P1: B&Q Build a life campaign

 

B&Q Build a life

Aims & Objectives

B&Q worked with uncommon to create an advert to help them “Get their Mojo back” (Contagious 2020). The B&Q team was relatively new however they came to uncommon with a clear brief.

Uncommon wanted to ”drive emotional connection back to the brand” & “reinstate its meaningful place back in UK culture” (Contagious 2020).

“B&Q recognized that they had lost their identity and wanted help to redefine what it represents. (Contagious 2020) “ This was because they suffered a revenue loss during the Covid-19 pandemic and they wanted to rebuild themselves.

Target Audience

B&Q has a wide audience, which includes many types of people- from people who are renovating their homes, to people renting their homes, & even people who haven’t shopped there before, who don’t know what B&Q is about. 

B&Q wants to reconnect with the purpose and meaning of DIY & Home improvements. This also follows their tagline “You can do it”, which means that anyone can decorate and make their homes and lives better.

Message

The message of this campaign was to show that B&Q had everything a person to improve their lives. B&Q do this by using their own well-known tag line “You can do it” along with multiple posters, images and billboards showing everything B&Q has to offer.

The message of this campaign is very different to past campaigns as in the past they have been known to make it all about their prices for products; the Build a Life campaign primarily focusses on their ability to transform lifestyles & how people are able to do to themselves.

Representation

In the advert, there are a wide range of ages, ethnicities, race, and gender represented in the advert to show that the B&Q audience is broad. 

The advertisement shows that fathers can be more parenting to their children, while the mothers go to work or do the decorating. It also shows that the fathers can do the decorations as it isn’t just a womans job.

The advert shows different ethnicities doing different house chores and activities, which shows that their brand and products are made for everyone. For example, there is a Muslim family celebrating, which shows that B&Q has a diverse audience and “anyone can change their home to make life better” (The Drum, 2020 & Uncommon, September 18 2020)

Logistics

B&Q worked with Uncommon to create a campaign showing that it is possible for anyone to transform their homes for cheap prices.

Their catchprase ‘You can do it’ quickly became ‘You can build a life and home and get the things you need for just cheap prices’. 

Choice of media

B&Q took advantage of Out-of-House advertising to create a more engaging campaign. This included billboards and banners at the side of roads and rails.  

They didn’t want to just have a basic advertisement on an Instagram feed, instead they wanted to have long, engaging 60 second adverts on tv and online, while also having huge posters and billboards to show what they represent.

Call to action

In the B&Q adverts, they subtly tell you what you should do while showing you what you could do to your own home and lives to make it your own. 

B&Q uses words like ‘Today’, ‘Change’ and ‘Peace’ to create action to their advertisements.

Legal & ethical

This campaign was launched during the height of COVID-19, B&Q had to follow all guidelines when producing the different adverts. To follow the law, Uncommon had to make sure they and permission to film in certain locations and must also ensure all adverts comply with ASA’s rules and guidlines set in place to protect people.  

Social Grade

B&Q were aiming their campaign at audiences in social grade C1, C2 and D as they are aiming it at professionals, skilled manual workers and semi-skilled manual workers.

Bibliography

Contagious 2020 Accessed at 9:25AM on 24/11/21

https://www.contagious.com/news-and-views/insight-strategy-behind-B&Q-build-a-life-brand-campaign-Uncommon