Behr Paint enlisted influencers to help consumers feeling stuck in their DIY projects. Through April 2, consumers can call 1-877-ASK-BEHR to leave a voicemail for DIY creators Tyler Cameron and Shayna Alnwick.

Later in the month, Behr will share customer issues and creator solutions, turning individual consumer moments into social content.

"It creates great content, but it also creates a sense of community with the brand and these influencers," said Ryan Lehr, co-chief creative officer at Deutsch LA, the agency behind the campaign. "We said 'Let's create an actual hotline and a direct line of communication for anyone thinking about taking on one of these projects and maybe hasn't had the courage.'"

The campaign is playful, but the mechanics are real: influencer reach combined with the kind of one-to-one interaction consumers increasingly expect from brands on social.

Evolving the educational approach

The campaign doesn't use trained customer service reps. It doesn't need to. The consumer problem it's addressing is one the creator reps are actually equipped to solve.

56% of DIYers say they're overwhelmed by choice, which drives 30% to abandon their projects entirely, according to data from Behr. Another 70% avoid projects altogether out of fear of making mistakes.

"It could be as small as picking a sheen for a specific project or coordinating a color palette," said Andy Lopez, senior vice president and head of global marketing at Behr Paint Company. "It's about being able to offer advice, no matter who the person is and the pain point they're coming in with, we want to be able to be that expert and help them get over that hump."

The campaign follows Behr's "DIYconimics" campaign from last year, an influencer-led effort that showed consumers what they could accomplish with $100 worth of Behr products. The new hotline deepens that model: instead of showing what's possible, it meets consumers at the point of hesitation.

Brands running this kind of dual-purpose content face a structural tension, said J. Brooks, founder and CEO of Glassview.

"Marketing is trying to build affinity and narrative, while support is resolving issues quickly and often publicly," he said. "Those are very different emotional contexts."

Customer service that relies on real people

Consumers aren't just turning to social for inspiration. They're using it to get actual help, and brands are staffing accordingly. Notion is hiring a social social support specialist to be "the face of customer support on social media." MLB is hiring a Social Moderator to "answer general and technical questions regarding MLB supported digital products."

At Behr, the line between social and support is already blurred by design.

"Within our customer care team, I think everybody touches social in some way," said Lopez. "It's our source of truth to really tap into a community in real time."

The stakes for getting this right are high. 71% of consumers say most companies need to improve their customer experience, per an August Broadridge Financial Solutions survey. And trust in AI-assisted service isn't filling that gap: 53% of adults worldwide say they trust businesses less when those businesses use AI for customer service, according to an October ServiceForge survey.

Consumers want to be heard, and they're skeptical that automation will do it. That's the opening Behr's campaign is walking through.

"What's emerging is a split between outward storytelling and inward responsiveness, but the best brands are the ones that can connect the two," Brooks said. "Every service interaction is also a brand moment, and vice versa."

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