Homeadvisor
Media|Creative & Production|Analytics
Building a challenger brand into a champion with long-term strategy
The Situation
Hawthorne Advertising helped launch HomeAdvisor, formerly known as ServiceMagic, in the home services category dominated by Angie’s List. The focus was on educating homeowners on the company’s main service — connecting homeowners with prescreened local service professionals, while boosting branded search and driving platform usage.
Hawthorne's Solution
Hawthorne developed new creative executions, focusing closely on unique features and benefits, always highlighting the cost advantage — “HomeAdvisor is always free to use”. To serve response and branding goals, Hawthorne skillfully expanded the media strategy to include broadcast and tier-one cable networks, as well as syndication and high-profile sporting events, all while maintaining ROI.
The Results
Our strategy delivered consumers — the HomeAdvisor website hit 35 million users and “Instant Booking” and “Instant Connect” was launched nationally. Our brand response media delivered a 50% improvement in KPIs, while lifting unaided awareness by 400%.
IAC/Interactive Corp., HomeAdvisor’s holding company acquired one-time category leader, Angie’s List, to create the largest online service professional category under the name ANGI Homeservices (now Angi Inc.). Hawthorne then provided creative and media strategy services for both HomeAdvisor and Angie’s List, plus the brand’s recently acquired Canadian business unit, HomeStars. HomeAdvisor powered by Angi has grown tremendously and reports that it has helped more than 150 million homeowners tackle home projects — offering more than 500 unique services and over 10 million verified reviews of professionals. Hawthorne launched Angi’s HomeStars first national TV advertising campaign in 2020 and continues to partner with the brand today.
More Creative
LEADING A NEW BRAND
INTO A CATEGORY LEADER
HomeAdvisor was an ambitious new brand with a new way of doing things. To match their ambitions, Hawthorne’s creative plan laid out a new way to teach consumers how to use an unfamiliar service, while building a strong brand identity that was fun, trustworthy, and modern.
MANAGING A NETWORK
OF SUCCESS
Hawthorne developed a branded visual language geared toward education when we initially launched on national TV. The messaging was presented by a DIY host, who aligned closely with the HomeAdvisor brand. However, the brand elements developed by Hawthorne could also stand on their own. This allowed us to diversify the creative as the brand expanded rapidly.
LET’S GET PERSONA(L)
With the fast-growing success of our creative, we were able to achieve more targeted messaging with each successive campaign. We identified several key personas that represented HomeAdvisor’s most active customers and developed unique creative concepts to speak to each one of them.
EXPANDING THE ELEMENTS
Hawthorne developed a branded visual language geared toward education when we initially launched on national TV. The messaging was presented by a DIY host, who aligned closely with the HomeAdvisor brand. However, the brand elements developed by Hawthorne could also stand on their own. This allowed us to diversify the creative as the brand expanded rapidly.
brand success? Look to the hawthorne team
