Pospisil 26

Maddie Pospisil Intro to Media Advertising12 April 2015Vegetable Gardeners as a Target Group for LowesTarget Segment Summary

Targets Psychographic Summary Want better-tasting, better-quality vegetables Want to relax, find peace Result-oriented Environmentally consciousTargets Demographic Summary Gender: Female Marital status: Married Age range: 55+ HH Income: $50,000-$75,000Targets Geographic Summary Charleston / Huntington, West Virginia Tri-Cities, Tennessee/Virginia Johnstown / Altoona, Pennsylvania

Client DescriptionCompany OverviewThe first store that would later become Lowes was opened in 1921 in North Wilkesboro, North Carolina as a family-owned hardware store (Lowes Companies, Inc.). Lowes, as we know it today, was founded in 1946 and is headquartered in Mooresville, North Carolina (About Lowes). Lowes is a comprehensive home improvement company that is based around helping their customers whether its helping them directly or helping them help themselves. Lowes slogan right now is Never Stop Improving and that communicates to customers their commitment to excellence and their commitment to developing their customer service. Throughout the country, Lowes has 1,835 stores (About Lowes.). Lowes also has 35 stores in Canada and eight stores in Mexico, making it an international retail chain (Lowes Companies, Inc.). Lowes had meek beginnings but over time has expanded to become one of the top home improvement chains. Lowes is devoted to community service. Their focus areas are K-12 public education, community improvement, and disaster relief (Improving our Communities.). In 2013, Lowes gave over $2 million, in partnership with the First Response Team of America and the American Red Cross, to families impacted by natural disasters in Oklahoma, Illinois, and Colorado. They are also partners with Habitat for Humanity, The Boys & Girls Club of America, and other non-profits (Improving our Communities.). In house, Lowes has created three of their own social responsibility programs. Lowes Charitable and Educational Foundation is such a program created to support K-12 education and local community improvement projects (Lowes Foundation.) Combined, Lowes and Lowes Foundation have given $200 million to community improvement projects in the US, Mexico, and Canada (Lowes Foundation.). Another in house program is called Lowes Toolbox for Education. This program is dedicated specifically to helping schools financially. In 2013 alone Lowes Toolbox for Education gave almost $4 million to 940 different schools for improvements that ranged from technological updates to library renovations (Lowes Toolbox for Education.) Lowes final program is Lowes Heroes an employee volunteer program. Employees from all levels of Lowes retail stores, corporate offices, distribution give their time to personally help Lowes nonprofit partners (Lowes Heroes.). Lowes Heroes shows Lowes true commitment to community improvement because it goes above and beyond just giving money it puts its employees on the front lines of community service. Though Lowes has almost two thousand stores nationwide, they see themselves as integral parts of the community for each individual location. Lowes wants to be a part of the local community and become a friendly neighbor. Their strides to improve the communities around their stores shows that they care about more than profit. This builds customer trust and reinforces the concept of improvement in and out of the home.

Types of Products OfferedLowes serves approximately fifteen million professional and retail customers each week (About Lowes.). Their professional customers, either in construction and trade or maintenance, repair, and operations, contribute to more than thirty percent of total sales. For their retail customers, Lowes aims to help them improve their homes. Lowes has both Do-It-Yourself (DIY) projects and Do-It-For-Me (DIFM) projects. In terms of their DIFM projects, Lowes offers over fifty different installation services for both the interior and exterior of homes (About Lowes.). Lowes mission is to help people love where they live. The services they offer exemplify that goal. In terms of products, Lowes has a huge variety. On their website, if you are looking to shop, Lowes subdivides their products into categories. There are sixteen different categories ranging from appliances to paint to home dcor to electrical. They cover every base in the home improvement world. Lowes offers many products associated with vegetable gardening a simple search on their website for vegetable gardening shows that. They sell soil specifically for vegetable gardening. They also sell books titled Guide to Missouri Vegetable Gardening, but for all the states depending on where the store is located. Lowes carries an array of gardening tools, such as: shovels, spades, wheelbarrows, hand pruners, garden hoes, bulb augers, and more. To aid beginning gardeners, Lowes also offers Garden Hand Tool Kits. And, of course, they offer seeds for every vegetable a customer might want to grow. Their two seed brands are Ferry-Morse and Seeds of Change. Seeds of Change sells organic seeds which is a great option for customers looking for an even greener approach to gardening. Customers can easily browse different gardening products on Lowes website with the Shop option. Lowes also has an Ideas and How-Tos section on their website. They, again, have different categories like crafts, building, and painting. One category is gardening which yields 2,226 results of different articles that can be used for guides, creative ideas, and how-tos. These would be incredibly helpful to vegetable gardeners. Two examples of such articles are Great Regional Tips for Small-Space Edible Gardens and Mid-Atlantic Gardening: How to Grow Edibles in Containers. They have articles for gardeners in every region of the country, ensuring inclusion of their diverse customers.

