Empower and Rust-Oleum teamed up to develop One Thousand Projects—a media-driven plan fit for the modern consumer—a plan that would inspire action and conversation. To start, Empower conducted a “Fast Data” analysis of over 64 million queries and 2.5 million online mentions in the DIY and home decor category.

Our results found that people are motivated by PROJECTS, not products. Furthermore, we found that they were searching for these projects room-by-room or season-by-season. Our team came to the conclusion that people are proud of their homes and want to show them off to friends and family, and that Rust-Oleum products help people make the most of their homes for less money.

To foster a connection and ignite consumer motivation, we set out on a mission to create One Thousand Projects to inspire people to improve their living spaces with Rust-Oleum products. Through an intricate blend of consumer and blogger content, integrated partnerships and data-driven marketing, One Thousand Projects was born.

We used our insights to create a blueprint to guide the thousand projects based on room, season, surface and difficulty.

Empower chose five core media partners to bring One Thousand Projects to life for Rust-Oleum, but we didn’t stop there. We tapped current brand consumers, bloggers and Rust-Oleum itself. Our One Thousand Projects effort fulfilled the needs of DIYers who were constantly searching for new content.

By giving their consumers the inspiration and power to change, Rust-Oleum fueled their growth in ways never seen before. Sales of the product, featured most prominently in the projects, rose by 40 percent year over year, doubling its projected performance. Our projects earned 250 million project impressions and 3 million project engagements, and the retargeting portion of the campaign exceeded the industry average for time spent by 55 percent and netted two-and-a-half times more engagements.