Hammering Out the HomeDepot.com Ad-genda #2

Happy Friday. It’s not even 1:30 PM and I have already consumed two rum balls. Mariah Carey is singing as I blog. Can life get any better? BTW, after I posted the toysrus.com blog, I emailed it to their PR folks and to all of senior management. The following morning they replied to my email; thanking me for the heads-up and assuring me the matter would be resolved within 24 hours. It was!

A couple things on The Home Depot, Inc. (Public, NYSE:HD) online ad initiative. For now, there are conflicting messages. On the one hand, HD is insisting that the banners will not interfere will the traffic/sales flow to Home Depot. Notice how they omit any references to outside sales in the press release: When consumers click on the ads on homedepot.com, they will enter an advertiser’s branded site. They will experience interactive demos, streaming video, and in-depth product content that will increase the customer’s knowledge and level of engagement.

So, according to this, it’s really all about a branding experience.

In fact, there is a comment from an Erica on my previous blog post that says: Shmuly should click on the advertise link on the homedepot.com homepage and learn more about the program. homedepot.com is only selling advertising to vendors that have products in the store or online at this time. and the experience keeps users that click on the banners on co-branded homedepot.com as not to disrupt their purchase funnel – therefore a win-win for incremental sales and advertising dollars. therefore all tracking for affiliate still works, and all coding for the site was thought about before the program launched – as not to make any waves in existing programs that hd.com does support.

That’s all great. Erica ought to know. After all, she is currently employed by Home Depot (scroll down), though she makes no reference to this in her comment. Erica Schultz manages the homedepot.com’s online advertising program; though the word “advertising” is misspelled in her bio. No biggie. Anyways, that is their position and that’s alright.

Well, I think Erica should ALSO click on the advertise link on the homedepot.com homepage. It states the following: Homedepot.com is already a trusted online name for everything home improvement. Imagine creating a unique brand experience with us that customers will engage – every day. Your brand will be exposed directly in line with their purchasing decisions. For instance, shoppers search for products, then find your ad within their search (thus yielding a high relevance) and proceed to click on your banner. Shoppers then enter a fully – customized interactive brand experience that showcases your products. They can view product information, interactive flash demos, rich media and more – all specifically designed to achieve your campaign objective. The result: Sales. Lots of sales. Contact us today to see how we can supercharge your brand.

So there you see that according to the media kit, the ad opportunity is much greater than mere branding. The goal is to sell. And if shoppers visit homedepot.com and view other (non-homedepot) products and then they make “lots of sales”, this will hurt affiliates.

Two things; 1) this sort of thing, disparate agendas, is very common in the offline publishing world. It’s referred to as the dispute of Church & State; editorial versus advertising. Editorial tries to keep everything objective, while advertising departments are trying to make as much money as possible from the advertisers.

2) A super-duper affiliate had a great idea; he said he wants to buy some ads on homedepot.com promoting his affiliate/coupon site. Now that would be wild!