My Target Audience Choice: Vegetable GardeningIntroductionMy target audience is vegetable gardeners. The people that make up this audience are females over 55. They are married home-owners with a household income between $50,000 and $75,000. Their gardens are usually less than 100 square feet. They garden in order to have better-tasting, better-quality food. They garden in order to relax and find a few moments of peace. They are result-oriented people always looking ahead to see what the end product will be. The target audience grows, above all, tomatoes. The challenges they face that could potentially lessen their gardening time or budget are disease and insect control and the time commitment involved.

Psychographic Elements of Vegetable GardenersPeople garden for numerous reasons. The most cited reasons, according to a study published in 2009 by the National Gardening Association, are to have better-tasting and better-quality vegetables and to save money. The vegetable gardeners surveyed in that report had, on average, been gardening for twelve years. This means many gardeners probably have most of the tools needed to garden and have a set routine for their gardening season. However, more recent reports, like the National Garden Survey published in 2013 shows that more and more young people are starting to garden. This new blood in the gardening world means more people need to buy gardening tools and will need help when starting their garden. The most popular vegetable to grow, by far, is the tomato. 86% of people surveyed in the 2009 National Gardening Association survey entitled The Impact of Home and Community Gardening in America said they would be growing tomatoes that year. Tomatoes are followed by cucumbers, sweet peppers, beans, carrots, summer squash, onions, hot peppers, lettuce, and finally peas. These, of course, depend largely on geography and personal preference. In 2008, vegetable gardeners spent an average of $53 (National Gardening Association). I would think that the more years a gardener has been gardening, the less they would spend per year simply because they already have the tools and they might have leftover seeds from previous years or know the perfect amount of seeds to buy, whereas new gardeners might overbuy. The vast majority of vegetable gardeners have their gardens at their homes, and 57% have gardens that are 100 square feet or less. Gardening is often attached to peoples emotions. They garden to find peace and to relax (Mosquera). Being outside gives people a sense of relaxation and community with nature. It can be a very renewing experience. Gardeners are also result-oriented (Mosquera). They grow vegetables for the end result to eat or sell them. Obviously, spring and summer are the busiest times for gardeners but the gardening market shows that it profits in fall and winter as well (Mosquera). This has been attributed to the fact that people often plan their gardens long before they start planting them in anticipation of spring. Vegetable gardeners are often environmentally conscious and so are interested in environmentally-focused products (Mosquera). They also are usually interested in garden or lawn dcor. This fits with the average size of gardens being 100 square feet or less. Because the gardens are smaller, the gardener feels they can personalize their space with decorations. The two biggest challenges faced by vegetable gardeners are insect and disease control and time (Garden Trend Surveys.). These challenges, especially insect and disease control, could provide additional advertising opportunities when targeting gardeners.

