Product galleries, recipe swaps, and Facebook contests drive a successful launch of Better Homes & Gardens Kitchen Collection
A new BHG Live Better website substantially increases sales of BHG appliances on Walmart.com. Collaborating with BHG's in-house new media department we helped increase Facebook likes from 6,000 to 160,000 through contests and blogging outreach initiatives.
PREPARATION
Better Homes & Gardens was first published in 1924 and is the 4th best selling magazine in the US. They are owned by Meredith Publishing, a large publisher of women’s magazines as well as the owner of an extensive network of TV and radio stations.
Better Homes & Gardens (BHG) needed a website, online community and Internet marketing services to introduce their Kitchen Collection line of cookware and appliances sold through Walmart. We created the site www.BHGLiveBetter.com which is no longer live.
We started by pouring through the BHG brand guidelines. The style guide was extensive, comprised of everything from who the target audience is, to what values BHG represents, to what fonts and colors to use.
PUTTING IT TOGETHER
After extensive research we started designing. Weeks of design options were developed in-house before we made our first presentation. The BHGLiveBetter.com design needed to seamlesssly match the BHG online branding as well as incorporate the Walmart branding. Our challenge was making the UX and design work well for both BHG and Walmart. Preparation and research helped produce a design that was approved with minimal revisions.
PRESENTATION
One of the most well-liked features was the Editor's Choice Recipe section.
In addition to the Editor’s Choice selection of recipes, we built a Recipe Swap feature where people can upload their own recipes as well as select recipes by type of course (appetizer, breakfast etc.), difficulty and different types of food.
One of the most effective and interesting projects we worked on were Facebook contests.
Developing the contests entailed working with the Meredith in-house marketing agency to increase awareness and engagement. This included promoting ‘Like-gated’ contests on Facebook. These were very popular and required load balancing on the server to handle hundreds of thousands of Facebook visits when contests ran.
RESULTS
The site was well received by the client and target audience. There was a significant increase in traffic to BHGLiveBetter.com and consequently the e-commerce pages on Walmart, resulting in increased sales of the cookware, bakeware and appliances. Facebook Likes went from 6,000 to 160,000 as a result of the like gated contests and sweepstakes we worked on with the Meredith in-house agency.
INGREDIENTS
The site BHGLiveBetter.com includes many features such as product galleries, videos, the Scoop blog, a recipe swap, and social media integration. Post-launch services include a blogging contest and Facebook sweepstakes.
These features and marketing initiatives combined to increase sales at Walmart.com.
The site has over 400 pages and uses Drupal core functionality plus about 30 add-on modules for managing content, the blog, social media, and community functionality.
