Kilz: Every Project is Worth It by Arcana Academy

Kilz is taking paint ads to an emotional level with the new campaign for its line of primers, which lay the foundation for great paint jobs. Led by commercials that depict the delight of people seeing their dream rooms for the first time, the campaign involves several layers of content to take audiences from inspiration to education and preparation.

Spots key on the satisfaction that makes all the work of painting worthwhile by showing people reacting to common occasions where people paint, without showing what they’re seeing. The idea is to recreate the suspense of home improvement shows, which tease into commercial breaks with guests’ extreme reactions to something being revealed off-camera.

In the 30-second called 'Reveal,' we watch five scenarios of people being beckoned or led to see something. First, there’s the anticipation, from a little girl running up the stairs and a husband covering his pregnant wife’s eyes as he walks her forward to a couple beckoning a grandfather to come see something. Then we get intense reactions from gasps to smiles and tears. The spot closes with “every project is worth it,” the Kilz logo and a button pointing viewers to “see what they see.”

The video ad leads to an interactive landing page entitled “Every project is worth it,” which shows the five rooms that actors are reacting to. Each is a common occasion to repaint, and provides both before-and-after comparisons and step-by-step instructions. The instructions start with priming the surfaces, a foundation step largely lost on a new generation of homeowners. By clicking on the products listed, visitors can go straight to where to buy them.

Also, a series of hero animations will appear on YouTube, Facebook and Instagram, where people increasingly look for before-and-after imagery and instruction.