What does a self-build brand do when nobody can visit?

Summary

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Welsh Oak Frame sells something people want to walk around, bespoke oak-framed homes seen at shows, in showrooms and on site visits. When the pandemic closed all of that, the path to purchase had to be rebuilt in digital form. "Building Dreams" - running from September 2020 to September 2021 - moved the brand's budget into a digital-led plan that kept the pipeline not just alive but growing. Lead volumes held year on year, and the leads that arrived were better, converting into 85% more design appointments in 2020 than the year before.

Challenge

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Keep a considered, high-value purchase moving when every physical touchpoint - shows, showrooms, site visits - was closed, on a deliberately modest budget. The measure that mattered was not traffic but design appointments, the moment a dreamer becomes a buyer.

Strategy

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Locked-down Britain was dreaming about its home more than ever. The campaign met that mood with inspirational creative built around the homes themselves, delivered through digital channels where self-build planners were spending extra hours at home, with every pound of a low-budget plan working towards the appointment goal rather than vanity reach.

The plan put large-format creative and paid content placements on specialist self-build publishers such as Build It and Self Build and Design, alongside email newsletter placements to self-build intenders. Pinterest and Instagram carried owned content, including walkthrough videos and introductions to the Welsh Oak Frame team, and paid and organic search answered the long-tail questions self-builders ask.

Campaign results

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Building Dreams campaign results, September 2020 to September 2021

Measure	Result
Design appointments	Up 85% year on year, 2020 against 2019
Total leads	Held year on year through the pandemic
Contract value	Grew year on year

Source: Welsh Oak Frame award-entry documentation, September 2020 to September 2021.