Home Depot Trades Places with Competitor on TLC

Home Depot will replace competitor Lowe's as the primary sponsor of Trading Spaces and other TLC programs, ending a three-year partnership that began when the popular home decorating show crossed the Atlantic.

The Atlanta-based home-supply giant will have category exclusive sponsorship of Trading Spaces along with another show, While You Were Out, and other Discovery TV and print properties. Terms of the one-year deal weren't announced.

As Lowe's did for the first three years of the show, Home Depot will provide the money and materials that two neighbors use to redesign each other's rooms on Trading Spaces. In return, Home Depot will get marketing opportunities on Trading Spaces, Trading Spaces Family and While You Were Out.

Other aspects of the deal include spots on print ads, direct mail, a retail promotion at Discovery Channel stores, sweepstakes, on-air vignettes on home improvement and the opportunity for the hosts and experts to appear at Home Depot events. Advertising will also appear on other Discovery networks, including Discovery, Discovery Home & Leisure and BBC America.

advertisement

advertisement

"This partnership is groundbreaking as The Home Depot receives the unique benefit of category exclusive sponsorship for two of the hottest shows on cable, with formats that couldn't be a better match for their business," said Joe Abruzzese, president of advertising sales at Discovery Networks.

Home Depot moves into a sponsorship that had been filled by a competitor, the North Carolina-based Lowe's chain of home-improvement supply stores. Lowe's had been the category exclusive sponsor of Trading Spaces in all three years of its existence, when it started as an Americanized version of a British home improvement show to its position as the hottest show on TLC and a national phenomenon.

A Lowe's spokeswoman said the company decided to pursue a different marketing strategy, which would continue to include its partnership with HGTV and other, as-yet-unspecified projects. Lowe's wouldn't comment about whether Discovery's asking price was too high for the continued sponsorship of Trading Spaces.

A Home Depot spokeswoman wouldn't comment on the competition, directing a reporter to the news release. In it, Home Depot marketing chief John Costello said the Trading Spaces/While You Were Out deal would give the company its best exposure on cable TV.

"It gives Home Depot new ways to showcase the latest trends and innovative products in a hot program format that reaches a very engaged audience," he said.

Next story loading loading..