Gen-X, Millennial Media Opps: Lowe's increased spending carries over into 2021 (Score 61)

Lowe's started increasing ad spend in 2020 and has continued this year. The company is most likely increasing spend to capitalize on consumers doing more projects around the house while they are stuck at home due to the pandemic. As a result of all these do-it-yourself projects, Lowe's sales went up 41% in 2021 compared to 2020. Sellers should contact this company to secure some of these extra ad dollars. 

In other news, Lowe's brought in senior creative director Jennifer Arnoldt in January 2021 from Taco Bell, where she served as senior marketing director. Arnoldt will presumably be involved in the marketing strategy and may have some authority over agency relationships. 

According to iSpot, Lowe's spent around $45.9m on national TV ads YTD, an 81% increase from $25.3m spent during the same time period of 2020. Full-year spend increased 21% from $244.9m in 2019 to $296.4m in 2020. This year, it placed ads during programming such as "NFL Football," "College Basketball," "Home Town," "NCIS: New Orleans" and "The Big Bang Theory." 

Magellan reports Lowe's placed around 250 podcast ads over the last year. 

Per Pathmatics, Lowe's earned 641.9m impressions through Facebook ads (57%), Instagram ads (24%), desktop video ads (7%), desktop display ads (5%), Twitter ads (5%) and mobile display ads (2%). It placed the majority (99%) of these ads site direct onto sites such as facebook.com, instagram.com, youtube.com, twitter.com and accuweather.com. It placed the remainder (1%) indirectly through Google AdX+AdSense onto sites such as axios.com, fandom.com, travelchannel.com, rollingstone.com and timesunion.com. It spent around $4.5m on digital display ads YTD, about double the $2.3m spent during the same time period of 2020. Full-year spend jumped 10% from $22.3m in 2019 to $24.5m in 2020. 

Sellers-- Lowe's primarily targets Gen-X and millennials with a slight female skew. It reaches these demographics mainly through digital display and national TV ads. The company has been increasing spend in both channels. It also invests in OOH, print, radio and local broadcast TV ads, per Kantar. Use the store locator here, to see where you may be able to offer local ad space. Sellers should reach out offering relevant ad space. 

Agency & martech readers-- I believe Lowe's works with media AOR Starcom Worldwide, with EP+Co. and The VIA Agency helping out with creative. You can try reaching out to the new creative director as she likely has some influence over the agency roster.