The Challenge
Founded in 1842, Elliotts is a family-owned builders’ merchant serving tradespeople, self-builders and the public from branches across Hampshire and the surrounding area.
In a market where most merchants compete on promises, tradespeople kept raising the same three frustrations. Products out of stock when they were needed. Deliveries that arrived late. And uncertainty about whether they were paying the right price. Each one costs a builder time and money.
Elliotts wanted to tackle those frustrations head on. Not with another marketing claim, but with a commitment customers could genuinely hold them to.
The brief was to launch that commitment as a brand-level campaign: build awareness among trade and retail audiences, make the promise simple enough to explain at a trade counter, and turn attention into footfall and sales.
The Approach
The Guarantee was built on Elliotts’ existing strapline, “help you build”, giving the commitment instant recognition and a natural home within the brand.
The proposition was kept deliberately simple. Elliotts will match the price, deliver on time and keep the products customers rely on most in stock, across a Guaranteed Range of more than 300 products. If it gets it wrong, customers can claim up to £500 back.
That simplicity mattered. A guarantee only works if a customer can understand it in seconds and a branch colleague can explain it in one sentence. One line pulled it all together: where other merchants promise, we guarantee.
A dedicated landing page became the single destination for every channel. Its “if we fail, we pay” claim mechanic meant the promise could be tested by customers, not just read about.
Paid digital was planned around two distinct jobs. Meta delivered broad, low-cost reach to build awareness of the Guarantee across the region. Programmatic display targeted higher-value audiences and was optimised week by week against store visits and purchases.
This turned the Guarantee from a policy into a brand platform that could carry Elliotts’ marketing for years to come.
Results
Bringing the Guarantee to life in branch and on the road.
A promise like this has to be visible wherever customers actually meet Elliotts. We took the Guarantee beyond digital and into every touchpoint:
- a campaign film to launch the Guarantee and explain it in plain, trade-friendly language
- in-branch point of sale, so the promise was in front of customers at the counter and on the shelf
- vehicle and lorry livery, turning the delivery fleet into moving proof of the on-time promise
- launch PR, picked up by trade and regional press including Professional Builders Merchant and Builders Merchant Journal.
Every element pointed back to the same simple message and the same landing page, so the Guarantee looked and sounded the same whether a customer met it on a phone, at a till or behind a lorry on the M27.
The Outcome
As a brand-level campaign, reach was the first measure of success. But the Guarantee also had to prove it could bring customers through the door. In its first nine weeks of paid activity, it delivered:
- 11.1 million impressions
- 6,495 clicks
- A 76% fall in programmatic cost per sale
The Guarantee has become a platform rather than a one-off campaign. In autumn 2026 it was extended with the Help You Build Fund, giving account customers a chance to win a £2,000 credit note.
This project reflects our approach to integrated marketing: turning a genuine business commitment into a simple, memorable idea, then carrying it consistently across every channel where it can earn its keep.
The Help You Build Guarantee shows how a builders’ merchant can stand apart in a crowded market, not by saying more, but by promising something it is prepared to stand behind.