Lowe's just handed its NFL lineup a serious upgrade.
The home improvement retailer is kicking off year two of "Earn Your Sunday."
The platform is built around the simple trade that when you knock out home projects during the week, your Sundays are yours.
Lowe's is adding Defensive Player of the Year Myles Garrett and Green Bay quarterback Jordan Love to a roster that already includes Justin Jefferson, Christian McCaffrey and Dak Prescott.
It enters its eighth consecutive year as the NFL's official home improvement partner.
The idea is to connect each player's on-field style to the products fans see them using, then put those same items in shoppers' hands.
It's a formula Lowe's has used before, but the growing roster is a sign the retailer wants a bigger presence across more teams and fan bases this season.
"At Lowe's, our ambition is to be the most helpful brand in home improvement," said Jen Wilson, Lowe's Senior VP and CMO.
"That's what Earn Your Sunday is all about: Helping fans get the job done so they can put the tools down and enjoy a Sunday well earned."
Wilson sees this year's push as an expansion of that same idea, pointing to the larger talent roster and new fan touchpoints as ways to build on the campaign's first year.
Toolboxes and Tailgates
The Kobalt NFL Mini Toolboxes, licensed for all 32 teams, are returning after selling out in their first run.
View this post on Instagram
They're now available online and in select stores, with more limited product drops planned throughout the season.
MyLowe's Rewards and MyLowe's Pro Rewards members get early access and member-only releases as part of the deal.
The "Earn Your Sunday Tour" is also back.
View this post on Instagram
It brings back an EA Sports Madden NFL 27 station and four new activations from P&G Cleaning, Spruce, LG, and EGO to Lowe's stores and NFL stadiums nationwide.
Starting September 9, members can enter for a chance to win a trip for two to Super Bowl LXI in Los Angeles.
This includes:
- Airfare
- Hotel
- Tickets
- Tailgate passes
- $1,000 prepaid card
- 200 additional winners receiving $10 gift cards
Lastly, Lowe's is also stepping up its national visibility as the presenting sponsor of NBC's Football Night in America.
View this post on Instagram
This gives the campaign a weekly spot in front of viewers apart from store visits and stadium activations.
This form of recurring media placement serves as a lever for Lowe's to build brand awareness among an audience that already associates Sunday with football.
A Loyalty-First Football Strategy
Lowe's is turning its rewards program into the campaign's backbone, and that's the more interesting story here.
Sports sponsorships carry real weight with fans.
Sixty-seven percent of football fans say brands are more appealing when they sponsor the sport.
Meanwhile, 59% would choose a sponsor's product over a competitor's when price and quality are equal, according to Nielsen Fan Insights.
Meanwhile, NFL team sponsorship revenue climbed 8% to $2.7 billion last year, showing how competitive the space has gotten for retailers trying to stand out.
- Reward loyalty members before the general public: Giving MyLowe's members early access and exclusive drops turns a sponsorship into a reason to join a program.
- Use limited product drops as a content calendar: A sold-out toolbox run gives Lowe's a built-in reason to keep bringing fans back throughout the season instead of one seasonal push.
- Push the campaign past owned channels: Combining in-store activations with a national broadcast sponsorship gets the message in front of fans whether or not they ever set foot in a store.
The open question is whether Lowe's can keep pushing the roster and rewards without diluting what made "Earn Your Sunday" resonate in year one.
Our Take: What Happens When the Toolbox Becomes the Reward?
What we like here is how Lowe's sells the fifteen minutes before kickoff when the yard finally looks right.
That's a specific, unglamorous window, and building a loyalty program around it is smarter than another jersey patch.
We'd watch what happens to the Kobalt drops next.
Scarcity worked once, but repeat sellouts can just as easily read as under-supply as they can urgency.
The real test isn't the Super Bowl sweepstakes, but whether MyLowe's membership numbers move because of this.
If they do, Lowe's has found a reason for fans to open an app on a Tuesday, and that's rarer than a sponsorship.
Marketing efforts that connect a cultural moment to a core brand truth are rare and hard to execute.
These top creative agencies in our directory specialize in finding those connections and building campaigns around them.