Demographic Elements of Vegetable GardenersIn 2008, 23% of all U.S. households were involved in vegetable gardening (National Gardening Association). This is nearly a quarter of all U.S. households quite an impressive number. According to a study published in 2009 by the National Gardening Association, 54% of all vegetable gardeners are women. Although this is only just over half, it is still a majority and one that I have found to be accurate in my experience - so I will choose to use it as my target. 81% of vegetable gardeners are home owners and 68% are married, according to the 2007 SRDS Lifestyle Market Analyst. The median household income of vegetable gardeners is $49,942 (The Lifestyle Markey Analyst). A range is more helpful when considering a target audience for a campaign so I will choose to go higher in my range, from $50,000 to $75,000, as that range is what over 20% of vegetables gardeners are in. The National Garden Survey published in 2013 shows an interesting increase in certain demographic groups: people aged 18-34 and people over 55 are now most likely to participate in gardening (Baldwin). It remains unknown why this increase in young gardeners is occurring. Perhaps they are gaining a more disposable income than people aged 35-54 or perhaps the 34-54 age group is losing interest in gardening. Whatever the case, 18-34 and over 55 are two vastly different groups of people which will make advertising to them at the same time difficult. This gap in target audience requires two separate advertisement campaigns or placements. Therefore, for this campaign, I will choose to focus on women over the age of 55.

How Target Aligns with Lowes OfferingsVegetable gardeners are a great target audience for Lowes. Lowes offers products for all aspects of vegetable gardening. The three most popular vegetables to garden are tomatoes, cucumbers, and sweet peppers. Tomatoes are the most popular by a large margin and Lowes offers eleven different types of tomato seeds including two organic options for the more environmentally-minded consumer. Lowes also sells tomato cages ranging in size from 33 inches to 60 inches. Cucumbers do not come in as many varieties as tomatoes and therefore Lowes only sells one option for cucumber seeds. Lowes sells seeds for orange, green, and red bell peppers. They have organic seeds for green and orange bell peppers. Many vegetable gardeners are environmentally-minded and want better-quality and tasting vegetables. Organic foods are often considered to be better for the environment and ourselves while at the same time tasting better. So the fact that Lowes offers organic seeds truly aligns with what the target audience wants. As reported in the 2013 National Gardening Survey, there has been an increase in recent years of the 18-34 age group in gardening. Lowes caters well to this influx of new gardeners. They sell four different garden hand tool kits that typically include a hand trowel, a hand weeder, and a hand cultivator. This product is perfect for beginning gardeners who might not have all the tools necessary. Lowes also has a section of their webpage dedicated to Ideas and How-Tos which can be utilized by new gardeners who may not know how to start or have the best handle on what to do. The articles can provide inspiration and guides for how to effectively garden.Lowes sells all kinds of garden dcor. They sell sundials, birdbaths, gazing balls, garden statues, garden trellises, and more. These products, while not directly related to vegetable gardening, are popular among gardeners. So a gardener may go to Lowes wanting to just buy seeds, but may leave with much more. This is another way in which Lowes fulfills the customers wants. Lowes offerings align well with the target audience of vegetable gardeners. Their products related specifically to vegetable gardening, their products that vegetable gardeners may be drawn to, and their online resources all fit into what the target audience would respond to.

Media Plan Targeted to Reach Vegetable Gardeners IntroductionThis campaign for Lowes, targeted to reach vegetable gardeners, will run during the months of March, April, and May. This will allow the campaign to reach the target audience as they prepare for the growing season and ideally create loyalty throughout the season. This schedule will also showcase Lowes diversity as a company that they offer products (seeds, tools, garden dcor) as well as inspiration through their website section Ideas and How-Tos. The top media priority is magazine and the second media priority is internet. The magazines are targeted very specifically to vegetable gardeners and vegetable gardeners connect well with magazines as a medium. The budget reflects this priority since a great majority of the money is going to magazines. Internet is the second media priority because it is extremely targeted and makes efficient use of money. This campaign will cost $415,330 in total.

