B&Q holiday campaign hits 283% of target
Influencer marketing is like the new word of mouth, with 63% of consumers making repeat purchases based on influencer suggestions. Enter B&Q, the UK’s home improvement and gardening authority, with a festive mission: to be the ultimate destination to kick off Christmas shopping, especially with their real Christmas trees in the spotlight.
B&Q knew the power of user-generated content (UGC) to generate excitement for the holiday season. It turns out that almost half of consumers love seeing brands share UGC, making it a perfect opportunity for B&Q to harness the creativity of influencers and bring their social media to life.
So, the B&Q team teamed up with the impact.com creator platform and the team of expert influencers for a festive campaign.
Ultimately, B&Q’s influencer campaign achieved these impressive results:
- 42 pieces of content
- Engagement rates nearly 20% higher than the industry benchmark
- Average viewing rate of 85%, or 283% of the objective achieved
This playbook walks you through the planning, execution and results of B&Q’s campaign, which was led by impact.com’s Influencer Services team.
B&Q triples its benchmark CTR with an overhaul of its influencer program
The Christmas campaign is not B&Q’s first successful influencer campaign with impact.com/creator. Check out their influencer program overhaul here.
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Why having a dedicated influencer team can optimize your campaign
As brands prepare for the year ahead, 86% are considering long-term influencer partnerships. This strategy allows influencers to dive deeper into the brand story, enhance their messaging, and create authentic content. But it also requires more resources to maintain these valuable relationships.
That’s where the impact.com Influencer Services team comes in. With their expert advice, brands like B&Q can stay focused on crafting compelling messages and achieving their goals, while ensuring other areas of their business continue to thrive.
impact.com’s team of expert influencers offers services to manage the full partnership lifecycle, including:
- Recruit top talent in the brand’s vertical (in this case: home, garden and DIY partners)
- Building a program strategy
- Negotiate flexible contractual and payment terms with influencers
- Monitoring partner performance on different social channels
- Analyze reports in real time for brands
- Pivot to the highest performing channels and partners
B&Q has set itself a clear mission: to raise brand awareness and highlight its real Christmas trees during the festive period. The aim was also to engage the public, positioning B&Q as the ultimate Christmas destination.
Each year, retailers only get one chance to make a splash in the Christmas tree market. The stakes are high, with big rewards, but also big risks. B&Q aimed to make sure everyone knew about their real Christmas trees, which are a key part of family traditions and fond holiday memories.
However, the launch of this campaign was not without obstacles. The seasonality of Christmas trees and the logistics of their arrival left little room for planning. Coordinating with the influencers added another level of complexity, as everyone had different schedules depending on when their local B&Q stores received the trees. This is where the impact.com influencer services team came to the rescue, mitigating these challenges and ensuring the success of the campaign.
Manage and scale your influencer program with a team of strategic experts
Discover the range of services provided by impact.com’s team of expert influencers in this single sheet.
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5 ways B&Q created an engaging Christmas campaign with the impact.com team of experts
B&Q understood the challenge ahead for their campaign, but with the impact.com team at their side, they deployed a winning strategy in five simple steps.
Step 1: Define campaign objectives and potential obstacles
The B&Q team launched their campaign with the impact.com influencer team during a strategy call to establish the two main objectives of the campaign:
- Promote the real B&Q Christmas trees available in store
- Increase audience engagement and position B&Q as the go-to place for Christmas shopping
B&Q and impact.com have considered potential obstacles to their campaign. They knew they had to deal with annual seasonality, manage the logistics of tree sourcing, and work within the short time frame for real tree sales.
But first they needed to recruit the right partners.
Warren Hoyte share a special moment of family bonding, sparking enthusiasm for decorating their B&Q Christmas tree.
Step 2: Re-engage previous partners to generate authenticity and achieve campaign goals
The next step for B&Q was to reconnect with high-performing creatives who had excelled in previous campaigns. The team believed these designers offered a diverse range of styles that aligned perfectly with the brand’s Christmas collections.
