Ace launches neighborly campaign

Ted MarzilliCEO YouGov Direct
April 24, 2013, 3:15 PM GMT+0

Reviving a 15-year-old jingle for its new spring home improvement ad campaign and testing new mobile ads that change with the weather has possibly proven quite beneficial to Ace Hardware: the chain recently inched ahead of Home Depot in homeowner perception.

Ace’s new campaign, launched around the third week of March and featured the tag line “Meet The Aces” while reviving its “Ace is the place with the helpful hardware man” jingle, which originated in the 1970s. Additionally, Ace Hardware has tested mobile ads that vary offers based on local weather conditions.

Ace’s main theme distancing itself from its rivals is not being a “big box store,” but offering neighborly, personal service.

After being stagnant for the first quarter of the year and being behind both Home Depot and Lowe’s, Ace Hardware’s perception among homeowners began increasing in early March, and just overtook Home Depot one month later. Lowe’s remains ahead of both Ace and Home Depot by a comfortable margin among homeowners.

Ace Hardware, Lowe’s and Home Depot were measured by YouGov BrandIndex’s Buzz score, which asks respondents: "If you've heard anything about the brand in the last two weeks, through advertising, news or word of mouth, was it positive or negative?" All results were screen for adults 18+ who owned homes.

Buzz: Hardware stores - home owners aware of brands