General Plumbing Supply is a leading kitchen and bath supply house based in NJ that differentiates themselves through their deep knowledge and expertise. GPS came to Spitball to bring together the creative and media buying needs to support their multiple showrooms and growing business. Spitball’s process started with a media plan audit – which showed the current activity was fragmented across a variety of media vendors – resulting in the need for a deeper business, audience and messaging process.

After the business review and media plan analysis, it became clear in our strategic process in order to drive growth meant targeting a three-headed monster, which included homeowners, contractors and design professional audiences. There was also a leaky faucet which needed to be fixed by optimizing the media budget to get the most out of each media channel. Spitball’s media agnostic approach established a purposeful plan that was driven by consumer research and business needs.

Focusing on homeowners to start, Spitball sought to create a campaign that was authentic to GPS but also tackled a consumer problem. This campaign would help GPS compete against larger supply houses as well as big box stores like Lowes and Home Depot. Spitball’s hands-on research of our consumer and competition unveiled a powerful pain point. There’s just too many opinions in homeowners ears when they go through a home renovation project. 

These included friends, family and even the so-called store associates. But consumers need expertise, especially for a critical projects that include a kitchen or bathroom that are big ticket items. 

Trust the Real Experts spoke to homeowners, but also worked as a broader platform for contractors when needing to trust a supply house with not just the right parts but the supply chain to back it up. And for design professionals, their referral to the right supply house was critical to maintaining clients’ satisfaction of their service and final product.

The homeowner campaign focused on the humorous empathy of unneeded and unqualified opinions to draw the audience in, while delivering on the promise of expertise and aspirational imagery homeowners are looking for in the process. This careful creative balance established a cathartic campaign that bridged GPS’s historical showroom ads with a campaign that broke the mold to gain the right attention for the brand.

Custom radio spots along with dedicated on-air segments and reads from well-known personalities, such as Michael Kay on ESPN, were also produced to get the GPS name in front of consumers when and where they listen.

Since our media planning process puts the audience at the forefront, our research showed that online and print were important media for consumers when looking for design inspiration. Spitball incorporated this into our plan through a custom, high-impact cover wrap program to ensure media placements stood out just as much as the creative messaging.

With multiple showrooms across NJ and in NY, Spitball looked to use a location-based media strategy to drive foot traffic to showrooms. Digital and social placements created awareness for GPS, while various billboards and out-of-home placements touted proximity to nearby showrooms.