Lessons for Good by Publicis

Leroy Merlin is an international home improvement and gardening retailer that has 47 stores in Italy. Every year it runs around 2,500 free in-store DIY courses for clients who want to improve their home improvement skills. The courses are a source of waste, since the work done in the lessons is subsequently thrown away.

Recognising an opportunity to combine these free courses with an outreach programme that improves people’s lives, Leroy Merlin Italy worked with Publicis, Italy to create an experiential campaign called Lessons for Good. In partnership with The Bricolage del Cuore Association, a social programme that fights housing poverty, the retailer moved the DIY lessons out of stores and into schools, homes, non-profit organisations and shelters.

Last year, Leroy Merlin Italy turned its customers into volunteers as they took part in lessons and helped renovate 50 community spaces in cities around Italy, including a classroom for disabled students, a day centre for the elderly and a pediatric unit in hospital.

In a press release for the campaign, Leroy Merlin Italy’s CEO said, ‘With this initiative we want to push ourselves out of our stores and combine three great actions: learning, doing, helping.’

The retailer’s communication brand director was invited to Italian parliament to speak about the initiative, and according to the campaign’s case study video, it has since been given further financial support to reach more NGOs.