Brief:

• Lowe's, the second-biggest U.S. home improvement chain with 1,831 stores, launched an Instagram campaign that shows how to redecorate a vertical room in a full-screen video that's easy to see on a mobile-phone screen, according to Adweek. BBDO created the campaign, which fuses a collection of images and quick videos together in a sequence using Instagram Stories. 
• The first story combines 64 videos, each less than a second long, into a 35-second demonstration of how to remodel a small unused vertical space into a play area for kids. The dimensions of the room fit the dimensions of the Instagram window.
• BBDO New York's idea for the campaign stems from a recent creative hackathon hosted by Facebook Creative Shop, per Adweek.

Insight:

Lowe's and BBDO have shown a willingness to experiment with social media platforms in the marketing mix. Three years ago, they teamed up to create the "Fix in Six" videos for Vine, the now-defunct video-sharing platform from Twitter that limited videos to six seconds. The stop-motion shorts in that campaign series won the retailer its first Cannes Lion and a "best in show" at the Mashies Awards, Adweek reported at the time.

Lowe's latest effort underscores the potential of mobile video marketing, especially as more brands begin to leverage the full-screen vertical format of smartphones for on-the-go viewing. DIY videos for social media have become increasingly popular, with media companies like BuzzFeed showing quick life hacks with its Nifty videos and Dunkin' Donuts' graduation cap decorating tips by a social influencer. Lowe's campaign on Instagram Stories is also useful for consumers to see each step in completing a project, with the ability to rewind and re-watch specific steps. 

Instagram recently began testing Facebook's app-like Canvas ads within Stories feeds, Marketing Land reported. The test is limited to certain brands buying ads through Instagram's API, but an eventual official extension of Canvas to Instagram will likely arrive eventually. Facebook debuted the mobile-only, fast-loading ad format two years ago to appeal to brand advertisers who sought more creative capabilities.