For more than half a decade, Home Depot has been the leader of the do-it-yourself, cheap home improvement retail industry (and the second largest retailer overall behind Walmart). To hammer that message home to consumers, the company used a simple slogan, “You can do it. We can help.” It was inspirational. During a time when everyone and their brother was watching HGTV and more home remodeling and redecorating programs on television than any sane person had time for, the slogan worked very well. Consumers heard it and said to themselves, “you know what? I can do it! I’m going to Home Depot.”
Usher in 2009, a time when the economy is no where near turning around, unemployment is up, and remodeling your kitchen is at the bottom of the priority list. Time for a new slogan for Home Depot!
The new Home Depot tagline is just as simple as the previous iteration but it focuses more on saving money and less on inspiration. What is the new slogan? Drum roll please…
“More saving. More doing.”
Frankly, as a consumer, I like the “more saving” part, but I don’t like the “more doing” part. Just because the economy is in the toilet doesn’t mean I want to do more work. How about, “More saving. Easier doing”? I don’t like that either, but at least it combines my two biggest motivators these days — leaving more money in my wallet, and giving me more time to do far more important things than install laminate flooring.
What do you think about the new Home Depot tagline? Will it get the job done and motivate consumers to go buy some crown molding?
Image: HomeDepot.com
Susan Gunelius is the author of 10 marketing, social media, branding, copywriting, and technology books, and she is President & CEO of KeySplash Creative, Inc., a marketing communications company. She also owns Women on Business, an award-wining blog for business women. She is a featured columnist for Entrepreneur.com and Forbes.com, and her marketing-related articles have appeared on websites such as MSNBC.com, BusinessWeek.com, TodayShow.com, and more.
She has over 20 years of experience in the marketing field having spent the first decade of her career directing marketing programs for some of the largest companies in the world, including divisions of AT&T and HSBC. Today, her clients include large and small companies around the world and household brands like Citigroup, Cox Communications, Intuit, and more. Susan is frequently interviewed about marketing and branding by television, radio, print, and online media organizations, and she speaks about these topics at events around the world. You can connect with her on Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, or Google+.
I agree. The “more doing” portion may be a turn off to a lot of people. On the other hand, it can also be viewed as motivational as in, “I’m going to save money and get more done.” Not necessarily do more work in all cases, but possibly buy more material with less money to do the same amount of work. It is all in the interpretation and that is left up to the individual. I work in the electrical department of The Home Depot in Grandville, Michigan. So far, I have not heard any responses to the new slogan/tagline. It will be interesting to hear what customers have to say, if anything at all. I always liked to use the old slogan when helping customers, but in a somewhat modified version. I would tell people, “You can do it, and I’ll watch.” It always gets a laugh or a real smile.
I missed mulchies on sail last week.
whenever you sale again please let me know.
Mail me to this email adress.
scinciely.
Hello Yong C Kim … can I suggest that you try contacting Home Depot direct? Here’s their contact us page.
We aren’t associated with Home Depot here, so can’t really help with your query.
I believe the new slogan is a brand management blunder. It goes against rule number one in brand management which is “do not rebrand” without serious reason which is usually legal reasons (Gold Star to LG) or sustained socio-economic trends (Cigarettes, fast food etc.) “Economy is bad and by stipulating savings in our slogan we can drive more business” is so shortsighted and silly that I refuse to accept it as an explanation. Moreover, the word “more” increasingly have negative connotation to it and repeated twice doesn’t make it any better. “Savings” is overused and anonymous. “More savings. More doing” – where is the call for action? Where is the enthusiasm? Very Wal-Mart-ish slogan. I think that was a mistake.
How about: ” More Savings AND Satisfaction Guaranteed.” What’s the use of “saving” money,but be stuck with dissatisfaction about the finished product. and not receiving guaranteed compensation? What happened to the phrase “Customer is King” or “Satisfaction Guaranteed”. A satisfied customer will return to HD AND spread the good news.
“You can do it. We can help.” offers encouragement and support. And it relates to the brand without beating us over the head.
“More saving. More doing.” sounds like it went through too many corporate reviews and turned into mud. Weak tea. Gutter water. It does not reinforce the brand, nor does it evoke an image or emotional response.
I like the” More saving. More doing. That’s the power of home depot.” Sounds like I can not only save more money in Home Depot but also I can get more help than going to the other store.
The phrase “more doing” does to refer to having to do more work. Its means you will get more bang for your buck because of the more savings. its a comment on the additional things you have done, because of the additional savings.
Karin and Andy, I agree with both of you. I like the slogan.