DIY Helps TWC Nail Down Furniture Store

'House Crashers' draws a crowd and increases exposure

By Jon Lafayette -- Broadcasting & Cable, 10/3/2011 12:01:00 AM

Scripps Networks Interactive recently helped Time Warner Cable draw a crowd and convince a major Southern California retailer to advertise on cable.

A number of SNI’s DIY Network series travel around the country performing home makeovers. SNI’s affiliate marketing department sometimes pitches operators on show tie-ins to boost their promotion and ad sales efforts.

Time Warner Cable was trying to sell Mathis Brothers—a big furniture retailer that had advertised only on broadcast—and called SNI, which had been pitching the operator. “We knew there were a lot of shows that were coming through the L.A. market and we wanted them to keep us on the radar,” says Desiree Rollins, VP of affiliate marketing for SNI in Los Angeles. “We got the call because we were on the radar.” And DIY was able to deliver Josh Temple, host of the network’s House Crashers.

DIY filmed for two days at the Mathis Brothers store in Ontario, Calif., in August. On the first day, Temple ambushed an unsuspecting shopper whose home will be remodeled on the show; on the second day, cameras captured a crowd of 1,000 consumers after Time Warner Cable used cross-channel spots to promote that Temple would be at the location, looking for a family whose home would get the House Crashers treatment.

“There was a line out the door, so it drew a really large crowd for Mathis Brothers that day,” says Molly Stone Cody, the SNI account exec who works with Time Warner Cable.

As a result, Mathis Brothers is now advertising on Time Warner Cable, and the MSO will step up marketing for DIY, especially when the Mathis Brothers episodes air in the first quarter.

Mathis Brothers had been a high-priority corporate target for Time Warner. “It was a pretty big deal internally that they were able to close the deal,” Rollins says. “They landed a big fish, and there could be more to come.”

SNI benefits as well, Rollins adds: “It’s a very large market so it definitely raises the profile of DIY.”

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