• by Larissa Faw , October 9, 2018

Ace Hardware is evolving its brand platform to become "The Home Convenience Store" to distinguish itself from rivals like Home Depot, Lowe's and Amazon.

The creative in a new campaign, developed with O’Keefe Reinhard & Paul (OKRP), emphasizes its locality as a retail-owned cooperative with more than 5,000 locations to remind viewers that the chain is more of a convenience store than a big-box destination.

The core messaging points are: “Around the Block. What you need in stock. With people who know their stuff." Notably, Ace will continue to use its iconic “helpful hardware” jingle. 

The :30-second "A New Kind of Place" ad runs nationally across networks such as USA, HGTV, Food Network  ESPN and DIY selected, in part, by media planner Spark Foundry, in order to reach millennial shoppers and new home buyers. 

In a first for Ace, the campaign also uses an array of social and digital online media channels that tell the Ace story from the consumer’s point of view, including a mix of carousel, video and posts on Facebook and Instagram. 

“It’s not every day you get to create a whole new category for such a famous established brand, but we believe this campaign will help make Ace more top-of-mind for everyday home solution needs," says Tom O’Keefe, CEO, OKRP.