Media Plan ScheduleI chose March, April, and May as the three months in which the campaign will run. March is the beginning of spring and April is the heart of spring. In these months, vegetable gardeners will be planning their gardens for the summer and buying seeds in order to start them early. In March and April, the months leading up to planting, Lowes can fulfill the needs of the target audience. Lowes has a great seed selection and their website offers numerous articles about garden design and planning. This is important because if the target starts out the season buying from Lowes, they will be more likely to buy from them throughout the season. The third month of the campaign, May, is the beginning of summer and planting season. This is when vegetable gardeners will be buying soil, seeds, tools, and more to ready their garden. May is an important month to advertise to vegetable gardeners as this is the month they will likely be spending the most. For magazines, my primary scheduling strategy is bursting. I will be implementing a bursting schedule for Country Gardens, Easy Edible Gardening, and Fine Gardening. Country Gardens is published quarterly and I will be placing ads in the Spring and Summer issues, which run in March and May, respectively. Easy Edible Gardening is published annually and it runs in May. This is the ideal magazine for the target and the timing is also ideal May is a critical month to advertise to vegetable gardeners. Fine Gardening has a Special Interest Publication that is published at the end of April in which our ad will be running. This will have the most impact in May. The American Gardener and Horticulture are magazines that are published bi-monthly and have a March/April issue and a May/June issue. For these magazines, the scheduling style will be continuity. I will be placing ads in those two magazines in both the March/April and May/June issue. I believe this will maximize money spent as the ads will still be viewed in June even though June is not a designated campaign month.In terms of television, my scheduling strategy is continuity. Ads will be running in three different TV shows for all twelve weeks of the campaign, with varying numbers of insertions. For internet, my primary scheduling strategy is continuity. The only exception is Almanac.com/Gardening. I am doing a bursting schedule with emphasis on the month of May. Almanac.com is the site for the Farmers Almanac. Many experienced gardeners use this site for its Best Planting Dates section which will only be utilized when they are on the verge of planting in May. The Search ad schedule is more mixed. Many keywords are on the continuity schedule if they have to do with concepts of gardening besides planting, like vegetable garden design, gardening tips, and organic vegetable seeds. This is because they will be still searched for outside of the typical planting season. The keywords with a bursting schedule are usually bursted in May and are related to the physical act of planting: gardening supplies, how to grow tomatoes, and how to plant tomatoes. This is because not only are they going to be searched more in May, they are going to be searched with a more serious intent to purchase.

Media Type PrioritiesThe priority media type in this campaign is magazine. I chose this as the priority because the magazines are extremely targeted. The content of the magazines chosen are exactly what vegetable gardeners want to learn about and read about. Even though most of the magazines are not solely focused on vegetable or edible gardening, they usually address those topics in each issue. I also chose magazines as the top priority because the target audiences age range is fifty-five and over. This age group is generally less adept at using the internet than their younger counterparts. Though they often still have a solid knowledge of how to use the internet, they are more comfortable with other media. The target audience is most likely subscribed to magazines and have a long history of magazine reading. Evidence of magazine being the top priority can be seen as the vast majority of the budget for the campaign is being spent on magazines.The second media priority for this campaign is internet. Internet is an important media to utilize because it is even more targeted than magazines. People will only see the ads if they go to a certain website or search using a certain phrase. I chose to advertise on six different websites and eleven different keywords. The volume of media vehicles and keywords represents the priority rather than the amount of money spent, as TV has a larger budget than internet. Money is important, but I believe that advertising on the internet will be more effective at reaching the target and more cost effective. The average CPM for internet is about a third of the average CPM for TV. The CPMs for keyword-searches are much higher than internet and TV, but keyword advertising is based on every click the ad gets, not views. Additionally, keyword advertising is incredibly targeted and is often considered the Holy Grail of advertising because only people who are about to purchase, ideally, will see the ad. Because of these reasons, I believe that keyword-searches are still cost effective.

Specific Media ChoicesMagazine ChoicesEasy Edible GardeningEasy Edible Gardening is a Special Interest magazine that is a published by the umbrella company Better Homes and Gardens. It is only published once a year in May and, as the title suggests, is an issue dedicated solely to edible gardening. Edible gardening includes fruits, herbs, and, most importantly, vegetables. Many of the other magazines that will be advertised in do not have that specific focus, which makes Easy Edible Gardening very valuable. The audience it will reach is that much closer to only the target audience because flower gardeners will not be included. Additionally, the demographics of their audience line up perfectly with the demographics of the target audience. 94% of their readers are female, 76% are married or living with a partner, and the median age of the reader is 51.4. Our target is female and largely married, and although the median does not fall within the target age range, it is quite close. Their readers median household income is about $69,000 which falls in the target audiences household income range. In the magazine, I chose a one page ad placed on the second cover. This magazine is perfect for our target and I believe that even though it is expensive, it is worth it. Additionally, it is special because it only published once a year, so people will be drawn to the novelty aspect of it. The CPM is extraordinarily high for Easy Edible Gardening. This is due to a combination of reasons: the high price of the ad, the moderate circulation, and the low pass-along rate. However, I strongly believe that the people who will read this magazine will be the target and only the target.

