YellaWood® Turned a Commodity into a Category Leader
Lumber isn’t exactly an emotional purchase. Until it is. A single campaign made YellaWood® the #1 brand of pressure-treated pine and earned every metric to prove it.
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37 Point
Awareness lift
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16 Point
Purchase intent lift
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#1
Top performer against competitors in All Branding Metrics
At a Glance
- Client
- YellaWood®
- Campaign
- Five-Star Backyards
- Audiences
- Contractors and Consumers
- Client Relationship
- 10+ Years
Overview
Growing their business required making an emotional connection between YellaWood® as a commodity brand and it’s B2B and B2C customers.
YellaWood® is the kind of brand that shouldn’t work as a creative brief. Lumber is a commodity. It’s functional, interchangeable, and about as far from an emotional purchase as you can get.
But that’s exactly where the opportunity lived.
Research showed that both contractors and consumers has something in common—they cared deeply about the end result. Not the lumber itself, but what it built. So we built a campaign around that: Five-Star Backyards. Spaces people actually love to be in. And a ragtag team of beaver bandits willing to risk it all to build one, too.
The result was a single campaign that spoke to two completely different audiences without every losing the plot.
Recognition
Graphis Advertising Awards
Platinum (“Save the Heist”)
Graphis Advertising Awards
Platinum (“Roasting Mashmallows”)
Graphis Advertising Awards
Gold (“Bocce”)
The Goal
YellaWood® needed to bridge the gap between commodity product and an emotional purchase decision—for two very different audiences at the same time.
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Brand Trust
Push contractors to specify and trust YellaWood® over competing brands
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Consumer Pull
Motivate consumer to seek out YellaWood® by name rather than defaulting to another brand
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Category Leadership
Establish YellaWood® as the definitive brand of pressure-treated pine
The Challenge
The answer had to work for two audiences simultaneously without watering down the messages for either. Contractors need a reason to specify YellaWood® on the job. Consumers needed a reason to ask for it by name at the point of purchase.
That’s a rare creative ask. One campaign. One idea. Two completely different motivations to move.
The Solution
The insight was simple but powerful—both audiences cared more about what lumber builds than the lumber itself. “Five-Start Backyards” gave YellaWood® a platform that contractors and consumer could rally around.
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Five-Star Backyards
A single positioning that bridged B2B and B2C audiences
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Beavers
Award-winning, category-defining, impossible to forget
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TV & OOH
Anchored and established the campaign
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Social & Print
Extended the idea across every touchpoint
The idea came to life across TV, OOH, social, and print—anchored by one of the most memorable creative devices in the category: a ragtag team of beaver bandits pursuing their own Five-Star Backyard, willing to risk it all to get their paws on YellaWood®.
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#1 brand
of pressure treated pine
The Proof
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#1
Top performer against competitors in all branding metrics
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16 Point
Purchase intent lift
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37 Point
Awareness lift
We have been so pleased with the work Brunner has done for us over the course of our relationship. They not only created an amazing campaign with The Woodlands Most Wanted, but their integrated approach has helped us grow and meet impressive sales goals. We are so thankful for their diligence and enthusiasm throughout the duration of this campaign.
Rob Pongonis
CMO
