The Home Depot Goes for Gold

The Olympic season brings out the window dressing.

From Allstate to McDonald’s to SBC to Samsung, NBC’s Olympics broadcasts are filled with corporations who simply slap the Rings next to their logo in hopes of reflecting some of the glow of the games. The Home Depot is one Olympic advertiser whose message rings true, with ads that tout the numerous Olympians that don the orange apron in the “off-season.”

For The Home Depot, focusing on employees and their success outside the big-box store powerfully delivers several key messages: (1) we respect our employees and their individual skills and pursuits; (2) the people you find working in our stores are passionate and driven about what they do; (3) price is not our differentiator: our service and experience and support will carry you through your own DIY effort.

The over-riding message here is about employee respect. The Home Depot illustrates that it is not here just to bring you cheap stuff (and its investors high returns) – but to create an environment that enables people to realize their dreams. It may all sound a bit hokey. But for The Home Depot, it works - as founder Bernie Marcus is known to take more pride in the jobs he’s created than in his own financial success. In a corporate climate that often seems content saying (more so than doing), kudos to the Home Depot for promoting Olympian ideals in their workplace as well as in their advertising.