NEW YORK ? Two Deutsch executives at the 2016 IAB Mobile Marketplace discussed their client Sherwin-Williams? mastery of social media strategy as a means of inserting the brand into ongoing conversations while identifying target demographics and rolling out valuable, instructional content.

During the session, ?Sherwin-Williams: Using Data to Inspire Shareable Ideas," the executives detailed how Deutsch immediately began scouring social media to identify preexisting conversations about paint upon receiving Sherwin-Williams? business. After doing so, the advertising agency leveraged a smorgasbord of YouTube tutorials, Pinterest?s buyable Pins, stop-motion GIFs, shareable videos and pre-roll advertisements to reach on-the-go consumers on their smartphones and inject value into paint-centered conversations.

?[Consumers go] on mobile to look for how-tos, to figure out what other people are doing, to research products,? said Tyler Helms, executive vice president and group account director at Deutsch.

A stroke of social
Sherwin-Williams sought to target three specific audiences: Hispanics, do-it-yourselfers ? colloquially referred to as DIYers ? and professionals. The paint brand teamed up with Deutsch in a bid to leverage mobile to reach these demographics like never before.

To promote the Purdy brushes product, how-to videos on YouTube were selected as one of the most optimal communication mediums. Deutsch also helped Sherwin-Williams create a digital hub that centered on these tutorials, which included interactive calls-to-action to read about a specific topic, such as how to achieve better painting results.

Native and pre-roll video ads on mobile helped reach all three target audiences as well. In-language mobile banners were specifically used to drive Hispanic professionals to Purdy?s landing page.

The Purdy campaign generated more than 330,000 video views and a 10 percent increase over historical levels for search performance.

It also generated 309 new Facebook fans per day.

A separate social campaign for Krylon spray paint ? also done in conjunction with Deutsch ? employed a more commerce-friendly angle.

Deutsch and Sherwin-Williams took Krylon paint on the road by sponsoring the World?s Longest Yard Sale event and marketing the brand?s products through social and digital platforms.

Brand representatives purchased 127 items from yard sales with the intention of repurposing each product, the new colors of which were chosen by design expert and television host Amy Devers.

These revamped products were then sold via Pinterest?s buyable Pins feature. Krylon turned a 100 percent profit and donated the proceeds to charity, which significantly pleased consumers.

Ms. Devers also created how-to videos as well as 15-second and 30-second pre-roll ads to support sales. Other promotional components included the use of stop-motion GIFs on Facebook.

The campaign ultimately doubled the brand?s number of social followers and increased daily visits to its page by 400 percent.

Brushing up on best practices
The Deutsch executives also highlighted four best practices they relied on during the construction of these campaigns. First, brands should let data pave the pathway for their marketing approaches.

Secondly, marketers must join existing conversations rather than attempt to create new ones.

?You?re going to be hard-pressed to create a new conversation in the world of paint,? Mr. Helms said.

Another paramount strategy is to offer consumers something to care about in the form of utility. Lastly, the campaign components must be able to drive shareability.

Sherwin-Williams? campaigns resonated so positively with individuals due to their focus on bite-sized snippets of videos and other branded content. Consumers were not served blatant banner ads on mobile with no instructional aspects; instead, they were treated to valuable paint tutorials, easy paths to purchase and engaging videos that bolstered their favorable view of the brand.

?We had to give people a reason to care,? Mr. Helms said.