• by Tanya Gazdik , June 6, 2016

Humboldt Redwood is launching a campaign to showcase the building material using a unique spokesperson — an animated plank of wood. 

The campaign, from San Francisco-based BarrettSF, launched wide on cable networks such as ESPN, CNN, HGTV and A&E on May 30, and directs viewers to the website, GetRedwood.com.

Aimed at consumers who are building or remodeling their homes as well as architects, contractors and landscape designers, the 15- and 30-second ads pan across homes with redwood features and minimalist fixtures that detail the beauty of the wood. Each ad is narrated by Ross Brockley, whose wooden, comic delivery makes sense once the camera stops on his character: he’s a redwood plank “dummy” resting on the builder’s knee. Each of the eight executions tags with “Real. Strong. Redwood.”

The company wanted a creative execution more interesting than a family having dinner on their deck, says Jessica Hewitt, director of marketing for Humboldt Redwood. 

"We're putting a great deal of media behind the TV spots,” she says, adding that while large, this isn’t the brand’s largest campaign to date. “We're also actively promoting the new spots on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram."

The campaign aims to raise the perceived value of redwood by positioning it as a beautiful wood that offers all the benefits of comparable materials. It also highlights its uses as timbers, posts, beams and a finish-grade wood. 

"This campaign is aimed at Millennials, younger homeowners, and anyone else looking for a beautiful, natural option for a deck or interior element (post, beam, wall) of their home,” Hewitt tells Marketing Daily.

The work is a follow-up to a campaign BarrettSF did for the company two years ago. Brockley also narrated those ads, which showed the superiority of redwood over plastic decks.

After the last Redwood campaign, the most frequent question was regarding the narrator, says Jamie Barrett, BarrettSF ECD. 

“In this campaign, we provide the answer,” Barrett says. “It turns out the voice was coming from a naturally strong and beautiful  -- though slightly bug-eyed -- redwood plank.”

The agency wanted to highlight the beauty and versatility of redwood. 

“That would typically lead you down the path of elegant, more fashion-y commercials,” Barrett tells Marketing Daily. “Typical is rarely good so we went the opposite way. Beauty served up with humor. With a ventriloquist, for good measure."