Country GardensCountry Gardens is another Special Interest magazine put out by Better Homes and Gardens. It is published four times a year - in early spring, spring, summer, and fall. The spring edition is published in March and the summer edition is published in May, so ads will be running in those two issues issues. Like Easy Edible Gardening, because it is a Better Homes and Gardens magazine, it has an audience that fits well with our target audience. According to the Better Homes and Gardens Special Interest Media Kit, Country Gardens audience is also 94% women with a median age of 51.4 and a median household income of about $69,000. This magazine is targeted to those who live in the country or live a country lifestyle and are avid gardeners. It is more focused on the spirit and romance of gardening (Country Gardens). This magazine will benefit our target audience because most of them are no longer beginning gardeners. They have been gardening for many years and are looking for a way to elevate their gardening whether by design, planting style, or vegetable choices. This magazine provides a unique perspective that is not found in other magazines. The ads in the Spring and Summer issues will be full-page ads placed in the inside of the magazine. The CPM for Country Gardens is relatively high, though not as high as Easy Edible Gardening. However, I believe placing ads in this magazine will be worth the high cost because its audience matches our target audience and because of the unique perspective it provides on gardening.

HorticultureHorticultures tagline is The Art and Science of Smart Gardening. This magazine is primarily focused on the act of planting, rather than the aesthetic of gardening like Country Gardens. Horticulture is published bi-monthly and I will be running ads in the March/April and May/June issues. Horticultures media kit discloses their editorial calendar with the themes of each issue. The March/April theme is Growing Food and the May/June theme is Spring in the Garden (Editorial Calendar 2015). Both of these will appeal to our target, but especially the March/April issue. More than other issues, this one will have a focus on planting and growing vegetables. In the Horticulture magazine, for both March/April and May/June, I will be placing full page ads on the fourth cover. The fourth cover is the back of the magazine and is the most expensive, most viewed ad in the magazine. I believe spending the extra money to get the extra exposure is important for this magazine. Our target is concerned with how their garden looks, which is why a magazine like Country Gardens is important, but they are also extremely concerned with how to best plant their garden. This magazine deals with that concern. Vegetable gardeners are result-oriented - it doesnt matter if their garden is well-designed if nothing grows.

Fine GardeningFine Gardening is a magazine that covers a wide array of gardening topics from design to advice. 61% of their audience is between the ages of 35 and 64, and the median age of their reader is 61.4. 82% of their readers are female and 96% own their own homes. Fine Gardenings audience demographics line up with the target audience except for household income. The average household income of a Fine Gardening reader is $144,111. That is much higher than our target audiences top household income of $75,000. This discrepancy would have typically dissuaded me from placing an ad in their publication. However, I will be placing an ad in one of their Special Interest Publications and according to their media kit, 78% of the people who buy their Special Interest Publications are not subscribers (Magazine). This is largely because those issues are newsstand-only and appear in garden centers, retail gardening stores, and even Lowes. I believe that advertising in this special issue, which will appear in newsstands, will reconcile the gap between the extremely wealthy subscribers of Fine Gardening and the target audience. People who may not typically fit the demographics of their readership will have access to the magazine and I believe our target audience will be drawn to purchasing it. The Special Interest Publication I will be placing an ad in is titled Growing a Greener World. It is primarily focused on gardening in a way that helps the environment and will even include sections on organic gardening and farm-to-table cooking. These are two topics the target audience is very interested in and in-tune with. This publication will go on sale on April 28 and therefore will have the most impact during the month of May. The ad will be one-page and located on the second cover. I believe this publication will be important to our target audience and placing an ad on the second cover will emphasize Lowes green products to them when they are thinking about purchasing and thinking about gardening in an environmentally-friendly way.

