The wood flooring industry is embracing the ways that technology and innovation can help boost our industry’s products and services. Our cover story mentioned how the use of buzzwords such as “waterproof” and claiming to be “maintenance-free” guided homeowners toward fake wood products instead of the real thing.
This led to wood flooring manufacturers coming up with innovative ways to ensure their products could compete with the imposters. Some worked to enhance wood so it would be more resistant to dents, scratches, and water. Finish manufacturers also have created product lines focused on enhancing the strength and performance of wood floors. Outside of the new technologies, the industry has been spreading the message about the attributes of real wood flooring. We know that wood floors are the most durable, attractive, easy to maintain, and sustainable option, and no other surface can bring added value to a home.
Getting that message straight to the consumer is no easy task. That is why the NWFA partnered with numerous other associations to combine efforts through the Real American Hardwood Coalition (RAHC). I’ve written here before about the RAHC, which has a mission to increase consumer awareness, market stability, and industry sales of all real American hardwood products through consumer outreach and marketing campaigns. Since the group was established in 2019, research has been conducted to understand consumer perceptions of real wood, messages were developed, consumer- and industry-facing websites were created, social media accounts were launched, and campaign content has been created.
In an exciting effort to expand that reach, the coalition signed an advertising contract with the Magnolia Network – the lifestyle network owned by Chip and Joanna Gaines and entertainment conglomerate Warner Bros. – to promote Real American Hardwood products on its programs.
Television advertising is a first for the hardwood industry, and the Magnolia Network provides a unique opportunity to reach an extremely targeted audience of home renovation viewers and purchasers to learn why real wood products should be part of their home build and renovation projects. Through this integrated partnership, the RAHC will develop an advertising campaign that will reach millions of consumers who are home build and renovation motivated, across a variety of media platforms:
- Two 30-second ads will appear on a Real American Hardwood themed episode of Restoration Road hosted by woodworking personality Clint Harp, along with 15 ad spots leading up to the episode air date. Clint Harp was part of the Gaines’ HGTV Fixer Upper cast, responsible for any woodworking projects on the show.
- 10 taggable shorts incorporating the Real American Hardwood logo will be developed, along with 30-second ads that will follow the shorts.
- 15-, 30-, and 60-second ads will be developed to air on the HGTV & Magnolia Network TVEverywhere app, as well as the Discovery+ streaming service.
- 30-second interactive ads will be developed for connected TVs and devices that link to realamericanhardwood.com, the RAHC’s consumer website.
- Digital media ads will be developed to run on Instagram, Facebook, YouTube, and Google Search, in addition to Google Display ad partner websites.
- Micro-commercial ads will be developed that will run on all viewing platforms.
The ads will be based on the RAHC’s Build Your World™ campaign. The campaign is designed to build a deep, emotional connection with consumers, by helping individuals envision their world – built specifically and uniquely for them – with Real American Hardwood flooring, cabinetry, furniture, and millwork. And the word “world” offers flexibility, enabling the campaign to adjust messaging and make it relatable for specific audiences, cultural moments, situations, and stages of life.
In all, RAHC ads and campaign messaging will reach a highly targeted audience of 92.8 million consumers. The ads first appeared on Magnolia programming at the end of July. We will be building on this with a second phase of the campaign, designed to reach architects and designers. Tune in to the Magnolia Network to see Real American Hardwood in action, and visit realamericanhardwood.com to learn more about how you can be a part of our efforts to bring wood’s powerful story to the world.