As B&Q dusts off its ‘You Can Do It’ slogan for a new advertising campaign, we spoke to marketing director Tom Hampson about the power of the catchphrase, balancing innovation with heritage, and influencer marketing
‘You Can Do It’ has been on the go for 40 years, but is it fair to say it hasn’t been as prominent recently?
I think you’re right – it’s always there and it’s always been there. I made it more prominent for a few reasons. The first is because, at the back end of last year, we did a report that showed two-thirds of people are putting off home improvement projects because they don’t have the confidence to tackle them. But we all know that when you complete a project it feels really good and it’s never as bad as you thought it would be.
The second reason is that we got some really interesting data, which showed how strong the slogan is as an asset – 90% of the adult population recognise it and associate it with B&Q, even when you remove the B&Q part. That’s in the same territory as the McDonald’s golden arches.
How do you balance heritage in marketing with innovation and newness? And how do you know when it’s the right time to change it up?
“Listen to your customers. While it continues to resonate with customers and continues to have meaning, then you should keep it, celebrate it and reinforce it. It’s got to have substance behind it and we constantly ask ourselves: ‘Are we doing enough?’
“Part of the ‘You Can Do It’ message is reminding people of the truth of the business and the brand, so if it stops having meaning to our customers, and if we stop demonstrating it with what we offer them and it stops being true, then it’ll be time to take a long hard look in the mirror.”
How much influencer marketing does B&Q do at the moment?
“We’ve significantly grown, over the last 12 months, the engagement levels we have on social media, particularly Instagram, and a big part of that is working with content creators.
“If you go to our Instagram you’ll see a mixture of things we’ve created ourselves and things we’ve created with content partners. For example, we have a partner for gardening advice who tells you what you should be doing in the garden this week and we work with influencers who will do things like product recommendations. That works a bit like traditional PR and we send people products as a way to shine a light on hidden gems within B&Q.
“Partnering up with content creators is a good way of showing people what we have to offer. We did ‘How to install a tank jacket’ with an influencer who showed you how easy it is and can be done within about 15 seconds. It helps people to think: ‘Oh, I might do that’. We’ve got instruction manuals but suddenly that makes it a bit different.”
Is influencer marketing still as effective as it once was?
“The most effective marketing uses a range of channels. So we start the conversation with a TV advert in the middle of Ant & Dec’s Saturday Night Takeaway, and TV still works really well if you want to reach a lot of people quickly in an engaging way. At the same time, we do a lot of paid search and SEO optimisation. With influencers, we’re got plenty of social content. We’ve got YouTube too – they all play a role and all significantly different roles.
“It’s all about doing a suite of activities that’s worth more than the sum of its parts.”
Paid search has gone up in price quite considerably. Do you find it’s still worth it?
“Yes, it’s still part of our marketing activity. I probably sound like a customer but the price of everything has gone up. Retailers are made up of people, so like all people we’re facing challenges on costs.
“There are always challenges and what I’d say is that when things are difficult, the best thing you can do as a retailer is to play to your strengths and focus on the customer. So consider if it’s paying back, how customers are reacting to it, if it’s proven to be relevant to them. And is it driving traffic in a cost-effective way? And then weigh that up.”
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