They focused on four influencers, each bringing something unique to the table. These partners had previously worked with B&Q, a nod to authenticity and strong relationships. Take Jade Sweeney (@home_on_the_commons), known for her engaging conversational content that fits perfectly with B&Q’s family-friendly vibe. Meanwhile, Rachel Verney (@the_shoestring_home) infused her posts with a dynamic and creative touch, adding a splash of color to the campaign.
The other influencers recruited were:
Georgina Raine adds her unique touch to decorating Christmas trees and lists all the products she used, readily available at B&Q.
Step 3: Create detailed briefs to inspire smooth production and compelling content
To achieve its brand awareness and engagement goals, B&Q needed content that would truly captivate audiences. So they turned to influencers to create behind-the-scenes Instagram Stories and Reels. These stories gave audiences a glimpse of influencers hand-selecting their real trees and decorations alongside a B&Q employee, while highlighting the quality and service that makes B&Q a top choice for holiday cheer .
The Reels went even further in capturing the magic of home decorating and integrating B&Q into cherished family traditions. With compelling calls to action, these posts not only increased engagement: they solidified B&Q’s place in the hearts of Christmas enthusiasts.
To ensure everything goes smoothly, impact.com focused on setting up tailor-made deadlines and deliverables for each influencer. With impact.com/creator and its campaign dashboard, B&Q had a clear view of what each influencer needed to deliver and when, ensuring everything launched on time.
Additionally, the impact.com team wrote detailed briefs to streamline the process. These included store locations specific to each influencer and practical tips on using royalty-free music, reducing revisions and speeding up content creation.
Step 4: Encourage communication with partners and review content before going live
The team of experts from B&Q and impact.com really got involved in this campaign, actively engaging with influencers to ensure everything was on track. Regular check-ins meant influencers had all the support they needed to meet their deadlines.
While the influencers received detailed briefs with clear messages, they were given the freedom to add their personal touch. This approach was crucial for B&Q, as they valued content that was both authentic and inspiring.
Before the content went live, influencers submitted drafts to stakeholders via impact.com. This rapid process allowed the team to review deliverables in no time, ensuring the messaging, CTAs, links, and overall feel were aligned with the brand.
The platform simplified workflows and accelerated the review process, allowing B&Q to track content delivery against deadlines, approve or request changes and add suggestions for improvement. Additionally, it offered a handy content library, ready for future use, amplifying B&Q’s reach at all times.
Rachel Verney shares her top tips for tree decorating, focusing on B&Q’s unique offering for all your Christmas decorating needs.
Step 5: Evaluate campaign success
B&Q’s influencer campaign generated an impressive 42 pieces of engaging content, capturing attention during a competitive Christmas period. The campaign achieved a remarkable 85% view rate, 283% above target.
The campaign’s top performers played a key role in increasing brand awareness and driving engagement.
At the heart of this success was the impact.com/creator platform, which enabled meticulous planning and rapid execution. Using this powerful tool, B&Q delivered a remarkable 2023 Christmas campaign, leaving a lasting impression.
Jade Sweeney presents his Christmas tree journey, from store to installation at home.
Accelerate your influencer campaigns with the right team and technology
Brands are quickly discovering the power of combining the best technology with a team of expert influencers. Here you can get views at every stage of your campaign, automate processes like payments, and scale as you go.
Using impact.com’s Creator platform, B&Q’s Festive Fir Trees campaign achieved its goals and beyond. B&Q, powered by impact.com technology, can connect with influencers, collaborate and effectively manage their partnership marketing campaigns using dashboards that consolidate multiple reports.
With impact.com’s real-time reporting features, you can evaluate each influencer’s performance for each content type, see which approaches resonated best with audiences, and double down on high-performing strategies, as did B&Q.
Find out how The impact.com influencer team can boost your campaign today.
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