• by Sarah Mahoney  @mahoney_sarah, April 8, 2024

Just in time for spring planting, Scott’s Miracle-Gro is introducing an ad campaign for organic soils starring Martha Stewart, a self-described Dirt Nerd.

The “Gro Like Martha” campaign also features her longtime Bedford estate head gardener, Ryan McCallister. And it emphasizes high-quality dirt as the essential ingredient for successful gardening.

Stewart, who endorses everything from CBD, BIC lighters and Skechers shoes, “is pretty much the queen of gardening,” says John Sass, chief creative officer of the company. “As we were launching these new lines of organics, we wanted someone believable. With Martha Stewart, we didn’t need to do anything gimmicky.”

Instead, the Columbus, Ohio-based company thinks of the effort “almost as an influencer campaign, except that it is on television.”

In addition to the TV spots, which focus on the simplicity of starting with the right kind of dirt, the campaign pulls back the curtain on her gardening secrets. Content includes an “Ask Martha” newsletter, videos on the company’s social channels and sponsorship of “Martha Gardens” on the Roku Channel.

The Martin Agency created the campaign, and this is its first work since becoming Scott’s Miracle-Gro agency of record.

The effort promotes Miracle-Gro Organic Raised Bed & Garden Soil and Miracle-Gro Organic All Natural Mulch.

Ads are running on mass-reach cable and CTV, including integrations on the second season of “Martha Gardens” on Roku, in-stream audio placements in iHeart and Pandora, in-app integrations that include Uber and Zillow, and paid content on Meta, TikTok, Pinterest, Snapchat.

Sass says the company didn’t worry that Stewart’s outsized gardening reputation might overshadow the brand message. “She is one of the best-known home caretakers in the world,” he tells Marketing Daily. “She is so good at staying relevant and tapping different cultural trends. And what comes through is her sincere desire to teach America how to garden.”

As Stewart and McCallister started filming the spots, “they quickly went off script,” Sass says. “They are telling true stories about their gardens, having fun back and forth, and it all came together beautifully.”

Another plus is that Stewart “connects with multiple generations,” he says. And that’s key as many millennials and Gen Z tiptoed into gardening during the pandemic, with many of them now dug in for the long haul. “Certainly, older gardeners are familiar with her, just as they are with Miracle-Gro,” he says. “But Martha resonates just as well with younger consumers, who are most interested in growing vegetables and indoor plants.”

Mostly, he says, this new audience tends to be driven by gardening’s mental health benefits and the stress relief from being outdoors and working with plants.