Scotts Miracle-Gro Appoints VaynerMedia as Agency of Record

Scotts Miracle-Gro, the world's largest marketer of lawn and garden products, announced that it has consolidated its primary advertising duties with VaynerMedia in an effort to build an entirely new approach to marketing. The agency, who previously handled the creative business for the company, has been named Agency of Record for both creative and media, enabling both disciplines to work hand-in-hand to optimise the brand campaigns.

Scotts Miracle-Gro saw tremendous demand for lawn and garden activities amid societal shifts in 2020, bringing new people into the category to the tune of more than 20 million new users. The largest interest is among millennials, the largest generation in American history who are in the midst of becoming homeowners and gardeners.

“At Scotts Miracle-Gro, we are taking bold steps to reimagine every aspect of our brand marketing and advertising,” said Josh Peoples, chief marketing officer at Scotts Miracle-Gro. “We put the consumer at the centre of everything we do. That requires a constant, always on approach to marketing and why having creative and media working together is so critical. It has enabled us to be better, faster and more focused marketers and VaynerMedia has been a great partner enabling our transformation.”

The decision was made following the outstanding success of the company’s advertising efforts this year, for which VaynerMedia was responsible, beginning with the spring season’s resurgence in Victory Gardens with a campaign from Miracle-Gro followed by the #DoTheScotts TikTok campaign, which drove relevance by capitalising on the ever-shifting consumer attention among younger audiences for the Scotts brand. As an essential category, Scotts Miracle-Gro will be taking an always on, 'sell 365' approach throughout 2021 in order to engage new and continuing gardeners.

The partnership, which is based on a new agency of record model, encompasses strategy, creative, media and production, enabling VaynerMedia to fully deploy their proprietary Volume Model - an integrated content model that enables quick-fire content across various social platforms to pinpoint what content resonates with the consumer. Using a continuous 'learn–build–deploy' process, the agency is able to produce advertising campaigns that are more effective and culturally relevant. To enable the brand to advertise in a precise and highly targeted manner, media buying has shifted from upfront buying to biddable, agile platforms. This allows for a focus on responding to consumer and platform trends in real-time, as well as targeting consumers based on local market patterns. By creating a partnership focused on business results, both Scotts Miracle-Gro and VaynerMedia are held accountable for growing the business.

“At VaynerMedia, we are dedicated to driving business results for our clients, rather than just the creative outcome. Creating a performance versus deliverables based model really puts our money where our mouth is,” said Gary Vaynerchuk, CEO of VaynerMedia. “Over the last year, we’ve seen first-hand the effectiveness of our Volume Model with Scotts Miracle-Gro. We are thrilled to be able to grow our partnership with them in order to continue driving their digital transformation, and expand their business.”

Josh added: “As a brand, Scotts Miracle-Gro is ready to innovate, explore new platforms, and bring new consumers into the category. We couldn’t be more excited for the year ahead.”

Scotts Miracle-Gro brands include Scotts, Miracle-Gro, Ortho, TOMCAT and General Hydroponics.