By Dino Bruni

Most retail organisations put their marketing focus where it’s easiest to measure: converting shoppers who have already decided they want to purchase. 

But home renovation is rarely an impulse decision. It’s a long, emotional, research-heavy journey full of uncertainties, comparisons, cost questions and ‘what if’ moments. By the time customers step into a showroom, the category has already shaped their expectations, and they’ve already formed views about who they trust.

e&s took a different approach. Instead of waiting for demand to arrive, the business deliberately invested in becoming useful months earlier when people are still searching for answers and building confidence to act. The result is a content strategy designed to not only attract attention, but earn authority. In this case study, we outline how e&s is leveraging expert-led video to stimulate future demand and drive consumers toward purchase when they’re ready.

The challenge: build trust early in a long buying journey

Home renovation shoppers often start with questions, not purchase intent. They want to understand what’s possible, which products are appropriate, how long projects take, how to avoid expensive mistakes, and what ‘good’ looks like in real life. If retailers wait until the sales phase, they risk entering an already-decided conversation where customers may be thinking, ‘I’ll compare options’ or, worse, ‘I’ve already heard enough’.

So the goal for e&s was clear: become the destination customers turn to during the research phase, not just when they’re ready to buy.

The strategy: expert-led video for the research stage

Working with e&s, we created a suite of video assets designed specifically for the audience’s research behaviour. The production focuses on answering the exact questions consumers search for before they enter the store.

To ensure the content feels credible rather than promotional, e&s experts lead the narrative. Videos are built around practical, category-specific guidance delivered confidently and in plain language. The intention isn’t to ‘sell harder’, it’s to educate better. When customers see e&s staff explaining solutions clearly without jargon or superficial sales talk, e&s becomes associated with knowledge, reassurance and authority.

What we set out to achieve

The production was built to deliver three key outcomes:

• provide information and education on specific search-related topics, then naturally tie the learnings to relevant e&s brands and products
• position e&s as the experts, imparting knowledge in an engaging, easy-to-understand way, free from jargon and hard-sell tactics, and
• ensure e&s becomes the destination of choice when it’s time to purchase so the brand is recalled at the moment of decision.

This approach strengthens both top-of-funnel discovery and longer-term mental availability: e&s is the retailer that helped you understand the category when you were unsure.

A balanced supplier approach – category education, not ads

A critical consideration was avoiding creating content that feels like supplier advertising. Suppliers and vendors are part of the ecosystem and their innovations are valuable to the audience. But the videos must remain anchored in expert advice from e&s staff.

“The ‘ask e&s’ expert-led consultant videos were created to meet people in research mode to educate and inspire, and we are very pleased with the results,” says e&s marketing director Paul Baddeley.  

“We’re seeing strong video views and meaningful engagement. We’re also genuinely encouraged by the support of our supplier base who have embraced the strategy, helping bring the ‘what’ and ‘how’ of product innovation to life, so we can keep e&s firmly positioned as the experts on the ‘why’ for every customer journey.”

The engagement engine: future questions and community growth

The call to action is intentionally simple and highly relevant to the research stage. Viewers are invited to sign up to the e&s YouTube channel.  We provide a clear pathway for customers to ask questions for future episodes. This turns the channel into an evolving knowledge hub. As questions roll in, the content can be refined and expanded, creating an ongoing feedback loop between consumer curiosity and expert response.

Driving future demand through education

The strategic thinking is that today’s research is tomorrow’s purchase intent. By answering the questions that customers are actively researching online, e&s reduces friction and uncertainty. Viewers feel informed, reassured and supported – key emotional drivers for major home improvements.

Crucially, the brand benefits from a powerful association: e&s becomes synonymous with expert knowledge, advice and access to the best brands. Over time, those brands become synonymous with the subject matter because they’re explained through trusted expertise.

For an example of the approach in action, see the video below:

Why it works

Unlike conversion-led retail campaigns, this model meets customers where they actually are: in discovery mode. It turns marketing into service. It earns trust before it asks for sales. And it builds a library of category authority that compounds over time, ensuring that when renovation decisions finally translate into visits, e&s is already the destination customers believe in.

Dino Bruni is the managing director at Halo Advertising. 

Read more: AI didn’t kill search, but it changed the rules of the game