MRCOOL
DIY goes primetime
MRCOOL is the HVAC brand that put comfort in the customer's own hands. Founded in 2012 by father-and-son team Doug and Jason Ingram and headquartered in Hickory, Kentucky, the company invented the DIY mini-split, the only HVAC system a homeowner can install without a contractor, thanks to pre-charged Quick Connect line sets.
Ruckus was engaged as MRCOOL's media partner, planning and managing national direct response television on HGTV to put the DIY story in front of millions of American homeowners searching for an easier path to comfort.
An entrenched industry, a new kind of buyer
For decades HVAC has been sold through installers and dealers, so a product that skips the middleman needs to build demand directly with the end customer. The DIY mini-split buyer is a confident homeowner with a project list, not a contractor with a supply account, and digital alone wasn't going to reach them at scale.
Asking people to install their own HVAC takes credibility that a banner ad can't buy. National television delivers the legitimacy and reach a category-changing claim demands, putting the brand in front of skeptical buyers at scale.
Why HGTV
HGTV is the network America already watches with a project list in hand, so Ruckus concentrated the buy where its most likely customers already were. National direct response spots ran in :30 and :15, backed by MRCOOL's garage-flip creative, alongside always-on performance media that kept the brand top of mind.
Each flight was engineered across dayparts, early fringe through primetime, trading reach against rate to keep MRCOOL in the room from afternoon projects to primetime renovations, with mirrored overnight spots and negotiated added media stretching the schedule's footprint further than MRCOOL paid for.
Bought like owners, audited like accountants
Every flight was reconciled against network affidavits and as-aired invoices, so MRCOOL paid only for airtime that actually aired. Ruckus pressure-tested the buy's economics, verifying rates directly with the network and benchmarking flight over flight as market demand shifted.
Schedules evolved between flights, rebalancing the mix across dayparts to stretch frequency where the response justified it, turning one flight into an ongoing, always-optimizing national buy rather than a one-off media event.
One flight became four
Before the opening flight finished, MRCOOL authorized a second, and a third followed in August, keeping the brand on air from late May into September 2023. The next spring, MRCOOL returned to Ruckus for a fourth national HGTV flight, renewing the partnership for a second season.
Across the engagement, Ruckus managed seven figures of national airtime, planned, negotiated, placed, and reconciled to the individual spot, work MRCOOL keeps renewing flight after flight, season after season.
