Marketers at Sears' Craftsman are pitching the tool brand to people who don't normally use tools at all, a big switch from the traditional approach of promoting tools to do-it-yourselfers. The effort
centers on an online reality show for which Craftsman has been auditioning people since late June. The show is to feature someone who has "little to no tool skills whatsoever, but must be ready to
face anything in pursuit of DIY knowledge," according to contest guidelines. Prospects have to upload two-minute videos describing their incompetence.
The Web show starts mid-August,
wherein the winner gets put in an apartment in Chicago and will be filmed getting boot camp-style training in carpentry. Then the person gets put in an extreme situation "in the middle of nowhere."
The effort is by Y&R Chicago, part of Young & Rubicam.
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