Asha Ahmed
English 1100
John Acker
8:00 am
3/14/15
Writing Project 3 Rough Draft
Lowe’s: Bathroom tile

When people want to fix something in their house they either: do it them selves or hire a professional. Do-it-yourself workers often save more money than if they hired a professional worker. Undoubtedly, the Lowe’s company target do-it-yourself customers who are on a fixed budget because they aim to have the lowest prices. The Lowe’s Bathroom tile ad’s main technique is using an everyday-type person to appeal to a large audience. Lowe's use of an unskilled character in an everyday situation makes the ad relatable to people because most people are not professionals, and it effectively reaches everyday homeowners. Their goal is to provide the best equipment with low prices so that customers can rely on their products for small or big home improvements.
When people want to redesign or fix their homes, they either stop by at the Lowe’s store or The Home Depot store for supplies and equipment. The Home Depot Company has always been a competition for Lowe’s Company ever since they gained popularity in the home improvement hardware. Even though both stores sell almost the same things, the two seem to target very different audiences. The Home Depot stores “appeal to professional customers such as contractors and tradesmen” while the Lowe’s store “appeals to a larger do-it-yourself audience”. Both stores have distinct goals, which is to attract a certain audience to make more purchases. From watching the Lowe’s bathroom tile ad, they definitely are promoting a do-it-yourself idea, since the man in the video was working on his own by just using the equipment he bought from Lowe’s.
Lowe’s created a short video ad where a man is redesigning his bathroom shower. The man is wearing safety knee pads and his clothes are dusty from construction work, and his hands are also dusty and dirty. His large bathroom is full of construction material such as a bucket of paint, some measuring tools, and many other materials are scattered all over his bathroom floor. The man puts all of the tiles into their places until there was only space for one more tile. The man looks visibly excited as he places the last tile into the wall. Then all of a sudden, the tiles start to fall down and crush into pieces one by one and then all together, until there is only one more tile left that is stuck on the wall; that one also falls down. The poor man is shocked and he stares at his blank wall and simultaneously the text “Need Help?” appears. Finally, it jumps to a blue screen which reads “Lowe’s Never Stop Improving”. This is all captured in a short 30 seconds video.
Lowe’s; Bathroom tile ad captured my attention because it was a short and simple advertisement which got straight to the point. I really like the fact that they put an ordinary and unprofessional man in the commercial instead of a carpenter or a construction worker. That would have made the ad only target professional workers and not the average American person who would like to redesign his/her ‘old’ bathroom. Another thing I found interesting was that the man’s bathroom was the average American’s bathroom with soaps, toothbrushes, paper towels, picture frames, and other stuff. The bathroom was not a celebrity’s bathroom or God forbid; President Obama’s bathroom. What I also found interesting was the loud and sharp sound the tiles made as they came crashing to the ground. It really caught my attention and made me worried if the same thing might happen to anyone or me as we try to redesign our bathrooms.
The Lowe’s company seems to be targeting normal everyday-homeowners who are looking for a new design to their homes. This is because the man in the ad was dressed in casual clothing and he looked sort of confused, like most people look that are not professional designers. Lowe’s company was pretty smart for portraying an incompetent amateur who managed to destroy an entire bathroom wall as opposed to portraying a highly professional home designer. Most people would identify with the man in the advertisement because most Americans aren’t skilled home designers. The people who created this advertisement assume the viewers to be unorganized, unprofessional, normal citizens who have a desire to remake their homes but just need that extra help from a home improvement industry; like Lowe’s. Lowe’s “commitment is to deliver better customer experiences by pulling together the best combination of possibilities, support and value for customers” said the president of the Lowe’s company. This gives them the opportunity to attract many people who are searching for an equipment or tool by giving them the right advice and product at the right price.
The fascinating thing about Lowe’s company is that they own almost all supplies that are needed for home improvements, making them the “2nd largest home improvement retailer worldwide, the 8th largest retailer in the U.S. and 19th largest in the world.” This gives them the chance to create ads that will attract large populations like their bathroom tile ad does. Lowe’s stores sell many products such as appliances, cleaning supplies, bathroom supplies, kitchen supplies, flooring, paint, plumbing, hardware, outdoors and much more. Costumers have many different choices to try before they make their purchases. Lowe’s are designing their stores to make the customers’ choices simple and get exactly what they need to make the most of their money. They focus on “keeping what customers love about [them] and constantly improving [their] retail operations.”
The Lowe’s company has incorporated humor into their bathroom tile advertisement. Many advertisements today use some form of humor to attract their audience. While humor varies based upon gender and region, Lowe’s has successfully used humor to attract their customers. In their video advertisement they showed a man that thought he was redesigning his bathroom wall, and instead left a huge mess and waste of products and his money. What made this ad funny was the way the man looked with his eyeglasses, dirty clothes and hands. Also, the look of the man’s face when the tiles smashed on the floor looked hilarious. I think they used this scene to demonstrate what most people look like when they encounter a similar situation. Most companies understand “the key to funny advertising is assuring the humor is appropriate to both product and customer”, which Lowe’s successfully achieves. Humor is a good way to persuade an audience if it is used correctly, and it can also destroy the advertisement’s reputation if used incorrectly. The home improvement industry has always been an essential part of America. Wheatear we want to fix up a broken backyard, redesign our living room, or just change a light bulb; chances are we will spend a lot of money unnecessarily. That’s why Lowe’s companies make sure they “provide customer-valued solutions with the best prices, products and services to make Lowe's the first choice for home improvement.”

Work cited
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http://covalentmarketing.com/blog/2012/12/05/home-depot-vs-lowes-building-brand-image/