At the recent InFronts, Home Depot's meeting seminar for advertisers and suppliers, partnerships with Reddit and Pinterest were announced.
COURTESY OF HOME DEPOTAt its annual InFronts event on April 12, an exclusive retail marketing summit where brands learn how to unlock new growth opportunities, Orange Apron Media, The Home Depot’s retail media network, announced new partnerships, product innovations and advertiser education opportunities, all designed to reach high-intent home improvement audiences and professionals. The moves come at a time of increasing demand for retail media networks offering advertisers better access to consumers who are driven by inspiration.
The Home Depot, which has 6 billion-plus visitors to its web site and stores annually, is introducing a first-of-its-kind Reddit integration. OAM will enable advertisers to launch Reddit campaigns directly within Orange Access, combining Reddit’s community conversations with The Home Depot’s first-party data to reach DIYers and Pros earlier in their journey – and better measure cross-channel impact.
“Reddit plays a central role in how DIYers and Pros research projects, ask questions, and learn from real‑world experiences,” said Mandy Hunsicker Adams, senior director at OAM. "Soon, advertisers will be able to access rich first-party data from The Home Depot through the industry-first self-service integration. Advertisers will be able to launch Reddit campaigns directly within Orange Access, OAM’s self-service platform.
“Reddit is a piece of the puzzle, a validation engine, where community meets social," Hunsicker Adams said. "It’s a platform where our customers get that peer-to-peer feedback. We’ve got a ton of capabilities. Reddit’s going to be a new shining star. Customers can buy on Google and Pinterest and now on Reddit in a self-service capacity. If they want us to support them from an active oversight perspective we can also play that role. Orange Apron Media is leading the way compared to a lot of offers in walled garden capabilities and is programmatically led.”
Orange Apron Media’s new beta integration with Pinterest Media Network Connect expands access for non-endemic brands to reach early-stage home improvement audiences using The Home Depot’s first-party data. The partnership enables advertisers to activate across Pinterest and other key platforms, engaging consumers during the planning and inspiration phase with data-driven targeting.
The collaboration makes The Home Depot the first home improvement retailer to participate and positions Pinterest as the initial social platform supporting activation where non‑endemic brands can activate through The Home Depot’s first-party data.
“We’re excited about Pinterest because it allows us to scale on their product side, and open up our suite to suppliers that don’t sell products on our shelves in stores," said Hunsicker Adams. “We have really unique customers. Ours are new homeowners or those who exhibit high intent signals that they might be moving. We’re going to make that data available to Pinterest. It’s a platform we’ve long invested in.”
“The Reddit and Pinterest integrations are interesting,” said Ishan Majumdar, founder of Baptista Research. “Pinterest is very relevant for home inspiration and product planning, while Reddit can help Home Depot engage with more specific communities and purchase intent around home improvement. I would not call it this a major earnings driver on its own, but it fits well with Home Depot’s broader effort to reach customers earlier in the purchase journey and connect inspiration with actual purchases.”
“Home Depot’s previous quarter was fairly solid, given the difficult housing backdrop," said Majumdar. "For the upcoming earnings, I think expectations are likely to remain measured. The issue is not whether Home Depot is a well-run company but whether housing activity and big-ticket project demand begin to recover. Management’s guidance already seems to reflect a cautious environment with modest sales growth and some margin pressure from acquisitions and continued investment. I would watch Pro growth, ticket versus transaction strength, and commentary on larger remodeling projects very closely.”
The Home Depot consumers are clearly looking for inspiration. “The way our customers shop is by item, but they also look at projects and remodels," Hunsicker Adams said. “It’s less necessarily about category, its conditioning those not looking for a needle in a haystack, but looking for niches in Orange Apron Media.”
“While we have the tried and true insights and capabilities, we’ve enhanced our competencies in a lot of seasonal elements," said Hunsicker Adams. "There’s new on-site ad capabilities. Updates include enhanced product listing ads with keyword and audience controls (including negative keywords), geotargeted display, a self-serve brand page portal, and new high-impact category leaderboards, with additional sponsored brands formats in development.
Home Depot developed brand pages for its advertisers and also enhanced keyword targeting and audience-based targets. “Not only will they be able to be self-serve oriented, OAM is expanding its capabilities so users can log in and upload their own assets, write their own copy and make that digital storefront experience richer. ”We’re launching additional ad units that are a little more brand-focused, maybe lower funnel product listing ads,” Hunsicker Adams said.
The Orange Apron Media Academy, a new certification program, is set to launch later in 2026 and is designed to help advertisers maximize their investment and build confidence using the OAM platform. Two core learning paths will help participants combine strategic foundations with hands‑on, practical skills.
OAM Academy reinforces the network’s core value of radical helpfulness – ensuring advertisers are not only equipped to participate in retail media, but positioned to drive independent, measurable growth. Participants will gain a clear understanding of what differentiates Orange Apron Media, how to plan and activate campaigns, and use performance insights to identify growth opportunities.
This article was originally published on Forbes.com