The American GardenerThe American Gardener is a magazine published by the American Horticulture Society. The fact that it is the official magazine of the prominent American Horticulture Society gives it credibility and means that experienced gardeners will trust it and its information. Not much information concerning audience demographic is available on their online media kit or the SRDS page, but I truly think this magazine will be something our target is interested in. It is published bi-monthly and I will be placing ads in the March/April issue and the May/June issue. The ads will be one-page and located in the inside of the magazine. I chose inside and not a cover because I dont know a lot of information about their audience and I would rather buy a cover in a magazine that I have more details on.

TV The ChewThe Chew is a daytime talk show that airs every weekday at 1:00pm Eastern time on ABC. It is a talk show that is focused completely on food. A large part of it is cooking, but the hosts often use organic or home-grown food in their recipes. I believe the target watches this show because a big reason why they garden is to produce better-tasting, better-quality vegetables. Once they grow these vegetables, they are going to want to know how to cook them in innovative ways. Gardeners are often the best cooks and are continually hunting for new recipes in which to best utilize their fresh veggies. Over 12 weeks, 360 insertions will air in three cities (120 insertions per city). Since the show airs five days a week, two ads will air each day during the program. The cities the ads will air in are Charleston/Huntington, West Virginia, the Tri-Cities, Tennessee/Virginia, and Johnstown/Altoona, Pennsylvania. These are the top cities for vegetable gardeners.

Gardening by the YardGardening by the Yard is hosted by Paul James, a master gardener. He gives advice about gardening that includes yard gardening and vegetable gardening. The show often deals with problems that pop up when gardening, which will help the target audience when they face obstacles. It is an HGTV show and HGTV is a channel that is a favorite of gardeners. It isnt currently airing but in the past it would air once a week, usually in the later daytime hours. So that is the schedule I adopted for this project. I chose to buy 72 insertions evenly distributed across three cities 24 insertions per city. For a weekly show like this one, that means two ads per program. I chose to buy a smaller number of insertions because although the show frequently deals with vegetable gardening and will appeal to the target, I felt that The Chew and Victory Gardens Edible Feast are both a little better of a fit for the target and so I wanted those to be the priority. The cities the ads will air in are Charleston/Huntington, West Virginia, the Tri-Cities, Tennessee/Virginia, and Johnstown/Altoona, Pennsylvania.

Victory Gardens Edible FeastVictory Gardens Edible Feast is a PBS show that is a mixture of two genres. Victory Garden was a long-running show - it first aired in 1975 about gardening. Edible Feast is a magazine that runs in different markets: Edible Tulsa, Edible Kansas City, etc. The magazines are focused on food culture in the cities, especially health food culture. Victory Garden and Edible Feast collaborated to create a TV show all about garden-to-table food. Victory Gardens Edible Feast airs once a week, on Saturdays at 4:00pm. I bought 144 insertions across three cities 48 insertions per city. This means for each weekly show, Lowes will have four ads. This is quite a few ads but this show is ideal for the target audience. It is all about edible gardening and what to do with the food you have grown after you harvest it. The cities the ads will air in are Charleston/Huntington, West Virginia, the Tri-Cities, Tennessee/Virginia, and Johnstown/Altoona, Pennsylvania.

Web Site ChoicesVeggieGardener.comVeggieGardener.com is a website run out of Hampton, Virginia that is dedicated to every aspect of growing vegetables. The location it is run out of it important because of its vicinity to the top cities for vegetable gardeners. VeggieGardener.com includes a forum where gardeners can discuss their experiences growing vegetables and collaborate on ideas and advice. A community like that is important to many gardeners. The website also features sections like Vegetable Gardening Tips, Discover How-To, and Growing Tomatoes. Vegetable gardeners often grow a large variety of vegetables, but tomatoes are far and away the most grown. The fact that the website features an entire section dedicated to tomatoes is something that the target audience will be drawn to and appreciate. I purchased 100,000 impressions a month for three months. The ads will be a 728x90 banner across the top of the page. I got the price for each one thousand impressions through the website. The more impressions bought, the bigger the discount. For 100,000 ad views, it cost $210. This is a large quantity of ad views, so the schedule style will be continuity. Continuity is the best option because vegetable gardeners can utilize this website before and during the planting season, due to the variety of information.

