target Audience
10 Marketing Objectives
11 Marketing Strategy
12 Creative Brief
13 Integrated Creative Strategy Statement
14 Creative Execution
15 Media Objectives
16 Media Strategy & Tactics
18 Media Flow Chart
19 Public Relations Objectives
20 Public Relations Strategy & Tactics
22 Measurement & Evaluation
23 Conclusion
24 References
2

4. 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.
BACKGROUND
INFORMATION
INTRODUCTION
3

5. 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).
BACKGROUND
INFORMATION
COMPANY VALUES
4

6. 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) andThe 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.Theseonlineworkshopsalloweditsconsumer
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).
BACKGROUND
INFORMATION
SERVICES &
OFFERINGS
5

7. BACKGROUND
INFORMATION
While 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
6

8. S W O T
ANALYSIS
7

9. S W O T
ANALYSIS
Strengths
The 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.
Opportunities
In 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.
Threats
The 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.
8

10. TARGET
AUDIENCEAmelia and Rory have been high school
sweethearts, and best friends since they were
children.They grew up together inAtlanta, 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.
9

11. MARKETING
OVERVIEW
Over 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
10

12. MARKETING
OVERVIEW
In 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
11

13. 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.
12

14. INTEGRATED
CREATIVESTRATEGY
REJECTED STATEMENTS
We 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.
13

15. CREATIVE
EXECUTION
14

16. M E D I A
OVERVIEW
At 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
15

17. M E D I A
OVERVIEW
Currently, 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
16

18. 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.
Reach40percentofthetargetaudiencethrough
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.)
17

19. M E D I A
OVERVIEW
MEDIA FLOW CHART
18

20. P U B L I C
RELATIONS
With 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
19

21. P U B L I C
RELATIONS
PR STRATEGIES & TACTICS
Increase 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.
20

22. P U B L I C
RELATIONS
PR 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
Depotgivesback,isthroughpromotingeco-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.
21

23. 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: 270.9K
2. 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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24. CONCLUSION
Integrated 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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25. REFERENCES
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BuzzFeed by the numbers. (2016). Retrieved on June 19, 2016 from https://www.buzzfeed.com/
about
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wsj.com/articles/SB10001424127887324063304578523112193480212
NASADQ: Home Depot, Inc. (The) Competitors. (2016) Retrieved from http://www.nasdaq.com/sym
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26. REFERENCES
NASADQ: 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.pdf
Store and services overview. (2016) Retrieved from https://corporate.homedepot.com/OurCompany/
Documents/Store_and_Services_Overview.pdf
The 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.aspx
The Home Depot Foundation. (2016). Retrieved from https://corporate.homedepot.com/Corporate
Responsibility/HDFoundation/Pages/default.aspx
The 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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