Turning a traditionally trady DIY store into a brand that not-so-handy have-a-goers could get on board with was no easy task. But after creating their most successful social campaign (with rabbits no less) and even making a paint offer that got shared by someone other than just my colleagues, it’s safe say I helped completely transform their social presence.

wickes does STAR wars

With every brand under the Tatooine suns jumping on the new Stars Wars release, I wanted to get Wickes on the bandwagon too.

So I created a tongue-in-cheek, Wickes-styled instruction manual, showing home improvers how to build their very own Death Star. Luckily, it went down with fans much better than Episodes 1, 2 & 3, and even got a shout out in the national press.

Off the back of its success, an AT-ACT how-to-guide was born, just in time for May 4th, racking up nearly half a million Facebook likes of its own.

Who said sequels are never as good as the original?!

Press coverage:

The Drum

WABBIT WATCH

Easter – the most mental time of year for all DIY stores.

So to standout I exploited the nation’s love for fluffy bunnies to create the world’s first, episodic live show on Periscope. Each episode showed a different ‘hutch improvement project’ using scaled down versions of Wickes products with links through to wickes.co.uk.

The real stars of the show though were all from a local rabbit orphanage and adoptions went through the roof.

Wickes were pretty happy too after a monumental increase of visits to their site.

Results:
• +435% increase in adoptions
• +623% increase visits to Wickes website
• +128% increase in online revenue
• 1.8M impressions

PAINT PORTRAITS

BOGOF on coloured emulsion isn’t the most glamourous offer and it’s certainly not the type of thing that normally gets shared around on socials.

But I ditched the big red offer chevron over a stock image of a family painting the lounge and Wickes Paint Portraits was born.

Facebook followers were asked to think up their own random scenarios and our amazing in-house illustrator, Lolly Morris, ‘painted’ them for the world to see in Wickes colours.

HOUSE OF HORRORS

With people looking to get their DIY done in time for Christmas, I needed to make sure that when it came to home improvement essentials Wickes was front of mind around the Halloween period.

The answer: a series of quick social vids parodying classic horror movie techniques on a scarily tight budget.

power tool power ballads

For Valentine's Day I helped Wickes serenade their followers with a song made from an orchestra of power tools.

Followers were encouraged to guess the power ballad and to my shock surprise utter bemusement delight, 93% of them got it right and the video received over 600,000 views in 48 hours. Powerful.