VegetableGardener.ComVegetableGardener.com is a website that stems from the Fine Gardening site. Two sections that are potentially useful to the target audience are titled Grow and Recipes. Under Grow is every type of vegetable that gardeners deal with. Clicking on a certain vegetable then takes you to a page dedicated solely to that vegetable. This is a great feature that specialized gardeners will appreciate. The Recipes section is sectioned off by course and showcases recipes that people have made with their home-grown veggies. As has been mentioned, vegetable gardeners love to incorporate their produce into meals, so the Recipe section will fulfill that want of the target. I purchased 75,000 impressions a month for three months. The ads that appear will be banner ads at the top of the page. I used the page in our packet titled Average CPM Rates for Banner Ads to determine the cost per thousand impressions - $3.68 is the average cost for the category Home & Architecture. Again, the ad schedule will be continuity.

OrganicGardening.comOrganicGardening.com is a website run by Rodale, a company that publishes a magazine titled Organic Life. I did not choose to advertise in Organic Life because it is too broad, but the website OrganicGardening.com is more targeted. It covers a wider array of gardening than VeggieGardener.com or VegetableGardener.com as it has sections on flowers, herbs, and trees, but it still has a lot to offer for the avid vegetable gardener. There are articles on planting, growing, and even health benefits of different vegetables. A huge focus of this website is gardening organically. The target is usually environmentally-conscious and responds well to organic options. On this website, I would imagine Lowes advertising their organic seed brand Seeds of Change. Some people might not know that Lowes offers organic seeds and this would be the perfect website to advertise that.I purchased 100,000 impressions for three months. I used the packet page to determine the cost per one thousand impressions and went with the average CPM rate for Home and Architecture - $3.68. The schedule style for this media vehicle is continuity.

Almanac.com/GardeningAlmanac.com is the official website of the Old Farmers Almanac. The gardening section of this website offers many unique services for gardeners. There is an online garden planner, vegetable growing guides, and a Pests & Diseases Library. I believe these would all be useful to the target. However, the main reason I picked this website is for its Best Planting Dates section. Many people trust the Farmers Almanac as truth when it comes to weather forecasts and the same holds true for the Best Dates feature. On the website, a gardener can type in their location and a map of sorts appears. It shows thirty different types of vegetables from beets to radishes and their respective best dates. The best dates include best dates to sow indoors, sow outdoors, and harvest. This is extremely useful for serious vegetable gardeners looking to yield a good harvest. I purchased 50,000 impressions for one month May. I do not think this website will be utilized as often by gardeners before then, as planting does not often begin until May at the earliest. This is a bursting schedule centered around the beginning of the planting season. The ads will be banner ads that appear on the side of the page. I used the packet page and the average CPM rate of $3.68.

FineGardening.com/EdiblesThis website is run by Fine Gardening, a magazine which I am also placing advertising in. I am specifically placing an ad on the Edibles section of the website as to further narrow the audience who will see the ad. This website features mainly articles with different how-to topics. I believe that advertising in both the magazine and on the website will be a good complement and will hopefully increase the targets memory of the ads. I purchased 50,000 impressions a month for three months. I used the Fine Gardening Rich Media Kit and purchased roadblock ads for $18 per thousand impressions. Roadblock ads are two ads that appear on the top half of the page at the same time. $18 per thousand impressions seems expensive but the CPM is similar to the other websites - besides Almanac.com and BHG.com, which are cheaper due to higher unique visitors.

BHG.com/GardeningThis website is a part of Better Homes and Gardens. I am also placing ads in two special magazine publications of Betters Homes and Gardens Country Gardens and Easy Edible Gardening. The Gardening section of this website is a resource for vegetable gardeners. It contains numerous articles but also has tools like garden planners and regional gardening tips. This allows the website to become personalized, which is increasingly important to consumers. I purchased 75,000 impressions a month for three months. I used the packet to determine a CPM and used the average for the category Home and Architecture - $3.68. The scheduling style for this website will be continuity as it can be utilized by vegetable gardeners in all three months.

Google Keywords For all keywords listed, they have been geo-targeted to the target audiences top three cities: Charleston/Huntington, West Virginia, the Tri-Cities, Tennessee/Virginia, and Johnstown/Altoona, Pennsylvania. This decreased clicks per month, but narrowed the audience.

