Home Depot’s secret to finding its Boy-Next-Door models: Hire the boy next door

Of all the creative assets in a brand marketer’s toolbox, few are as humbling (or essential) as the lifestyle photo: those photos and videos showing a smiling model appearing next to the product. Dozens of agencies are ready to recruit talent for jobs like this, often slim young people who will associate their good looks with a sports car, a single malt scotch or a pair of expensive loafers.

But what if you’re a home improvement brand like Home deposit? She also needs models for her product photography and growing list of explainer videos. But is it really worth hiring a gorgeous model to pose with a kitchen sink or hold a paintbrush?

Well no. That’s one reason the home improvement giant is putting its own employees in front of the camera instead.

“It’s what we call friends and family talent,” said Jennifer Hudson, senior director of creative production at Studio Orange, the Home Depot company. internal incubator for its marketing materials. “They’re all local people who, as the name suggests, have ties to Home Depot.”

Home Depot isn’t the first major brand to realize the benefits of recruiting its own employees (and their significant others and best friends) for marketing sessions. In 2017, for example, Sephora’s “Reach Out and Gift” Christmas campaign featured curated sellers from across the country. Earlier this year, Rite Aid’s “It Means More” campaign featured several of its store employees in spots produced by Leo Burnett, who also used still images of these employees to create in-store signage.

Outerwear brand LL Bean doesn’t just feature its employees in its catalog photos, it maintains a page on its website who presents them to the public.

The friends and family strategy has several advantages, although cost is not always one of them, at least in Home Depot’s case. Just because the man on top of a ladder in the video is an employee doesn’t mean the company expects him to work for free. “They are paid like any regular actor/model,” a company spokesperson confirmed.

So where’s the good side? Although dashing models may be necessary for high-end product advertisements, everyday shoppers looking for everyday products generally like to see people who look like them. And instead of hiring a commercial model to act like a regular guy, it’s much easier to just hire a regular guy.

“Sometimes you’re looking for a pretty person,” Hudson said. “Home Depot often isn’t looking for a pretty person. »

In fact, pretty people in merchandise photos can sometimes put the merchandise at a disadvantage.

“The talent of the model does not always show the product [well]”, Hudson said. For example, many of them “tend to be over six feet tall. If you’re standing next to a vanity, it’s just not the best look for the vanity,” she declared.

Credibility and relatability are other important factors. “You want to make sure you cover all kinds of ages and demographics,” Hudson said. Not only are many companies’ rank-and-file members likely to contain a diverse mix of genders, skin tones, and body types, but these people are already familiar with the brand and exude an authenticity that can’t be invented.

Earlier this year, Jeanniey Walden, Rite Aid’s chief marketing officer, told ADWEEK that authenticity drove the decision to use employees rather than actors in its marketing. “When [I] “We talked to customers and associates, everyone said the same thing: They come to Rite Aid because there’s a special bond, because the employees seem to know the guests that come a little better,” he said. she declared.

Of course, even at Home Depot, some opportunities require a wily model, and in those cases, “we can also recruit talent through local agencies,” Hudson said. But the best place to recruit on-camera talent is the halls of the company itself.

“We’re looking for someone we can relate to,” she said.