Sampling for garden and outdoor
This is the category where we have the clearest New Zealand proof, because it is where our first New Zealand campaign ran.
Gardeners believe other gardeners
Garden and outdoor is a category of specific problems. Nobody buys weed spray in general. They buy it because of the stuff coming up through the cracks in the driveway, and they want to know whether it works on that, in this climate, at this time of year. A brand ad cannot answer a question that specific. A gardener two suburbs over can.
It is also seasonal in a way that punishes late planning. New Zealand's outdoor season builds from October, which means the content has to exist before the weather turns, not after the first hot weekend.
theSalt ran its first New Zealand campaign in this category. Five Canterbury gardeners bought Weed Weapon, used it in their own gardens, and filmed what happened over the following days.
Built for the season.
Outdoor products are judged over days of weather, not in a single afternoon.
Brief
The product, the job, the region, and when it needs to be live.
Match
An opt-in survey filters for people who actually garden and buy in the category.
Buy
They pick it up at Mitre 10, Bunnings, PlaceMakers or the supermarket. Purchase verified.
Use and film
Applied to their own problem, then filmed again days later when the result shows.
Boost and report
The strongest content runs as paid media against your own advertising.
Where garden gets bought.
The category spans hardware, trade and grocery, and the shopper often visits more than one of them in a weekend.
Mitre 10, Mitre 10 MEGA
The category's home for most weekend buyers
Bunnings
Volume and value across garden care
PlaceMakers
Trade and larger outdoor projects
Supermarkets
Grab-and-go garden care in the weekly shop
Garden centres
Advice-led, higher-value plant and treatment
Brand direct
Specialist and larger formats
Outdoor products carry label claims.
Garden treatments come with approved label instructions, and what a customer says about a product in a paid post is a representation the brand is answerable for. Section 12A of the Fair Trading Act prohibits unsubstantiated representations, so content is checked against the pack before it is licensed.
This mostly comes up in timing. A customer who says a product worked in an hour when the label says it takes a day is a problem, even if that is what they saw.
- Content stays inside the label. Timings, surfaces and uses are checked against the approved pack instructions.
- Safety instructions are respected. Content showing unsafe use is rejected, not edited.
- Seasonality is briefed. A summer product filmed in July does not read as real, and it does not perform.
- The advertising label applies. Ad, Advert or Advertisement at first interaction on every paid post.
The New Zealand campaign, in full.
The single most useful proof point we have here, because it ran in this market.
Kiwicare Weed Weapon
Five Canterbury gardeners bought the product, used it in their own gardens, and filmed the result. Their content ran as paid media alongside the brand's own ads, in the same campaign and the same window.
- 4,937 paid clicks at NZ$0.20 each
- 2.78% click-through on customer content, against 1.07% on brand paid ads
- 88% reach of the 25 to 54 band
- 5 real gardeners, all content owned by the brand
Source: Kiwicare Campaign Report, January 2026.
Unilever Sunlight
A different category, included because it shows what volume looks like when a brief is written for household use rather than a single hero shot.
- 226% of the planned content volume delivered
- 9x return on customer reach
What garden brands ask us.
Five customers is not many. Why did it work?
Because the brief called for depth rather than volume. Each gardener produced content showing a real problem and a real result over several days, which is what the paid media then had to work with. Volume campaigns are available; this one did not need one.
When should a summer campaign be briefed?
Well before summer. The outdoor season builds from October, and content has to be shot, moderated and cleared before the first hot weekend, not during it.
Can customers show a product being used on a lawn or a driveway?
Yes, within the approved label instructions. What is shown, and the timings claimed, are checked against the pack before anything is licensed.
Does it work outside the main centres?
Yes. The community is national, and regional gardeners are often the more credible voice for a product that has to work in a specific climate.