Vegetable garden designMany experienced gardeners, which includes our target, look ahead before planting season and decide how theyre going to configure their garden. Often, to maximize space, gardeners will plant in a raised garden bed as well as planting straight in the ground. Lowes offers different sized raised garden beds so featuring that product in the ad for this keyword would be ideal.

Vegetable garden plannerThis is very similar to vegetable garden design. When people search this, however, they are usually looking for an online planner that will plan their garden for them, as opposed to people searching vegetable garden design who just want ideas and inspiration. Lowes website, rather than specific products, is a good complement to this search. Lowes websites has articles that deal with landscaping and planting in small spaces.

Planting a vegetable gardenGardeners will search this when they are on the verge of planting. Through this search, they are probably wanting tips and possibly even ideas of how to design their garden. Lowes website features a vast array of articles dealing with every aspect of planting a garden. If a gardener was directed to their website and read some how-to or advice articles, they would stumble across related products and become interested in purchasing.

Garden suppliesVegetable gardeners will search this keyword when they are looking to buy new supplies for their garden: soil, cages, etc. If they had all the supplies they needed, they wouldnt search this. Therefore, they are in the perfect mindset to be advertised to about the products Lowes offers.

Gardening suppliesThis may seem like the same search as garden supplies but there are some subtle differences. When someone searches garden supplies, they are likely looking for supplies for their garden. When someone searches gardening supplies, they are looking for supplies with which to garden. This is more along the lines of hand tools and gloves, as opposed to soil, cages, and raised beds. However, like garden supplies, the target is thinking about purchasing when they type it in, so it is a great opportunity to advertise.

Gardening tipsThe target searches this when they begin planting a new vegetable or when they are looking to improve their gardening style. They are probably not thinking directly about purchasing but, similarly to planting a vegetable garden, this search gives Lowes the opportunity to showcase their articles and then through that encourage and facilitate purchases.

How to grow tomatoes Tomatoes are the most grown vegetable. Gardeners who are searching this have likely already purchased the seeds and are just wanting to know how to then maximize their growing potential. Lowes has products that align with this search, like tomato cages and stakes, and they also have articles that would help the target, like Mid-Atlantic Planting: Late-Season Tomatoes.

How to plant tomatoesThis relates to how to grow tomatoes, but people who search this are most likely looking for tips on how deep to plant the seeds and maybe even some hand tools. Lowes has a wide-range of gardening hand tools to choose from and advertising for those on this search would be beneficial. Tomato seeds for salePeople who search this are wanting to buy tomato seeds right then. They are about two minutes away from purchasing. Lowes would benefit from advertising through this keyword because they offer eleven different types of tomato seeds. Two of those are organic seeds, as well.

Organic vegetable seedsWhen the target searches this, they are prepared to buy organic seeds. It is clear what is on their mind. Lowes carries an organic brand of seeds called Seeds of Change. Seeds of Changes has seeds for vegetables like onions, bell peppers, beans, tomatoes, corn, squash, and more. This variety means it will appeal to gardeners with different preferences. Advertising specifically for the Seeds of Change brand on this search is my recommendation.

Seeds of ChangeAs mentioned above, Seeds of Change is an organic seed brand. If this is being searched for, the person already knows that they want seeds from this specific company. The search will direct them to the Seeds of Change website, but the only way seeds can be ordered off their website is through catalogs or complicated printable forms. If Lowes advertised on this search that they carry Seeds of Change, that would make it easier for the target to buy that brand as they can easily be purchased online or in-store. This will drive purchases and perhaps create new customers who did not previously think of Lowes as organic-friendly.

Justification of Money SpentI am recommending that Lowes spend $415,330 on this campaign. Initially, I had a lot of trouble even getting past $100,000. Then I found the special Better Homes and Gardens publications Country Gardens and Easy Edible Gardening. Both of those are extremely expensive at over $100,000 per ad. Their CPMs are also expensive. However, I strongly believe that advertising in these publications will be some of the strongest points of this campaign. For this budget, Lowes will have ads featured in six magazines, on three TV shows in three cities each, on six websites, and through eleven keyword searches all spread thoughtfully across three months.

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