Today’s consumer has more choice than ever, and they’re not afraid to switch between brands to find experiences that match their expectations. If retailers want to compete in this crowded marketplace, they need to understand—and even anticipate—shoppers’ needs. In the height of winter, Canadian shoppers need gear that will help them deal with freezing temperatures, snow, and ice.

Objective

From shovels to fire starters, The Home Depot carries everything Canadians need to manage inclement weather and get cozy inside. But the team knew it was critical for people to have these products before the weather got out of hand. If they wanted to stand out, they needed a reliable data source for their digital campaign that could predict the weather, so they could serve the most relevant products, at exactly the right time.

Strategy and Execution

With this in mind, they made some innovative updates to their 2020 display campaign for a first-to-market execution in programmatic advertising. The home improvement retailer partnered with an Engagement Management Platform to integrate their eCommerce inventory and The Weather Network API into their display ads. A programmatic first to market. Combined with powerful automation and decisioning, theplatform triggered weather-specific creative with related in-stock products up to three days before a major snow, ice rain or severe cold events.

The dynamic, data-powered display ads included an animated teaser featuring light snow or rain, depending on the user’s local weather conditions, to help grab people’s attention. When they clicked on the personalized ad, or hovered over it for more than five seconds, it revealed a warning that snow or freezing rain was in the forecast alongside a gallery of shoppable products, details, and real-time pricing, so users could browse for what they needed without leaving the ad.

Creative

Click the unit above to interact with it on the demo page – Please have location services on
To change units, use the drop down in the top right of the demo page
Click the unit above to interact with it on the demo page – Please have location services on
To change units, use the drop down in the top right of the demo page
Click the unit above to interact with it on the demo page – Please have location services on
To change units, use the drop down in the top right of the demo page

Results

It didn’t take a meteorologist to predict the outcome. Thanks to high-impact creative and The Weather Network’s API, The Home Depot was able to reach Canadians with relevant, winter-ready products when they needed them most. That resulted in a dramatic increase in user interactions and improved their overall efficiency. 

When compared to their 2019 campaign, which didn’t feature an animated teaser or take local weather conditions into account, the ads saw a 261 percent increase in user interactions, effectively reducing their cost-per-acquisition by 65 percent and increasing their return on ad spend (ROAS) by a whopping 33 percent.