As HGTV and Stainmaster carpets held routine conversations about marketing plans earlier this year, they realized they had the groundwork for a cross-platform partnership.
Both had
run sweepstakes promoting the fall as an apt time to make home renovations before -- and the pair cut a deal to merge the two. Stainmaster signed on as the sponsor of the decade-old HGTV "Great Fall
Fix-Up" promotion. "It seemed almost intuitive with the synergy," said Sally Philson, director, consumer marketing for Stainmaster, whose parent is Invista.
"We realized what they were
trying to accomplish and what we were trying to accomplish was very similar," added Donna Stephens, senior vice president of ad sales for HGTV.
The agreement allowed Stainmaster to leverage
the well-recognized HGTV brand both on-air and off. The company promoted the sweepstakes in ads that ran on HGTV and other networks, but a main push was aimed at building support among retailers. That
was done by effectively providing them access to the HGTV brand.
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Some 6,000 retailers offered floor displays and in-store signage plugging the promotion. And many retailers requested the
opportunity to mention the HGTV link in ads they ran with co-op dollars from Invista.
"They're looking for leverage and something like this to bring HGTV into their stores," Philson said.
Stainmaster also ran online ads on HGTV.com and had a presence in an email newsletter the network sends out.
The sweepstakes offered a $75,000 prize and brought 4 million entries.