Do-it-yourself (DIY) painters, myself included, often have questions about their painting projects. These can range from simple choices such as whether to use matte, gloss, eggshell or other finishes to technical questions about applications. You have to turn to the Internet, maybe YouTube, to get what you hope will be the right answers.

Considering this, Valspar came up with the cute idea of “Dial-A-Dad.” Tying home painting together with Father’s Day, Valspar brought together some DIY dads to answer painting questions via a text line.

Dial-A-Dad was launched on social media on Father’s Day, and the program, which was only scheduled to run a few weeks, proved to be a hit. Erin Ingram, director, Valspar brand marketing, said that the COVID-19 pandemic led to more DIY projects, and Valspar got a lot of interest.

“One of the most amazing things about the past year was we saw many folks taking on home improvement projects, including many painting their homes,” Ingram observed. “We thought it would be great to open a home improvement helpline that people could text to get dad-level advice and real-time answers on all things paint. With the timing of Father’s Day, we thought it was the perfect opportunity to celebrate dads and answer any pressing paint questions our community had.”

Dial-A-Dad was quite simple: if someone had a question about paint, they could text the Dial-A-Dad hotline to join the Valspar community and receive real-time answers.

“We did our best to get back to everyone as quickly as possible so those paint projects could continue on,” Ingram added.

As for the experts, Valspar combined its own team of experts with social media personalities.

Valspar has a strong product team full of experts with years of experience who were on tap to answer questions from our community members and our team of color experts also chimed in with their best dad-level advice,” Ingram said. .

“We also called on some DIY experts and social media personalities to help spread the word and encourage their audience to submit questions,” added Ingram. “Jennifer and Chris Gizzi of Making Pretty Spaces, Kim and Scott Vargo of Yellow Brick Home and Nneka and Armond Saran of One Handy Momma all helped spread the word, sharing the projects they were doing around the house, how helpful a hotline like this would have been back in the day, and even some really fun dad jokes. We are so proud to have partners who want to help inspire and encourage consumers to paint.”

Dial-A-Dad only ran for a few weeks, but the response was tremendous.

“We saw a great response to the program,” Ingram said. “We were only live for a couple of weeks but we got to see how engaged this community can be when given the opportunity to ask questions, engage and learn more about what a successful paint project looks like.”

As for the questions Valspar received, there were many that stood out.

“We received a nice variety of questions, but we saw lots of folks asking about the process of painting doors, both interior and exterior,” Ingram said. “Lots of folks also asked about finishes and which finish was right for them for a specific room or wall they were painting. We loved diving into these projects with our community and guiding them in the right direction. Some folks even sent pictures of their rooms so that we could get a better a look at what they were working with and provide our best recommendations.”

Even though Dial-A-Dad has ended, Ingram said it is an idea that may return.

“While the program has ended, there is always potential to bring this activation back in the future,” she noted. “Our community really seemed to respond well to receiving real-time feedback on all of their paint questions. Being able to connect and engage with our audience in a casual but authentic way is always one of our goals, and programs like Dial-A-Dad help us achieve success such a fun and meaningful way. In the meantime, consumers are always welcome to visit www.valspar.com to see all of the products that Valspar has to offer. The site has tons of helpful tools as well including how-to’s and expert color support.”